Well said Tony. :D

Matt's piccys are much better, such vibrant colours!!....

Speedd - check again babe, there are some very sexy looking porsche pics in the mini file, I think Matt made you an honorary mini for the day. If not, I've gone mad, again. Try the non-mini file instead.

Have fun.

Ah, just double double checked, and I HAVE gone mad!

Sorry :aargh:

Have given Matt a slap to make me feel better, and he is going to add some pics of the 'RAM' on to his site. Sorry Speedd..

He is going to put them in the Mini gallery. You ARE special.

:rolleyes:

You'll be pleased to know that Matt enjoyed his slap, and then pointed out that there are 2 pics of the 'RAM' on site, no.s 8781 and 8802. I like the first one, but seeing as this is a mini site, the second picture does have some good background detail to be admired.

:D

What a cracking day :D Had a brilliant time, easily my most enjoyable track day. Absolutley shattered by the time I got home though.

Thanks to everybody for making it such a fun day, the mini track attack in the afternoon was great. Steward was funny whilst we were waiting to go out

Steward - Bloody hell is this the Italian job. I hope your not racing each other
Me - no course not
Steward- (sarcastically) yeah yeah I believe you.

Special thanks to Tony for organising the discount and photographer and thanks to Matt for doing the photography in such bad weather.

Great video by the way Steve

Glad all went well considering the weather - and nice vid Steve :cool:

Shame no pics of Annie dancing round :D

Well Guys and Girls, fantastic day and thanks Tony for organising. I was shattered at the end of the day. Did 200 miles on track and averaged 10.3 mpg - I was obviously taking it easy. Has been as low as 8.8 on previous outings. Nearly ran out of fuel at the end and left the track with computer registering a range of 1 mile! Coasted and peddled the 8 miles to the nearest petrol station

Highlights include,

- Afternoon track attack

- Complete Sideways drift in front of Tony on the main straight. ( looking forward to the Video Tony)

- Going into corners with 5 other minis in the wet, unable to see anything because of the amount of spray, and praying!!!!

- Catching and crawling all over the back of an audi S4 which I caught and couldn't get away.(not that he'd pull over for a mini cabriolet!!!)

- Trip in the porker with speedd. Thanks

Yes it was excellent and looking forward to the next track day already. Any ideas???

Russell

You'll be pleased to know that Matt enjoyed his slap, and then pointed out that there are 2 pics of the 'RAM' on site, no.s 8781 and 8802. I like the first one, but seeing as this is a mini site, the second picture does have some good background detail to be admired.

:D

Cheers :o

I'll be placing my order later

Yes it was a fantastic day Tony and Bedford has by far the best facilities and most professional staff I've seen at any track. I'll definitely be going back to Bedford again.

Unfortunately I appear to have knackered my rear brake pads and I'm now running on metal. I suspect that one or both calipers are sticking as if I apply brakes and let go the grinding noise continues until I tap the pedal again.

I also have a nasty noise from the front right. I'm not sure if it's a bearing or drive shaft or what. Gonna have to pop it over to Minispeed next week and get them to have a look.

To be honest though this is the first problems I've had after 5 track events so not bad going.

Emma has now suggested I get a camcorder so I can fully capture the trackday action. A handheld is not very good in comparison. I also think I need an LSD. Far too much wheelspin coming out of corners :D

Yes it was a fantastic day Tony and Bedford has by far the best facilities and most professional staff I've seen at any track. I'll definitely be going back to Bedford again.

Unfortunately I appear to have knackered my rear brake pads and I'm now running on metal. I suspect that one or both calipers are sticking as if I apply brakes and let go the grinding noise continues until I tap the pedal again.

I also have a nasty noise from the front right. I'm not sure if it's a bearing or drive shaft or what. Gonna have to pop it over to Minispeed next week and get them to have a look.

To be honest though this is the first problems I've had after 5 track events so not bad going.

