Cadwell Park Mini Cooper S R53 Test

1st test of Mini Cooper S track car - 17% pulley, GRS Intercooler, Vogtland lowering springs, Ferodo DS1.11 pads.
andylangleyracing.co.uk
/ andylangleyracing
thenorfolkphotographer.co.uk

[@vyrnmn]

The glove box opening made me laugh

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Haha yeah that's been taken off now!

[@aevans148]

Sounds nice! What power is this making?

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

It makes a great noise doesn't it! Not had it dyno'd, but judging by other people's cars with similar mods it should be around 180-200.

[@darrenlucas2768]

Hi Andy, been getting to grips with my S this weekend, it sounds very much the same as yours when driving it.....v similar spec.....the power is actually quite shocking! I have mismatched tyres.....the rears are Firestone,s and Toyo up front....the rear seems to be a little loose.....tyres I hope but a few sharp turns got it unsettled a bit to easy....front shocks are new so maybe it's pitching down a bit at the rear. Gearbox seems a little notchy...but yours seems a bit like that watching your laps.. Any advice on the brakes? Just a standard set up at mo but not anything amazing.....also are you running standard geometry camber etc? Your car seems glued, I'm on standard springs at mo. Cheers buddy

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Darren Lucas sounds good! Were you on the road or track?! These aren't known for being loose so worth looking at tyres and getting alignment checked. On the track you normally have to run a bigger rear anti roll bar to get the back moving and play with the geometry. Think some people run them nose down as well to make it looser. Gearbox is OK on mine, not the smoothest and 2nd gear is normally a pain to get in when driving quickly as you can go past it when coming down the box! Standard brakes are terrible! You either need to upgrade to R56 calipers or the R53 JCW calipers which are the same. I had yellow stuff pads in when I used it on the road, but they got cooked on track. Think my geometry is not far off standard as I can't change camber atm, bit of toe out on front I think - it's been so long since I drove it! I do have a 21mm rear anti roll bar on it which helps to get the nose in.

[@darrenlucas2768]

@@AndyLangleyRacing Thanks Andy for reply. Was just road work( private obviously,cough cough) your advice is helpful. The handling is nearly there, it just felt more like it was going to oversteer and that surprised me...but I think a track session with lots of run off space will teach me a bit more about it's character.... Reminds me of an old 1.9 GTI I had years back , that would oversteer dramatically on lift off.Been driving an RX8 around for last five years and I think I expected the mini to feel a little easier to drive with commitment, infact it's not but like you,ve said it could be a number of factors. Pulls like an absolute bastard though.....but engine light and traction control triangle warning both came on ,on the trip home.....looks like my wallet is coming out! Any advice on a good set of sticky tyres that suits is welcome too.i will be going with the R56 brakes.👍

[@stevewalker9888]

Nice driving dude. What have you had done to your mini.? Mine is at 200hp for now untill I get the 550cc injectors installed. But do wonder if I could do a track day. And make it look as awesome as you do. Liked and subbed for more.

[@stevewalker9888]

P.s. my glove box does that too. 🤣🤣

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Thanks Steve! So in this video it's got - 17% pulley, GRS Intercooler, Vogtland lowering springs, Ferodo DS1.11 pads. I've now added a thicker Whiteline anti roll bar, Meister R coilovers and it's now got a roll cage and I'm waiting for a few more mods to be done, so hopefully will have some more vids soon when I start testing again. You have to start somewhere, get along to a track and bed yourself in. There'll be varying abilities, just take your time and build up, try not to go too fast too soon and just have fun! You'll love it, especially in a Mini!

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

@@stevewalker9888 haha I've taken mine off now!

[@darrenlucas2768]

All the car you need......just buying one myself. Such a balanced car too. I have an RX8 as well and I couldn't drive it this fast as confidently....I much prefer FWD , Sorry Jeremy Clarkston. What tyres are you on, standard dampers and no ecu mods, exhaust changes? Plugs? Many thanks for a bloody fab upload

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Can't imagine driving anything else now to be honest and I'm a big rear wheel drive fan! Running on Nankang NS2R i believe, standard dampers with Vogtland lowering springs, 17% pulley, GRS intercooler, Milltek exhaust with Janspeed downpipes I think - was already on car. Plugs were a grade cooler but not sure of exact spec off top of my head. No ecu mods but needs a tune really as she's running a bit rich and would seriously benefit from some coilovers, but still great fun as is!

[@darrenlucas2768]

@@AndyLangleyRacing got my car yesterday.....very similar spec, minus the manifold and intercooler( on my list)......yours is more like 220 from what I can gather from the boys at Mini Mafia where I got my car....makes alot of sense as a driver's car, hardcore machine

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

@@darrenlucas2768 sounds good, gotta get that intercooler though! Had mine dyno'd last week by the guys at the College of West Anglia www.cwa.ac.uk after they'd fitted a roll cage for me and it was 195bhp at the flywheel which I'm happy with. I know guys who race these with a cam and a remap who are getting 220-230 so I knew it wasn't at that level. She's gained about 50kg with the cage, but I now have some nice, shiny new coilovers that need fitting and testing, can't wait!!

