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| What are all of these line looking things on the ground? I never noticed them when driving. |
This was getting depressing. I knew if I could have the full power of the performance reflash I could win this thing as the Mini handled and braked great. At a loss the ABF guys reset the ECU. I asked the Berk Technology crew whose mighty BMW was broken if I could have a few gallons of unleaded race gas to perhaps keep the Mini from freaking out (thanks guys) and gridded up for my last time attack session.
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| Paul Dentice was probably the fastest guy in my run group. He lapped me when I was having a really bad session as well. |
The damn car went tilt again when I accelerated hard on the section of turns going onto the oval on my first lap. Trying to make the best of it, I drove the Mini super hard, braking super late, straddling every FIA curb and tracking out to the edge of every rumble strip, the kinda stuff that you only usually do in a turn or two to get a slight edge. The Mini’s wonderfully compliant yet firm suspension dealt with this just fine and the brakes were great with new fluid.
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| This section of turns after the bridge was my favorite spot on the track. |
Somehow this abuse got the car down to a 2:11 which was painfully slow but fast enough to get to third place. The next event was a demonstration of next years Mini Cup wheel to wheel racing class and Dez drove my car in the demo race with a lot of trepidation. For Dez the car ran flawlessly and he won, exhibiting more straight line speed than the other Minis! This probably made me look like a rice lying fool to the ABF guys. Maybe it was the cool evening air that allowed the turbo to come closer to its target boost? Dez was gracious and didn’t blame me for anything.
Despite it all I still had a lot of fun and I hope I can have another opportunity to redeem myself in the future. Perhaps if I just drive the car like a regular car and just deal with the understeer, it won’t go tilt or maybe the ABF crew can find out the root cause of the problem. I hope ABF asks me back to drive. I was very impressed that a stock Mini can take so much abuse with out running hot and frying its oil or brakes with so little race prep. Your average Japanese compact would not be able to run like that without some intensive prep. I was also very impressed with the Mini’s handling and brakes. I also liked its power when it was running correctly.
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| How do you ruin a photo of Novella Nikita? Put me in it. Goodbye Novella, it was great having you as Miss Redline Time Attack all year. Now who will we watch Jersey Shore with when we are bored on the road? |
I would like to thank Daz Ballard and ABF Tech Division for this great opportunity to be able to drive a Mini to the limit and allow me to come away with a lot of respect for this car. The John Cooper Works Mini is no sissy car; it’s a legitimate performance machine and tough to boot!
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