I am preparing an article on a Mini that has been prepared and is being raced in the Mexican Rally Championship. Yesterday, the driver took me for an exhilerating demonstration of the Mini's ability.
I have been racing cars for more than 10 years and have ridden in many professional race cars.
Having a Mini with Sport Suspension + as a daily driver and having just sold a track-prepared Golf A4, I kind of knew what to expect.
I must say that the Rally Mini left me with my jaws dropped and still drooling in amaze. The car used is a Stock Mini Cooper with 115 bhp, so acceleration was not that surprising. However, as soon as we got to the first large turn, which is a steep left hander that runs for about 800 mts. and is on a bridge, with a fall of more than 100 mts. (a scary turn in other words), and then I knew this Mini's capabilities were WAY-beyond normal. The grip was absolutely disturbing. I could feel my body been pushed by the later acceleration so hard, that I remembered my old lessons in a Formula car or on a hard turn in my 125cc Kart.
The rally Mini has been fitted a custom-made suspension which costed around U$8000, including coilovers.
I was left with the impresion that the Mini's cornering abilities can be greatly (as from regular "sporty" car to super car handling) improved by using a coilover kit and a decent set of tires.
SO, NOW FOR THE QUESTION:
I will definitely save for a custom-made US$8000 suspension as the next
mod to my Mini (and believe me, most of you would), but in the meantime, can anyone provide with comments on how the cornering (lateral grip) ability of their Minis have been improved by using a specific coilover kit?
I am only posting a pic of the rally car for you to dream. As soon as the article is ready, I will send al link for you to see the whole enchilada...
Cheers