[@darrenlucas2768]

@@AndyLangleyRacing really surprised, I thought the 17 KAV was worth 20bhp on it's own! But the rollers don't lie.....mine is a late model r53, feels v powerful in it's state of tune but I guess it's not as powerful as I thought...I intend to change the intercooler and fit an MSD coilpack , the springs you are running too were advised as being good too.....then just enjoy as the tuning can run out of control in the pursuit of numbers I guess.for the record yours looks bloody fast and was a focus to what I wanted....happy days bud, I'll subscribe and keep tabs on how yours develops

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

@@darrenlucas2768 well, yours may be running a few bhp more being a later model. I'm well impressed with those springs, thought it would be awful, but is a good, cheap mod. I normally wouldn't get too hung up on power figures, but mine is purely a track car with a view to doing a race or 2 at some point, so I'll throw bits at it as and when I can afford it! Ditto, be good to see where you go with yours and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun whatever!

[@xenon91]

How did the brakes hold up? I had massive issues at the Dutch tt circuit with oem pads and 15% pulley.

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Have you got any cooling to the brakes? If not you'll struggle with fade. This has got DS1.11 pads in the front, plus no fog lights and no wheel arch liners so the air can get through and I had no problems - I wasn't pushing the braking that hard as we had no ABS and I've had one of these swap ends with no ABS before!

[@PhilzDizcoveryTV]

stock brake calipers? Any braided hoses? goes well

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

It's got the R56 calipers on it, so much better than the original R53 ones which are plain scary! Braided hoses and Ferodo pads which makes for a good setup IMO.

[@PhilzDizcoveryTV]

@@AndyLangleyRacing I thought you might have the r56 ones on it. Do you know if they fit behind 15" wheels. What wheels are you running?

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Definitely, the bigger caliper and disc makes sense for track use. As for 15s over those calipers, that's something I'd like to find out myself! Pretty sure the standard Mini wheels won't fit but maybe an aftermarket with a different offset or spacer?? Currently running a Team Dynamics Monza wheel in 17".

[@PhilzDizcoveryTV]

@@AndyLangleyRacing 15" wheels would help massively with unsprung weight reduction, possibly a team dynamics 1.2 may still need a spacer though, hubcentric one shouldn't be an issue. Looking at 15's also makes tyres way cheaper. Let me know if you find any info out ☺ please

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

@@PhilzDizcoveryTV I'll see what I can find out as I'd like to try 15s on the next track day! 😁

[@roesroyce]

what the hell is that popping out the drinks holder ?

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Took me a while to figure out, but it's the collar from the bottom of the gear lever. Gear lever kept coming loose and you have to adjust the grub screws underneath the collar so I took it off.

[@darrenlucas2768]

Last question Andy about the larger anti roll bar you are running....is the front standard? If so, how does it affect the car, does it make the rear easier to move out giving it more of a rear wheel drive feel? If you put larger on the front and left rear, what would that do to the balance? I'm very appreciative of advice buddy, just seems you are a guy who has some knowledge and I'm new to minis. Upload some more vids this year.....your fan base will start to get demanding😉 thanks again

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

Hi Darren. Yes front is standard - although in the original Challenge race series they used to put a Mini One front bar on, which was thinner, and leave the rear standard. Definitely don't put a larger front one on as it will induce understeer or help get rid of oversteer. I don't know exact reasons but I think the larger rear bar helps to pick up the inside rear and reduces roll of the car. No worries, once coilovers are on I'll find somewhere to test them and let you know the results! 😁

[@darrenlucas2768]

@@AndyLangleyRacing quick question Andy.....have purchased same springs to run with Bilstein non adjust gas dampers..about 30 mm drop.....I'm having conflicting reports saying that if you don't replace the rear bars with adjustable,s then the rear camber will be too much( about up to -3) and needs to be adjusted in, hence new arms. I actually want the rear to feel glued and at the expense of premature tyre wear, so be it ,so in your experience is a drop ok without worrying about the increase in neg camber if it's just a tyre wear point, or is it better to dial it back using adjustable bed bars.I always thought neg camber increase was a good thing for handling . Apparently the front doesn't suffer in the same way when dropping ride hight but due to strut design, but any advice there helpful too. Cheers always Andy for help. Daz

[@AndyLangleyRacing]

@@darrenlucas2768 I think it's a good idea to replace the rear lower control arms with adjustable ones - I'm pretty sure that most people that race them have around than -2, so -ve camber is good, but you can have too much. I've got the rear lower adjustable arms on this car. I need the adjustable top mount on the coilovers for the front to actually dial some more in, so that's correct in that it's not quite the same.

[@darrenlucas2768]

@@AndyLangleyRacing, thanks for reply.....the boys at Mini Mafia in Mansfield where I got the car really know there stuff, sell and modify 53,s and 56,s and they told me that just fitting a good set of springs

[@tharpeaddy]

Looks like a chick is driving. Tight pants and girly bracelets

[@ronaldmorrison6013]

You must be a joy at parties

[@JoeFiddle-ls5jh]

You must be gay