1975_mini

If you are there early there is Corey’s test run. Imagine that road with me not making sure people are keeping up.

Thanks for volunteering before I had to exploit our friendship for you photography skills.

Event Title: MINI Autocross School Event Date: 03/23/2025 08:00 AM to 03/23/2025 04:00 PM Event Address: NOTICE: SOLD OUT!! Loaner helmets are in short supply (1-L, and 1-XL) No medium helmets remaining When: March 23, 2023 Where: Summit Point Raceway, West Virginia Time: 8am to 4pm Lunch: included Things to bring: Your MINI, Helmet (loaners available on request), a fun attitude Cost: We are current finalizing pricing, but will update NLT Jan 15th. Registration will open on Feb 1st What is Autocross? Autocross is a safe, low-speed motorsport where competitors drive against the clock to turn in the best times as they navigate a driving course defined by orange parking cones in a large, open lot. What can I expect? Autocross school is the best way to learn more about autocross and improve your driving performance through in-car instruction by some of the best instructors in the Washington DC area. Come join us for a fun and educational day filled with safe but adrenaline raising motorsport. Class is in session: Sessions will include a variety of topics to help novice participants better understand what goes on in a day of autocross, and what they will likely be seeing and hearing around them as they participate in the motorsport. Instruction on how to prepare both the car and driver for autocross, tech inspect, work a course, and safety topics will get you up to speed with the day-of operations for participating in autocross. Then, drivers will learn how to make the most of their runs by examining techniques like walking the course to determine good run lines, throttle modulation (your gas pedal is not an on-off switch!), and when to brake. Discussions will also cover basic handling conditions such as 'oversteer' and 'understeer' you may have heard of, and how to correct them, and try to prevent these issues to give you your best runs. Learn by doing: It's time to put all of your newfound knowledge to work. Get ready to buckle up and drive, as you will get run after run to put your training and skills to the test with a series of handling and stopping challenges as you gear up to run a full autocross course. With one of our excellent instructors at your side, you will continue to receive guidance to improve your performance and lower your lap times. As you learn how to pick your turn-in points, choose your braking zones and work the throttle wisely, you will notice a consistent improvement in how your car handles confidently and smartly through the sea of cones. There is no better way to get started in autocross than with the NCC Autocross school. Whether you've done a few events in the past, or if you've never been out to a course before, you'll find the program educational and the skills you learn useful not just on the autocross course, but for all of the driving you do. Instructor are ready to answer any questions you will have and will ensure you get personalized attention and instruction to overcome any concerns or issues. If you have any questions or are interested in attending please comment below. Official ticket sales will be posted in the new year RSVP on the event here:

Event Title: The Mistress Run Event Date: 02/22/2025 10:00 AM to 02/22/2025 03:00 PM Event Address: After spending Valentine’s Day with that special someone its time for some quality time with our MINIs (Mistress). We will be meeting in the Kohl’s Parking lot in Burke, we will be heading southwest exploring many of the great twisties around Manassas and Warrenton as we wind our way for about an hour with a lunch stop in the Warrenton, VA area. Start Point: Kohl's Parking lot 5815 Burke Centre Pkwy Burke, VA 22015 Lunch Stop: Vinny's Grill & Pizzeria 11085 Marsh Rd Bealeton, VA 22712 After lunch we will continue west and north through Culpeper and into wine country, the route is nearly approximately 1 hour and a half of continuous country roads that are a great combination of sweeping turns, rolling roads, and tight twisties while enjoying countryside views ending at one of the great wineries in the Hume area. End Point: Information available shortly (Hume, VA area) Schedule of events: 10:00AM: Driver’s meeting 10:15AM: Run Starts 11:30AM: Lunch stop 1:00PM: Start afternoon leg 2:30PM: End point RSVP on the event here:

@STXMINI, That is AWESOME that you guys will be joining again this year. We missed you last year. @SusieQ, Lorri hit the good starting points, I would review the new join info on the website about the event and the area. I can confirm there are some cabins and a few rooms in the lodge available, I should have the exact number and type soon. I recommend calling and locking one down if you are thinking of going. The deposit is about $200 and fully refundable up to 30 days out I believe (I will have to check mine). Some Corey tips (for what that’s worth): - You will have a bunch of DCMMers down there, just ask to be a third wheel and everyone will let you tag along, you will likely see a familiar face at every event. - One sign up for one drive a day, if you try to do more you will be worried about getting to the next drive instead of enjoying the one you are on. - The welcome and farewell dinner can be a bit overwhelming over 300 people in the hall, but you will be sitting with friends. There are plenty of folks that use those evening to do dinner at one of the surrounding restaurants instead (DCMM often does a dinner at Tapoco one evening) - Bingo is fun but can be a bit loud, I would recommend attending (great prizes) I typically create a calendar that shows how the runs overlap and share here. It is just easier for me to see. There are all different drives to eat, some have adventure, something for everyone. Popular runs do fill up last, but it is not as bad post covid. I think the record for my drive was 10 minutes from it going live, and it is capped at 20 people. I do find it odd the number of people that drive 8 hours to TN/NC and end up on a Corey run. You can do that all year long here, lol. If you have any question please do not hesitate to ask, I might know a guy with some inside info.

Congrats on the new MINI, There have been recent changes at PMoA at the General Manager level. I know she is review and realigning focus there glad to hear you had a more positive experience this time.

The only reason I can think that they are slightly overfilling is to account for blow by. These engines have blow by normally, but will a turn with increased boost this could increase. As you have no internal mods or that would change the oil need or representation of fill level. The right way to address this would be to check your oil every time you fill up with gas and top off with oil to replace any loss.

What mod are they saying they are accounting for.

At 24k, your rotors are mostly likely fine. Most shops never recommend pads only, but I have done it many times on vehicles including MINIs I have owned. This install is very easy, and can be done in an hour in a driveway. You will also have to replace the sensor that went off as it wore through the copper wire, or there are other ways to fix that. Lots of quality video on youtube to due this service. A rear sway bar will improve rotation, and has the added advantage of not effecting ride quality as your MINI is your daily. Links likely are not necessary as you are not adjusting the ride height with coilovers. Rear sway bars are good bang for the buck at around $300 for the part. Where they create cost is if you are not doing the install yourself. With the design of the MINI suspension the sway bar is between the subframe and the unibody, unlike many designs where they are attached to the bottom and easily removed with only a few bolts. With a mini you will need to partially drop the subframe to allow space to walk the old one out and the new in. It is not a hard project, but really you need a garage and life is easier with a lift. Young me has done them in a driveway on jack stands, and I am personally to old for that now. Additionally, you will need an alignment as you moved the subframe. So providing you do your own labor and only buying the sway bar, and an alignment it is likely around $500. Having a shop do it I would guess around $1000 all in.

Don, Sorry I missed you message on this I will reply here for others to see also. The follow comments are the opinion of Corey and that and a buck will get you a small coffee. So take them as you wish. As for rotors, drilled and slotted look cool, but will wear you pads faster and provide on gains for road driving. There are quality aftermarket plan smooth rotors that are equal or better quality to OEM with a slight cost savings. As for pads EBC and Hawk are both high quality aftermarket options. For EBS yellow stuff is likely overkill. Red stuff has less brake dust and will exceed you current brake grip, and provide all you need. As for Hawk HPS would be a suitable pad. I will shoot you a private message about pricing.

Welcome @DocMurphy, nice looking Gen 1 you got there. The will find a lot of gen 1 info in our forums, it should be a great repository for you. As for you horn issue. I would use to jumpers to test the horn directly. Run one lead to from one terminal to ground (any non painted bolt nearby), and the send jumper from the other horn terminal and tap the end to a power source. If it beeps the horn it good. Next leave to ground connected and try to operate the horn from the steering wheel if it beeps you have a bad ground. If it does not beep check the horn fuse, if bad replace if good. it is likely the connection in the steering wheel. Hope to see you at a run soon.

Have you guys considered a 3rd party Reese hitch options for the Gen3s. Here a link to one from outmotoring. https://www.outmotoring.com/MINI-Cooper-F55-F56-F57-hidden-trailer-hitch-receiver-f55-f56-f57-four-door-hatchback-convertible-drawbar-wiring-harness-2014-2015-2016-2017-2018-2019-2020-2021-mount-kit-MINI-do-more.html Then you can use any Reese mount options, at likely half the cost to dealer.

Welcome Mike, BLUF: IMO, if you only want one set, PS4 all-season will handle the weather here no issue. If you want two sets all seasons and a nice summer tire. ----------------------------------------- Just my option, winters are a bit of overkill around here, all-seasons are fine for our temperatures. When we get snow most everything is shut down until the streets are cleared and that is usually within a day. Unless you are on unpaved roads you will only in an extreme occasion be driving on snow covered roads. We have Michelin PS4 all-weather on both of our MINIs that we lead runs for the club in. I feel I set a decent pace on them. I also have ultra-performance summers (200tw), but really only use them for performance driving (autocross, track events, etc...). You will be fine using the winters on any runs you join for the end of this year until it warms up. That will be the biggest thing with the blizzaks, they will heat up quick with the blockier tread and then wear faster pushing them on backroads. You don't need to replace them immediately, just swap them out going into spring. Again welcome and look forward to seeing you at an event soon. -Corey