For today’s event, codrove with TS, local novice chair and evo school instructor. Had a few reasons for this. Obviously, he’s a very good instructor in our region that regularly teaches at evo schools. Any instruction he would have for me would be very valuable. I also wanted to see how he would fair in my car against the fastest HS car in our region, which is a Civic Si.

On this particular course however, we were completely outgunned. Our regular course designer was out of town and the course that was laid out was probably one of the worst/least favorable to Mini courses I have ever driven. We had to stay in 1st gear for the first turn around because of how tight the corner was. Every major corner was a pinch down that led to a significant straightaway with “nothing to do” between them. Obviously, this course favors torque, and it showed in the results.

I had been stuck around the 50.7’s for a number of runs, and TS had been able to work his way down to a 49.818 on his final lap. One of the key things we had gone over was I was actually running my line too tightly on some of the corners, especially ones where we were flat on the throttle (most of them). Instead of cutting them so tight on the exit, I should (in general for corners with open straights afterward) unwind and carry the car out, letting it drift out a little bit in exchange for more speed. This also involved trying to carry a little more speed in the corner, which I think was the key to me dropping 7 tenths, to a 50.009. Really happy that I was able to keep relatively close to the instructor, and relieved I was able to cut that time down. However, with the Civic Si running a 49 flat, it’s becoming more and more obvious that any victories I’m going to have in the Mini are going to be thanks to some very, very Mini friendly design elements.

Index results here.
Class results here.
Raw time results here.

Things to work on (Mini):

• Focus on the line, not the car
• Let the car drift out/unwind the steering wheel on corner exits – especially for corner exits that lead into straights
• Try to carry a little more speed in corners.

Notes (Mini):

• 4/9ths tank
• Ran 40/45
• Pax Points:
• 2016 Runs: 71 in the Mini (+5 me, +5 others)
• Oil change up for the Mini

2016 Run Count: 73 (+5 Mini)