For all the mini people out there who put in an aftermarket seat.  The ***** brand seat bit me big time.  The softly padded tubing frame for the bolster caused significant bruising and if it had not bent and twisted so much it probably would have broken my leg.  The custom cage was designed well and except for a slight bend in one tube the chassis was perfect.   I knew you were going to hit the passenger door hard so I flipped up my visor and then grabbed the lower surround of the helmet with both hands, tucked my elbows into my chest and relaxed.  Damn right I was pissed.  That clown spun in his own oil twice around the same turn and still was not black flagged nor was an oil flag put out.  4K+ and a season that moron cost me...  The upside is that I rebuilt / refined  everything on the car that year off and that's the car you see out there today.  

We were wondering why you didn't have a stiff arm? You were pissed, I was late turning in and your brother dove under me rooting me into the oil. I was .5 sec from being on a line to by pass all that. Pushed my cage back 1/2 inch though the Petty bar. Both sub frames front end seat mount broke. Did not fail but broke. We hit hard. Took a year of vintage racing from me. Steve (CTR)

Steve, Oh, the memories.  Had to replace everything from the left front door hinges to right rear tail light plus a set of wheels, seat, etc, etc.  And Greg came through right after us and missed it.  That p****d me off more than anything.  Let's get off this string. [email protected]

I'm pretty sure the concrete barrier had a huge magnet hidden behind it that day.....
Or, it could've been some a$$hat that dumped a crankcase of oil on the track.... with the corner workers* not noticing it for a few crashes. [rolleyes]

*-I really believe those folks do a great job. Sometimes, there's too many other things going on.

Steve, O jeez, most of this goes back almost 25 years ago...  I too took the anal approach and played with everything including adding weight just to see what would happen to get everything just so.  My only goal was to see what it would take and not so much to have a race set up.  It was a waste of time other than I could check the goal off the list as a fail. 

Now with current vintage weight restrictions #88 does have to carry balast and it does sit near the right rear but Greg put it there as much for convenience as anything else.  In the years since we even moved the fire system and battery back inside the car from the right rear.  Bottom line is that #88 is set up to handle just so and screw the get nuts perfect numbers.  Greg is pretty good at going a click or two on a shock or adding or taking away a pound on this or that tire to get everything working right.  Currently the car does get scaled before each race BUT it is just to look for consistency.

It was nice seeing you at the 55.  I've been so out of racing for such a long time now and I do miss the people and especially the bench racing BS.  If you have time, send the picture.

Kerm

Just wondering Kerm, ( by the way nice to see you recently ) when you say you added weight to the right rear did you add or move weight? I have scales and four T bar keys and we spend hours playing. With a ruler at the four checking points and scales we chase ride height and corner weight. When I thought I may have time and funds to build for the 55th at Mid Ohio I built a frame machine which would allow me to build the car on the frame jig on scales at each wheel. The idea was to leave the springs out and make adjustable length links to replace the shocks. Head full of ideas empty pockets. Oh yeah looking in my desk I found a picture of a couple of young fellows discussing problems at turn 7. We were so much better looking then. Steve (CTR) 

Strange but even when we added weight to the right rear we still have had problems in getting the balance to come in correctly.  It tends to cock the other weights up before the problem gets much better.  So the point is before you start spending money on fancy RH tanks test out your theory.  My bet is that in the end you will leave well enough alone.  Better yet, find a new dragon to spear, there is a lot of other low hanging fruit...

Kerm

Nothing $750. won't take care of. When you consider $400/500 for a right tank then the convert kind of hard to handle. That's way I want to try it before spending the balance. Steve (CTR)

Steve so I'm wrong, they actually convert the stock to a bladder, amazing.  That sounds like a really good safety idea for street actually.

You call Fuel Safe tell them what you have, what you want and send them the can. They will open it up and make a blatter and put it all back together. Not for the weak of heart. But racing never was. Steve (CTR)

Now if you were corner weighting a left hand drive 2L VTEC with roll bar, sway bar, two radiators, 5 gallons of gas and a 175 lb. driver the (weightier) numbers would look like this:

LF 573       RF 521

LR 379       RR 320

With this set up the Mini will track straight ahead under full throttle in all 5 gears with a minimal amount of twitchiness.

I think he's saying just buy a race fuel cell, not actually 'convert' it.

I like the idea of a right side tank.  My left tank is one of the small ones and it would certainly even out the rear.  How do you convert it to a fuel cell, put foam in it?

It is very hard to get the driver side rear anywhere close to what you'd like to see. I have tried mixing spring rates ( rubber type ) and moving things around. If I build again ( and that's a big if ) I have picked up a S right side tank and that will be the only tank. If it helps balance the car it will be converted to a fuel cell. I'm a left hand drive kind of guy. I have scales and I keep all my notes but they are at shop. D*** Faile used to say balance the front and let the rear take care of it's self? Steve (CTR)

Just found some notes from 08

LF 466 RF 499

LR 299 RR 328 

clearly a RHD

I have done several left hand cars over the years and have found that it is very difficult to get the right rear up to the weight of the left without drastically messing up the ride heights.  Generally if I get it within 30 to 40 lbs I would call it good.  Having said that,  some cars and sub frames are twisted from the get go plus from the factory one side might be shorter than the other.  These factors might lead to lucky numbers.  It's a crap shoot. 

I suppose that if a guy wanted to get nuts about this stuff playing with spring rates might be a solution but I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze.

Kerm

I think you should rent that sweet setup out for ... I dunno... $50 a shot?  Schedule it thru the weekend at your garage.

Or take it down to Jeremy's in Happy Valley (Jet motors).  Do a 'weigh day'....

Image Gallery

LHD Mini, with my 190 pound can in it.  Full tank of gas.  Curious how you guys with more Mini experience set them up?

J