Emma has now suggested I get a camcorder so I can fully capture the trackday action. A handheld is not very good in comparison. I also think I need an LSD. Far too much wheelspin coming out of corners :D


The rears are very prone to binding. I automatically change mine after a hard track day now. Cost of standard pads is £36 from BMW, takes 30 minutes or so to fit yourself. Ensure you get some copper grease on the non abrasive surfaces and the caliper pins, this will help.

Just gonna stick a set of EBC's in there.

BTW standard pads are £23.50 from Minispeed plus Privilidged Members can get 5% off.

The EBC's I'm hoping to get from my mate who's an EBC dealer for a similar price :D

Just gonna stick a set of EBC's in there.

BTW standard pads are £23.50 from Minispeed plus Privilidged Members can get 5% off.

The EBC's I'm hoping to get from my mate who's an EBC dealer for a similar price :D

if you go ebc, make sure its the reds. I agree with Tony as its the fronts that do all the work and the standards are fine for the rear. The guys that race will agree with this.

Sorry to hear about the problems, but I'm sure you'll have it fixed and running sweet again very soon.

My brakes seem to have stood up well to another hard day of abuse - it amazes me that our minis will take such a pounding with out missing a beat. Bedford has lots of full boost sections, followed by some big stops - the back straight into the esses - 125mph down to 80mph in a very short period of time, the next straight 115 down to 30 for the hairpin etc. Yet the cars keep going!

My Mintex pads are so much better than the cr@p that came with the AP BBK and the Greenstuffs I have on the back seem to have survived as well.

I love it:p

Here's a short vid at 340kbs (Tony) of me chasing the fastest MCSC in the west and a bit of a red 275 bhp Cooper S.
3MB wmv vid of minis on a race track -ho hum (http://www.pantywaster.com/bedofrd-short.wmv)

Cheers
S:yeblack:

Here's a couple of vids I've put together so far.

Some good footage of the race prepped Nissan 350Z powersliding round the bends in the first one.

http://media.putfile.com/Bedford-May-2006

http://media.putfile.com/Bedford-May-2006-8mb-vid

That gunmetal s2000 was a bit of a pain until it got nice and wet - he'd boot it down the straights and then dilly-dally through the corners - a bit like the Ferraris. You can imagine them looking in their mirrors and thinking "where did that mini come from?" and a nanosecond later "my car is worth 7 times as much as their's, no way am I letting it past" only for them to learn the great levelling equation:

(H20+ front wheel drive) X 220bhp ,
1100kg + big grins

equals a quick mini in front!

S:yeblack:

I know what you mean, some people just refuse point blank to yield to a mini :rolleyes:

Anyway here's my last video. Unfortunately due to my battery running out on my camcorder not long after the lunch break, I haven't got much footage of me following other minis.

http://media.putfile.com/Bedford-May-2006-15mb-vid

I love it:p

Here's a short vid at 340kbs (Tony) of me chasing the fastest MCSC in the west and a bit of a red 275 bhp Cooper S.

Cheers
S:yeblack:


Theres a simple reason why its the fastest MSCS in the West....



... its his wifes car.... :eek: :eek: :eek: And she just doens't know how he thrashes it.... :D :D :D

Here's a short vid at 340kbs (Tony) of me chasing the fastest MCSC in the west and a bit of a red 275 bhp Cooper S.
3MB wmv vid of minis on a race track -ho hum (http://www.pantywaster.com/bedofrd-short.wmv)

Cheers
S:yeblack:

Seems Russ & Max were slowing you down ;) :D

Theres a simple reason why its the fastest MSCS in the West....



... its his wifes car.... :eek: :eek: :eek: And she just doens't know how he thrashes it.... :D :D :D

But she knows how to log on to Mini2 and check up on his track antics so she does know now!:p

Nice vid woodsy - always nice to see other peeps out for a spin!:cool:

Sogs - when are we going to see the Bee's spiritual bro on the track?

