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USTCC Season Finale At Infineon Raceway, Sonoma CA 10-25-9

USTCC Season Finale at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma Ca on October 25, 2009

 

 

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Vincent Parker driving the Mini Mania/ BayBridge Motors, Mini Cooper S, placed 3rd and secured the Rookie of the Year Award at Infineon Raceway on October 25, 2009. The USTCC (United Statees Touring Car Championship) held thier final race of the 2009 season with a 2 hour enduro in conjuction with NASA (National Auto Sports Associattion), PRC (Porsche Racing Club) and WERC (Western Endurance Racing Club).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Ready for this race was quite an adventure. After nationals at Miller Sport Park in Utah in September we came home with a lot to repair. Blown head gasket, broken crank pully, super charger out of oil, belts and tensioner, transmission rebuild with new OSGiken diff, new cluthch and flywheel and some suspension upgrades. We had run the last 2 races on a borrowed transmmission from Jan at Revolution Mini so we needed to get his returned. Don at Mini Mania was able to get us a used 2002-4 tranny but without a difff or ring gear. A special thank you to Hans Dinse who spent several weekends at my house to help get everything rebuilt. He even took Jan’s transmission down to LA and returned with our broken one so we could use the 2005 gears. Hans spent several days fitting the 2005 gears into the 2002 box, close but not an exact fit, required some file work. At the same time we were installing a prototype clutch and flywheel for Competition Clutch and had to do some machine work to get the fit just right. We also did some upgrades to the suspension to stiffen the rear. We got the car back together on Saturday morning and went to Niello Mini for an alignment. Thanks to Niello Mini of Sacramento forr the use of thier alignment rack.

 

So we arrive at Infineon on Sunday Morning and have one practice session then qualifing then the 2 hour race. No time to do much with the new suspension, let alone make sure everything else is working. Since we didn’t make enough changes, Mini Mania gave us a new 22mm solid Rear Sway Bar to check fitment. Fitment was very good, we went out for practice with it set to medium. With the stiffer rear springs we didn’t want to have to much oversteer on cold tires and track. Practice went well, we matched our previous best time of 1:57, so things were encouraging. Engine temps were good. After Nationals and a blown head gasket we iinstalled a water temp guage that reads on the AIM display.

 

 

For qualifying we adjusted the tire pressures and went to hard on the RSB, still not enough rotation, but the pull from the OsGiken diff is amazing. No more spinning wheels in turn 2, the front plants so much better with a lot less understeer. Feels good to be able to accelerate through the corners instead of waiting, waaiting, waiting.. Qualified in 6th with a 1:56, over 1 second faster than in the summer. Pleasantly surprised with how things were going, no issues with the car or transmission. The new Competition Clutch setup shifts well and has a good pedal feel.

 

 

3pm, Race time. Car is as full as we can get it with fuel, not sure how long it will go but hopefully more than an hour. We had been testing useing my Iphone for communication, I velcroed it to the dash. Surprisingly the buttons work with gloves on. Bluetooth headphone is difficult to hear over the engine noise so the plan is I will call the pits 1 lap before the pit stop.
Good start, moved up to 5th ahead of the Mazda RX8 of Micheal McColligan, then the team of Yeung/Mak in the Acura Integra R slot in behind me and we run a close battle for about 10 laps. Our times are very close so l let the Integra by so I can just follow for awhile and relax. I’m old and need too conserve if I’m going to last 2 hours. The Integra seems to be loosing brakes and is stopping sooner so I repass in lapped traffic. The next lap I see the Integra has wrecked in turn 7 with a RX7 that was being lapped. A few laps later I come up to turn 6 and see Curt Simmons in the Dodge Neon SRT4 is on fire and safety crews are there which brings out a full course yellow. It is just shy of one hour and fuel economy is better than expected. I make the mistake of calling the pits to let them know I will stay out for awhile longer but its all garbled with the engine noise. unfortunatly when I called I lost the contacts screen and couldn’t find the number again to call back when I was really ready to pit. I cruised to the 1.5 hour mark then attempted to let the pit crew know I was coming in by waving and flashing lights. Came in the next lap and the crew was a little surprised but recovered quickly. We put in 7 gallons then went back out. About 2 minutes on pit lane, not bad for our first ever pit stop. Pushed hard now since I was rested and knew I had plenty of fuel. At some point earlier Pete Bovenberg in the Honda Civic Si blew an engine so I was now in 3rd place. I had passed Rich Woo earlier and come to find out he was on a no stop strategy, so after the pit stop I came up to pass him again not knowing he had passed me during the pit stop, so i was really passing for position. With a few laps to go the Mazda RX8 broke his right front wheel studs and broke the rim going off in turn 3 just shy of the retaining wall. This brought out the second full course yellow that would take us to the checkered flag. I was pretty sure I placed 3rd but Rich Woo was directed to the podium as well until the final results were posted. Rich came close with his no pit stop strategy but i managed to secure 3rd, with Andre Hartanto in first driving the Chevy Cobalt and Andy Chitum in 2nd driving the BMW 228i. I also finished as the top rookie securing the coveted Rookie of the Year honors.
Chammpagne never tasted so good. Now just need to figure out how to get it out of the racing suit.

 

 

Again a Special thanks to Hans Dinse for all his help this season.

 

 

Thanks to the sponsors without thier support none of this would be possible.
Mini Mania: parts, advice, support.
Bay Bridge Motors: update to cage, annual inspection, track support.
Valley Motorworks/ Point Six Racing: tire mounting and balancing, alignment.
Niello Mini of Sacramento: electronic diagnostics, alignment.
Texas Speedwerks: suspension goodies.
Revolution Mini: tuning, track support.
Mini Corsa: use of thier shop and lift fot tranny swap.

 

And my wife Meribeth for all her support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MINI Cooper Clearance Sale!

Hurry, limited to stock on hand!

High-tech Spark Plug Wires for your MINI Cooper

Interestingly, some high-tech spark plug wires can provide an alternative to the Plasma Booster to accomplish the same task of increasing the intensity of the spark produced by the spark plug and thus provide the same benefits.

The Nology company makes a set of spark plug wires that each incorporate a capacitor and separate ground connection. With this addition, the spark plug wire itself stores up the energy of the spark until it reaches a high intensity level, then releases it in a shortened burst that provides a quick, clean ignition of the fuel/air mixture.
The manufacturer claims an increase in spark intensity of over 300 percent, which measurably increases horsepower and mileage, and reduces emissions by providing more a complete burn of fuel. An added benefit is that the substitution of the high-tech spark plug wires is legal under California Air Resources Board regulations.

Great information can be found here: http://mini-cooper-parts.blogspot.com/2009/09/high-tech-spark-plug-wires-for-your.html

Race Report #3 Infineon Raceway, CA

Race Report USTCC #3

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Vincent Parker driving the Mini Mania/ Bay Bridge Motors #96 Mini Cooper S competed with NASA on 6-28-9 in the USTCC (United States Touring Car Championsip) finising 4th and taking the Dupli Color Top Rookie Award.

This was the best result this year and lifts Vince up to 4th in season points and 1st in the Rookie of the Year points. A special thanks to Hans Dinse and his brother Jim for thier pit crew work this race. Hans is the Service Manager for Niello Mini of Sacramento, CA so he brings a lot of Mini knowledge.

Saturday was Hot! 104 in the Bay Area is unusual. The track was greasy after a few laps so times were a little slow for everyone. It didn’t help that Nascar was here the week before and left thier cheap rubber all over the track. Saturday is a practice day for the USTCC. We run a warm up session, then a qualify, then a practice race. Qualified 5th with a time of 1:58.9 Since this is a practice day we took the oportunity to test tire temps with a new Longacre pyrometer. Results were very good, showed even temps across the tire surface, but with the air temp at 104 we were getting up to 200 degrees during the race.

Sunday was a little cooler, down to 100 degrees. We decided to add more front camber just to see what the tire temps would do and to see how it would handle. Seemed to work well, turn in was better and the qualifying time was improved to 1:57.6 which put me in 6th for the race.

Sunday race. Standing start. Our group starts first with serveral other groups spaced out behind. Just my luck for the 2nd race in a row the car in front stalls, I had to go right but got a slow start so I lost a couple of positions. The race is 30 minutes long and I was able to pass up to 5th and follow close to 3rd, Michael McColligan in the Mazda RX8 and 4th, Rich Woo in the Honda Integra. About half way through the race our group catches the slower groups and we have a lot of traffic to deal with. On the second to last lap the RX8 spins, I look in my mirror and there his is, at the same time I have caught up to the integra and attempt a pass in turn 7 but come up short on the exit. I end up 4th, 1 second behind 3rd. I finish first in the
top rookie race.

http://vimeo.com/554002
USTCC Race #3 Infineon 6-28-9 on Vimeo

Overall a great showing for the Mini and I appreciate the help of Hans and Jim as pit crew.

Next up is August 1, 2 at California Speedway in Fontana Ca. We will be on the Roval which is about 3/4 of the Nascar oval then an infield road course.

Thanks to the Sponsors
Mini Mania http://www.minimania.com/ Mini Cooper Parts and Accessories Online! BMW MINI Cooper and Classic Mini Coopers!
Baybridge Motors Bay Bridge Motors – Mini Cooper & BMW Repair
Pointsix Racing/ Valley Motorwerks
Texas Speedwerks Texas Speedwerks Home Page
and Niello Mini of Sacramento for thier help.

USTCC Race Report #4 Cal Speedway Fontana, CA

USTCC Race Report #4 Cal Speedway 8-2-9

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Vincent Parker driving the #96 Mini Mania/ BayBridge Motors Mini Cooper S competed with NASA in the USTCC (United States Touring Car Championship) at California Speedway, placing 5th and scoring the top rookie award despite a very difficult weekend.

The plan was to get the car tuned on Friday then head over to the track to set-up. Work on learning the track on Saturday, then race on Sunday. Didn’t quite happen that way. Drove down to LA on Friday and met up with Jan from Revolution Mini Works to get the dyno tune. On the dyno we started hearing a clicking noise, thought it might be the starter. Took the starter off, no change. Checked the valves, nope. Still making noise, by now we see oil dripping out from the transmission so the day is done. Jan hooked us up with Danny from Minicorsa who agreed to meet us on Saturday at his shop and gave us unlimited use of his lift and expertise. Spent all day at his shop and switched out the transmission with a new clutch and flywheel. Found an alignment pin had come loose and bounced around until it poked through the case. While there we also replaced the wiring harness, map sensor, and o2 senser that Jan determined were the cause of the engine under performing. Started Friday with 175 whp and finished with 240 whp and 185 torque.

Really want to thank Jan and Danny for all of their help on Friday and Saturday to get us to the race on Sunday. Jan loaned us his transmission and fixed our engine gremlins and Danny for letting us use his shop all day and lending a hand and showing us the easier way to do a transmission swap.

Dropped the car off at the track on Saturday evening and went to get a good nites sleep (After Beer) Sunday race day. Cal Speedway is impressive just driving up and seeing the huge bleachers. This was the first time on a big banked track, took awhile to get used to keeping it wide open on the bank to find the fast line. Went out for warm up and got black flagged because the hood had popped open. Came in to the hot pit and had to get out and fix the hood latch so didn’t get many laps. Next up was qualifying. Qualified fast enough to be in 4th but since I missed Saturday qualifying I was put to last. Power was much improved and I was getting up to 130mph on the oval. In the infield the car was understeering and with so little track time we didn’t make any major changes.

Race. Started last, standing start out at the Start/Finsh line on the oval. The front row went way to close to the flag stand and were actually under and couldn’t see the flag wave for the start. I had an awesome start, smoking the tires and then missed 2nd gear, “***k”, went to 3rd gear then back to 2nd but had lost a lot of ground. Caught up to the pack by turn 3 going into the infield. Slowly worked my way through the pack and was challenging for 4th before time ran out. Considering all that happened this weekend it was a good showing. Showed improved power but the handling sucked. The gap to the front runners was the closest ever. The first 3 cars were running 1:57’s and I was doing 1:59’s, 4th fastest, a second ahead of the RX8 and 2 sec ahead of the other Mini of Rich Peterson.

In car video, ran out of tape before the end. http://www.vimeo.com/6029168

Awards http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryc-beh…ns/3786070612/

Again many thanks for all the help from Jan at Revolution Mini Works and Danny from Minicorsa. Also my crew chief Hans Dinse who worked harder than anyone to get us to the track.

Next up is the NASA Nationals at Miller Sport Park in Tooele, Utah. I’ll be running in USTCC and GTS3

Thanks to the sponsors
Mini Mania www.minimania.com
Baybridgemotors www.Baybridgemotors.com
Point Six Racing
Texas Speedwerks www.txwerks.com

Special thanks to
Revolution Mini Works www.Revolutionmini.com
Minicorsa www.minicorsa.com

Mini Mania Labor Day Sale. Save 13.99%!

Mini Mania is having a Labor Day sale. From now until Labor Day we’ve marked down our entire inventory! (well, pretty close anyway) Don’t miss this chance to save BIG!

go shopping

MINI Cooper Engine Damper – Vibration Evasion

This one part can literally make or break your engine

By Jeff Huneycutt

Photography by Jeff Huneycutt

No matter how well-tuned it is, your race engine is a grumbling beast. Consider that there are four controlled explosions with every turn of the crankshaft in a V-8 engine. At 7,000 rpm, the spark plugs fire off an air/fuel charge 28,000 times every minute.

From the driver’s seat, it may feel like the engine is providing a constant source of power, but the events taking place inside reveal the contrary. When the cylinder fires, an expansion of gasses from the burning fuel places incredible amounts of downward pressure on the piston. Of course, that’s what we want since the engine is supposed to burn fuel to produce horsepower. Unfortunately, that force is neither smooth nor consistent. The force of the burning fuel pushing the piston down the cylinder bore must be converted to a spinning force by the connecting rod and the arm on the crankshaft. Plus, when the piston is being pushed up the cylinder on the compression stroke, the force is acting in the opposite direction.  The rest of the story can be found here!

