J13MEX's supercharged Mini race car..

[J13MEX]

Prepping this still for 2013 season so lots will change but here it is, Sponsored by Forge motorsport and Opie Oils as well as smaller brand support..

Concentration on the UK's longest straight!

Rich people always get shown up on track!

The green has now been replaced with baby blue and being changed to red for 2013 season.

Jamie - JQRacing.

Twitter@JQRacing

[ScottPro8.5]

Looks great, good luck for 2013 season!

Iv only just started working for TopCats Racing my self!

[J13MEX]

Many thanks mate!

Just secured Forge Motorsport for 2013 sponsor

Motorsports is great, the 18 hour days got a bit much for me though. Hence started it myself on a smaller scale, I used to run Lotus, Aston Martin, Porsche etc with my old company. It was certainly good fun but hard work

[revo madnesss]

what racing series do you race?

[J13MEX]

Doing UK Time Attack next year. Alot of BIG power cars, but the Mini's seem to hold them off quite well on the more complex circuits. Plus I'm hoping for a fair bit more power before season start too so should be a good year!

[gofast3r19]

Can use stand alone ecu's?

[cbr6fs]

Rich people always get shown up on track!

Because we all know a Mini is faster than a 911 turbo and a Ginetta

Or could it just be that the 911/Ginetta was doing as they should and not racing on a track day?

[Kpowell911]

Was hoping this was going to be a proper Mini

Either way looks great fun!

[J13MEX]

I can use standalone if I wanted but have had ECU work done and is at a good level so no need to mess.

I didn't say I was faster than a ginetta, but the 911 struggled round the corners. Only to pass in the straights and I'm on his arse again in corners. Straight line speed is useless on track. It was a test day so ginetta was going hard. It was very quick. Lap time wise I was about even with some of the ginetta's with the first year drivers, some was only learning track etc. car is only as good as its driver!

And don't be judgmental also. I know Minis would would leave 911 turbos standing still on drag strip and track!

I'm too big for a classic Mini lol

[J13MEX]

Also, with me being quicker in the bends than the porsche and that quicker in the straights.. Same as me and the Ginetta G40's.. I was quicker on the straights but in the corners they were gone..

[Bajabasher1303]

Nice, I have a 106 Gti that's been played with to around 150 brake fully track spec/stripped buckets etc. I love it great fun and shows up much more powerful cars on trackdays. My mates currently stripping a 04 plate cooper s for a track car to come with me when I take the 106

[cbr6fs]

My point was that it was only a track day, an event where racing is strictly forbidden.

With regards to a Mini being faster than a 911 turbo.

I'm sure if you put vettel in the Mini and a 17 year old kid in the 911 it'd be close.

Like for like driver skill though there is absolutely no way, it's front wheel drive for a start, the 911 will be on the power and half way up the straight before the Mini has found enough grip to stop it's front wheels scrabbling for grip and that's only if it has a LSD fitted.

To give you some idea.

Plato managed a fantastic BTCC Snetterton lap record of 1:57 in August.

In the Porsche Carrera cup support race they were lapping at 1:52 and these are the non turbo 911's

The R56 JCW Class in the Mini challenge were doing 2:11

I've been racing cars and motorbikes for the last 30 years, so i do tend to be a bit cynical about "talk" and people "bigging themselves up".

I've heard hundreds of folks go on about how fast they are and how great their cars are, when it comes down to racing and lap times though there is always some excuse.

You love cars, good on ya

You've made the first step to track days, again good on ya.

Don't worry about trying to impress folks, just enjoy, get some tuition and have fun.

I'll also say please don't be fooled that a track day is anything at all like even the most civil of race, as if you do you'll be in for a MASSIVE shock.

Get yourself a rollcage, harness, electrical isolator, plummed in fire extinguisher, approved seat and the rest of the safety equipment and get racing.

If you need any advice gimme a shout

[J13MEX]

I do love the 106's. such a shock to the bigger cars! Even in standard form they fly!

I know what your saying, but mines not built to JCW spec. On road mine is a fair amount quicker than one and with all the regs in the challenge series compared to my unlimited tuning potential.. I'm pretty sure I would be faster on track too.

You can not even begin to compare a Cup car to a road car, the cup car would absolutely destroy it. Turbo doesn't mean its quicker as I'm sure you know. With a 13.4 second 1/4 mile time compared to my 1/4 time of low 14's with under 200bhp at the time.. Doesn't seem even out the corners its going to do much.

I'm not saying it was racing conditions, it was a test day so alot of teams and drivers trying new set ups etc so there was alot of pace. Not racing of course but then who goes on a test day and doesn't go fairly hard?

As for the things to do to the car, I'm way ahead of you. Apart from the cage (not needed in my series so I'm going for a rear only for piece of mind) everything is done. I'm just on the hunt for power and I'm hoping to be a problem to alot bigger cars in my class. (Last year the 2nd place winner was a Cooper S with UNDER 200 BHP. Mine made 188 totally standard so in a fair bit past that too. With these cars, even for a FWD the handling is amazing in standard form, do the suspension mods and its unbelievable!

Cheers mate.

Also, what do you race bud?

[cbr6fs]

Not sure where your getting your times from but we've been logging the 997 at late 10's early 11's on a slightly uphill track.

Granted the 996 is a noggin slower but still if i didn't get in the 11's i'd be EXTREMELY disappointed.

13 secs for a 996 turbo is monumentally slow, i'm seeing 13.9 in my mx5 as a comparison.

The biggest benefit and also it's biggest downfall is rear end grip, if you've not driven a well setup 911 it's difficult to explain exactly how much grip you can find coming out of a corner.

On the tight tracks here i am able to hold a fair bit more corner entry speed than my mates 997, but even with that extra corner entry and mid corner speed he just pulls away at corner exit.

He is able to get on the power a LOT earlier than me in my MX5, a car that doesn't usually have that problem.

That's all by the by, my point was that it's pretty lame posting a pic to big up your driving skill on a non competitive track day IMO.

Your already doing far more than the majority of folks do, in that your actually done something to start racing rather than just talk about it, you should be proud of that.

My advice would be to save your money and not bother chasing power.

A full cage will reduce your laptimes more than an extra 50bhp PLUS you'll be a LOT safer.

Right now your biggest let down in lap times, is going to be yourself.

I can't recommend strongly enough how getting a full cage will help.

It will dramatically stiffen up the car, plus it'll be a LOT safer.

After that i'd really recommend investing your money in driver tuition, i'll guarantee that a day with a decent teacher will drop your laptimes a hell of a lot more than even 100 extra horses.

Tried my hand at most types of racing, both cars and motorbikes, what i did when usually depended on sponsors and money, but roughly, I started off racing in mini stock's as a kid, moved up to stock car racing/banger cars, saloon car racing in the track, 2 seasons of club rallying, hill climbing and tarmac rally.

I paralysed my left arm a few years ago so took a step back since then as i simply don't have the control i had with both arms, so right now it's mainly competing in timed track sessions in the MX5 and helping out my mate in the tarmac rally championship.

[J13MEX]

I see what your saying, problem is a full cage for the Mini isn't cheap.

[cbr6fs]

Nahhhhh your looking in the wrong places if you can only find

[J13MEX]

Cheers for the input mate, really appreciate it!

I don't have the suspension etc to properly cope with slicks yet I have a set of ex clio cup slicks on standby for when I do though, I used yoko advan ao48s for track use. Good tyres.

I have a good suspension set up but looking to improve (have full Spax RSX coilovers, camber control etc etc) full geo set up too.

I will get a pic of my engine bay in next few days, full Forge set up. Looks tasty to say the least

I'm just going to have to jump in and see what happens really, I have good budget, good sponsors so going at it big in first season.