S:yeblack:

if you go ebc, make sure its the reds. I agree with Tony as its the fronts that do all the work and the standards are fine for the rear. The guys that race will agree with this.

Sorry to hear about the problems, but I'm sure you'll have it fixed and running sweet again very soon.

Only need to change the rears. The fronts have loads of wear left.

In fact so do the outside rear pads. It's only the inners that are down to the metal :mad: Definitely have a sticky piston problem. Gonna soak them with brake cleaner and give the pistons plenty of copper grease before they're slid back home. It seems the fact that the rear pistons twist causes them to stick very easily. Bad design IMO.

Seems Russ & Max were slowing you down ;) :D

I was a few Bhp down.......

100 in fact on Max and a mere 50 or so on the others.

I was a few Bhp down.......

100 in fact on Max and a mere 50 or so on the others.

Are you sure you don't have some stealth mods going on under that bonnet?:p

As always, you proved the rule that the driver is the most important component of a track car!

S:yeblack:

In those videos you can see just how composed REHW's car is compared to others (well apart from the waggling tail). In general the driving looks smooth and progressive and actually doesn't look all that fast. That is the key to fast driving so my Kart instructor used to tell me.

If you look at the greatest circuit drivers it is generally pretty boring to watch them smoothly going round the track making sure the car is perfectly balanced. Those that are entertaining to watch, ar53 out round the bends, a bit of wheel spin when accelerating out of a corner are gonna be driving a lot slower because of this.

In those videos you can see just how composed REHW's car is compared to others (well apart from the waggling tail). In general the driving looks smooth and progressive and actually doesn't look all that fast. That is the key to fast driving so my Kart instructor used to tell me.

If you look at the greatest circuit drivers it is generally pretty boring to watch them smoothly going round the track making sure the car is perfectly balanced. Those that are entertaining to watch, ar53 out round the bends, a bit of wheel spin when accelerating out of a corner are gonna be driving a lot slower because of this.

Your toooooooooo kind.

For a change on a track day I had the traction control on, and this made a big difference particularly as it was so wet. Normally in the dry you notice a big difference and the ability to spin you wheels through the corners seems to help. I think on Sat that the traction worked very well.

I have still to see Tonys Video proving this all wrong as I very 'smoothly' went sideways on the main straight!!!!!

It has to be said that I do look a bit slow, and that I was holding a few up, but on the day I didn't think I was. I'm sure you would have told me if I had been,

Come on Tony wheres the vid!!!

Ahh so you cheated. I take it all back then :D

I'll try do the vid tonight (very busy/lazy person), but will need a host... Steve...? :D

From my vantage point you seemed to be flying all day Russ, certainly were not holding me up...

I'll try do the vid tonight (very busy/lazy person), but will need a host... Steve...? :D

From my vantage point you seemed to be flying all day Russ, certainly were not holding me up...

I can host it if you tell me how??? ie I have a website and can upload it to it. I don't think you can access it directly but I am sure I can post it up if you email it to me.

Regards

Russell

Hi Guys,

Just to say I also had a wicked time, and was good to meet some of you other mini2 people.

Russ, I also kept traction control on for most of the day, although having the LSD did seem to help a huge amount, especially on the faster corners.

Best moment of the day? Hassling a 911 Turbo through the corners, not sure he knew what was going on!

VIdeos look great by the way.

See ya'll
Dave

I'll try do the vid tonight (very busy/lazy person), but will need a host... Steve...? :D

From my vantage point you seemed to be flying all day Russ, certainly were not holding me up...

I can host it for you if need be Tony.

I can host it for you if need be Tony.

OK, chuck me your email address and I'll send it tonight...

was my fast depleting stock pile of talent!

Oh that and the GT3, the fezza, the elise (what was that guy on?) the ariel, the British Leyland Maestro race car (!?!), the 993, 997, Serria cossie, but suprisingly not the Radical or the 350Z enduro car!

S:yeblack: