[YQTYYZ]

My session is tomorrow (Sunday), and I was wondering what to expect. I signed up 2 other friends, and so do we all get cars or do we share?

Is it gonna be a go-kart track, expecially since Mini is stressing the go-kart-like qualities of the MC and MCS?

[2cati]

It's a short slalom course - you won't get out of second gear...I was there on Friday...You'll get refreshments & A Mini "test pilot" cap...Cool event!

[sniece]

I went in on Saturday morning, I have to admit, it was a lot more than I was expecting. I was pleasantly surprised. It was nice to be able to drive the crap out of someone elses car, and to be able to feel the handling difference between the Cooper and the S. One thing I did notice though, those clutches were worn, particularly on the S! One of the instructors even mentioned that someone had burnt out a clutch on Friday...that didn't take long!

Steve

[Wazza]

I drove off the top Saturday morning. It was more fun than I had anticipated. You'll get 5 or 7 short laps, but the couple of slaloms in there are worth it. In driving the MCS and the Cooper, it's hard to find a big difference when you can't get past mid-second gear. Nor did I notice a disparity in handling between the two. I own a Cooper so I'm biased towards parity between the two mind you.

The baseball cap you get is nice and as always it's just nice to see so many MINIS in one location.

The course could use a long straight and a couple of high third corners...

[sniece]

I honestly noticed quite a big difference in the handling between the Cooper and the S. I also expect that it might depend slightly on which S you drove, whether is was the one with 16" wheels (BRG), or one of the 17" versions. I drove the 16 inchers on the recon lap, but didn't get a proper opportunity to flog it.

When driving the Cooper 5 speed, and the CVT, I noticed a much lower threshold for tire squealing (they also only had 15" wheels on), the S definitely cornered flatter. Now this was all seat of the pants comparisons, and I'm assuming my speed was the same each time (wasn't paying attention to the speedo ), but even my wife, who was riding shotgun, noticed a difference. I also did one run with DSC on, and one with it off, and you could feel it working when it was engaged, although I'm sure it makes more difference when you're going out of control rather than approaching the edge. In the offset slalom in the Cooper and CVT, I felt I was definitely going too fast, whereas the S felt more in control (DSC on AND off)

Steve

[YQTYYZ]

Oh yeah! It was a hell of a time (finding it at first) at the track. I drove a CVT to make the most of my time, as most guys waited for the stick-shifts. The MOJO girls were there too.

Yep, I got the hat, brochure, and lovely, lovely danishes. The white tent sort of reminded me of a Sunday sermon.

I had my friend holding on for dear life and he told me we hit 65KM/h. I took out a few pylons on my final spin and the chequer flag guy told me to slow down as that was "Not in the spirit of the event." Well, my hand slipped from the wheel, so it's not as if I intended to nearly spin out.

Other than that, it was an awesome hour. The wheels were squealing, I didn't use the brakes at all through any of the turns except the first one.

God, what a day - and we went to Casino Rama and I came back with $25.

I had wanted to buy an MCS, but after driving the MC with the CVT, it's reasonably peppy and I beat the hell out of the 3 or 4 Minis I drove.

[2cati]

Well I have to say I was quite impressed!

Approximately 45 minutes(less some wating time) taking the Minis through a slalom course! The tires were squealing all day long!

We were asked not to disable the DSC - I would have like to see how the car behaved without it....

They had full respesentation of the model line-up.


There was a significant difference in handling ability/driver confidence between the Cooper & Cooper S.

There was a difference between (much less than the Cooper/S comparison) the 16" & 17" set-ups - the 17" provide sharper feedback, 16" a more compliant ride - I truly like the 17" OEM set-up!

BTW - They had a MCS with the JCW kit (for viewing only) in the display tent - one of the instructors mentioned it had more power/torque but not enough to upset the current chassis set-up.

I can see how easily passengers can get sick!!