I'm currently decided what driver instrumentation to get, I'm looking at an intake temp screen, oil pressure gauge and one other 52mm gauge for pillar pod. Wideband AFR for my dash mount. I just don't know what other gauge to get, oil temp, coolant temp or boost?

Hmm

[cbr6fs]

Any gauges are useless when racing, especially in your first season.

I'd honestly just return it to stock and if your really concerned get the biggest brightest light you can and have that come on something goes over temp or over pressure.

Even then once the adrenalin is pumping there is a damn good chance you'll just ignore it.

I have many many times.

My 3rd race on a fully prep'd 2.1 Pinto in the late 80's had the oil pressure idiot light come one, as i was 3rd i refused to pull in, result = no race finish and

[ms_sjo]

I have one of those knocklite's for sale!

A large oil pressure light/buzzer in the line of view is a good idea. Boost pressure is for the kids. AFR isn't much help on track either. If either a big fuelling condition occurs or a boost drop, you'll notice it before you even look at gauges.

A tip for gauges: analogue only, and mount them so the needles are all pointing in the same direction at their normal point. This way if a quick glance at them and they're not all pointing down, you may have a problem.

Want data logging? Point a camcorder at the gauges!

Have you done anything to the suspension other that fit cheap coilovers? (no offence). If not start looking at the rear end, particularly the rear anti-roll bar :-)

[J13MEX]

It has over a grands worth of suspension , camber adjustment, fast road set up. Poly bushed etc. far from top end, but also far from budget.

[cbr6fs]

It has over a grands worth of suspension , camber adjustment, fast road set up. Poly bushed etc. far from top end, but also far from budget.

Again just my opinion, but you really should stop thinking and looking at stuff that's rated for the road, there is absolutely no correlation between what might work on fast road driving and racing.

Even a track day specific parts have little use when racing.

Take the E46 M3 as a example.

On the road it's a pretty well balanced car and you'd really have to be driving like a knob to show up it's flaws.

Within 3 laps on the track though the brakes are pretty much useless.

To make matters even worse, most the "fast and furious" type stuff tends to be worse wear and tear wise than the stock stuff.

Shocks are a prime example, kids today have this weird idea that the firmer the suspension the faster the car is.

Sure it might FEEL faster to a inexperienced kid in his corsa, simply because of the fact that the cars bobbing and weaving all over the place.

In reality though the suspension needs to be supple enough to do it's job, it also needs enough travel to do it's job as well.

Drop a car to within a inch of it's life with 600lb/in springs and the car will feel like a bumper car simply because it'll be driving around on it's bumpstops.

Hit your bumpstops and those 600lb/in springs are suddenly 1600lb/in after the bumpstop adds is compression.

There are then things like the materials used in the shocks, even the oil plays a vast difference as when it gets hotter it thins.

Thinning shock oil will then give you inconsistent travel.

i don't know BMW Mini's well, so can't advise what brands to look at, but you need to be looking at what the various Mini race series are using NOT what "fast and furious" kids are fitting on forums.

I have one of those knocklite's for sale!

A large oil pressure light/buzzer in the line of view is a good idea. Boost pressure is for the kids. AFR isn't much help on track either. If either a big fuelling condition occurs or a boost drop, you'll notice it before you even look at gauges.

A tip for gauges: analogue only, and mount them so the needles are all pointing in the same direction at their normal point. This way if a quick glance at them and they're not all pointing down, you may have a problem.

Want data logging? Point a camcorder at the gauges!

Have you done anything to the suspension other that fit cheap coilovers? (no offence). If not start looking at the rear end, particularly the rear anti-roll bar :-)

great tip on both the gauges and the video camera

[ScottPro8.5]

Many thanks mate!

Just secured Forge Motorsport for 2013 sponsor

Motorsports is great, the 18 hour days got a bit much for me though. Hence started it myself on a smaller scale, I used to run Lotus, Aston Martin, Porsche etc with my old company. It was certainly good fun but hard work

haha, Have you not been in a 24hour yet? Very hard work!