[dukesantos]

"North American MINI Cooper Championship launched at Las Vegas



by Brian Mackey
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The first-ever race event of the new North American MINI Cooper Championship was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 21. The event, scheduled as part of the activities at the “MINI Vacation in Vegas” club event, officially kicks off the long-anticipated racing series that is being organized by Phil Wicks Racing and features six events to be held during this first inaugural season.

The race was won by MINI aftermarket business-owner, Randy Webb of Webb Motorsports from Littleton, CO, followed by a MINI Madness sponsored MINI Cooper “S” driven by Caelin Gabriel of Portland, OR. Class Winners included Brian Black in Group 4 and Waylen Hunsucker in Group 3.

“I’m thrilled with this initial event,” said race-organizer, Phil Wicks. “The racing was terrific and I was especially pleased to see so many MINI owners come out to the track to cheer for our MINI racers. The enthusiasm for our race as well as the MINI Cooper itself is off the chart. It’s what will make this series as special and the racing as popular, as it already enjoys back in England.”

The North American MINI Cooper Championship was developed with similar competition rules and organization as the “MINI Challenge Series” in the U.K. Cars from the UK series are eligible to compete in the U.S. series. In fact, the series winner of both the U.S. and the U.K. series will be eligible to race in one event of the other series. The North American series winner will travel to the U.K. to compete in one event in the U.K. series as part of his championship winning prizes.

“We’ve ‘imported’ the very successful formula from the U.K and integrated the main elements to suit the American marketplace,” added Wicks. “Under the supervision of SCCA National Champion (Showroom Stock 'C' MINI Cooper S) Pete Taylor, who serves as our race director, we have developed a racing series that will bring the popular U.K. format here to North America.”

Phil Wicks is a long time MINI enthusiast who raced the original MINI Cooper in the early 1960s for various works-supported MINI racing teams and raced throughout England and Europe. With the launch of the “new” MINI in 2002 to the U.S. market, Wicks founded the “Phil Wicks MINI Driving Academy” which provides on-track driving instruction for enthusiasts of the MINI at various race tracks across the U.S.A. The racing series is an outgrowth of his successful driving academy.

The next event scheduled will be held at Sebring International Raceway on April 2. Events are scheduled at Gateway International Raceway on June 10-11, Summit Point Raceway, WVA on June 29, Carolina Motorsports Park on September 23-24 and the recently added Buttonwillow Raceway in California on October 30. Additional event to be announced later."

Photo credits: Red MINI- J.Souza, Starting Field- Pflashinaz.

I attended this event and it was great fun. It was part of the MINI get together in Las Vegas that weekend that about 300 MINIs attended. There was also a driving school at the track that weekend by the Wicks organization. The overall MINI event was hosted by the Sin City MINI Club of Las Vegas.

[ChallengeRacer]

Thanks for the post...I'll be in the States soon and was hoping to hook up with some Mini owners/racers....glad to hear folks are racing them!!

BTW, would you happen to know if these guys are running data acquisition? And if so, what type?

Thanks,

Stephen.

[dukesantos]

They probably are but I don't know the details. The second race was held in Sebring, FL and the next one is in St. Louis. There is a regional racing group in Arizona/So. Calif. as well as national classes in SCCA club racing and BMW CCA club racing. The Challenge series has announced that they are going to the FIA spec next year that is used in Europe.

That is the main problem right now, all of the groups are using different tech and equipment rules, making it almost impossible to set up a car for more than one series.

[ChallengeRacer]

Quote: Originally Posted by dukesantos

They probably are but I don't know the details. The second race was held in Sebring, FL and the next one is in St. Louis. There is a regional racing group in Arizona/So. Calif. as well as national classes in SCCA club racing and BMW CCA club racing. The Challenge series has announced that they are going to the FIA spec next year that is used in Europe.

That is the main problem right now, all of the groups are using different tech and equipment rules, making it almost impossible to set up a car for more than one series.

Yeah, we have a "similar/different" problem with rules here...the FIA spec is much better than spotty inforcement of basic rule parameters. I'm in the Texas area, but may do some travelling. If so, I'll try to make one of the events. It sure would be interesting to compare notes. We have a particular problem about driving infractions (like blocking, the one-change-of-direction rule). BTW, do you guys disable the ABS? The people here won't allow that (too afraid of flat-spotting tires).

Thanks for the information!

Stephen.

[dukesantos]

I don't know what the FIA spec says about ABS. The others are pretty silent on that, only calling for airbag deactivation. One issue with the FIA spec is the roll cage, apparently none of the existing ones here meet their spec and importing them and other parts from Europe is expensive and time consuming. In fact, in the past MINI USA and JCW would not sell any Challenge parts in North America, as they were providing complete cars with sealed engines in Europe. The result is that there are at least 20-25 MINI race cars in the USA that don't conform to the FIA spec and zero that do...

[ChallengeRacer]

Dukesantos, the thing with the cages is odd, because the Eurospec JCW cage is bolt-in, not welded...JCW of course will now sell all their parts...there are two cars here that have, in fact, removed their JCW cages for the street, not racing them any longer, which is a shame. They are probably just sitting around gathering dust.

Do you happen to know what the Challenge status is in the States? It's a big market for Mini, and it's hard to imagine them not caring to have an official presence there. The UK and German Challenge Series are very popular and have solid TV coverage at all events, with 30-35 car fields. Here in Bahrain, we have eight, on one of the best circuits in the world...a real shame.

Stephen.

[dukesantos]

The JCW roll cage metal spec is different from the typical bars used here. I agree, they are all bolt-in. Harness spec and certification is also different I have read.

The Challenge is just starting here, MINI USA did not sell the cars or racing parts here, but maybe will sell parts now. The races mentioned in the first post were the first ones. Phil Wicks is the USA coordinator and makes all the announcements, not MINI USA or JCW. It remains to be seen if people will spend the time and $$ to convert to FIA spec when there are already other series operating. This season's races are running cars in several classes and none are FIA spec.