SUPER DAMPER® HARMONIC DAMPERS – R50/52/53 MINI COOPER & S
Performance Hamonic Damper replacement for you 2002-2006 R50 MINI Cooper and R53 Cooper S Hatchback, and 2005-2008 R52 MINI Cooper and Cooper S Convertibles.This is a great alternative to the stock Harmonic Damper which can fail over time.

This new design is a direct replacement for the stock OEM Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S damper. The heart of this unit is the tried and true “damper within a damper” design that has put ATI ahead of the rest. The outer shell has been machined to allow OEM serpentine belt locations, and includes laser-etched timing marks.

[ ] Eliminates torsional crankshaft vibrations
[ ] Exceeds SFI 18.1 specs
[ ] Laser etched 360° timing marks
[ ] Black zinc chromate finished

Note: The Mini Cooper or Cooper S Belt Tensioner Tool is recommended to remove or replace factory belt.

Total weight: 3.60 lbs.
Inertia weight: 2.20 lbs.

For the Factory replacement Harmonic Balancer, see NME7647.

For a lightweight Crankshaft Pulley Upgrade, see NME5030.

MiniOwners.com – A social site for Minis and their owners!

MiniOwners

Great deals on Stage Kits this week!

MINI Cooper Stage Kits on sale this week!

USTCC RACE #2 AND GTS3 THUNDERHILL RACEWAY WILLOWS CA. 5-30/31-9

Vincent Parker driving the MiniMania/ BayBridge Motors #96 Mini Cooper S competed with NASA this weekend in the USTCC (United States Touring Car Championship) and GTS (German Touring Series). The Mini was running stronger than ever since getting an engine management error code fixed with the help of Mini Mania and Niello Mini. Luckily 2 weeks before the race while at the Mini Mania annual “Nevada City Adventure” the car was put on the dyno and showed poor results, down 20-30 whp. Scans showed a fault code and with the help of Hans Dinse, the service manager for Niello Mini in attendance at the event, he offered Niellos assistance by having the car diagnosed at Niello. They found a faulty fuse circuit and were able to repair it quickly. Off to the races.

continue reading…

Check out my Slide Show!

Save 18% Thru Monday!

NCA ‘09 Photo Galleries!

Nevada City Adventure 2009 Gallery!

buy a print!

See the Slideshow!

Funkhana Video!

Dyno Video!

More Minis From NCA 09 on Mini Mania’s facebook page!

Check out my Slide Show!

Should Mini Mania build an Electric MINI Cooper E+

Just a thought and sure Mini Mania would like your thoughts!
Should Mini Mania finish an experiment of their own?

http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/98750/msgthread.cfm

Wine Country Classic Sign-Up!

Infineon Raceway is are offering REME and the Mini community a “PRIME” spot in the paddock area, like last year. They would like 40 MINI/Minis (20/20) if possible. Please note while the Porsches, Jaguars, Bentleys, BMWs, Audis, and the rest are parking on the hillside on gravel areas, our Minis will be front & center in the pits, on smooth pavement. We will be next to the food booths, bathrooms, and smack in the middle of all the great vintage racecars and drivers.

Let’s make an effort to get a LARGE group of Minis there. Please contact your freinds and let them know. We need to get as many classic Minis as possible.

We can purchase tickets from Infineon Raceway through Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts at a discounted price of $52 per person for a two-day pass which will includes our Mini corral in the paddock area. If we purchase a minimum of 20 tickets, we qualify for a Mini corral. The $52 price is per person, not per Mini. We would like to get 40 MINI/Minis, including at least 20 classics. We need your Paypal payment by May 15. Make Paypal payments to paypal@redwoodempiremini.com note Wine Country Classics on you payment.

Once we have met our minimum 20 tickets for the corral, individuals can purchase tickets directly

Retail tickets are $60 and can be purchased from the track or Ticketmaster.
Ticket master: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00417AC3BC4AAA?artistid=1309992

Last year’s event pics here .

10 Stunning MINI Photographs

UFO

Miami MINI - HDR

Sommer 180°

MCS.

Mini Cooper, John Cooper Works Edition

A.A.A // Ausfahrt am Abend in Austria

Mini Challenge Sandown 2008

Parking Garage

Dennis Noten

((MINI))

Help Those In Need: Bring A Bag Of Groceries to NCA!

Every year, the staff at Mini Mania delights in helping a charitable group, and with the difficult economic times upon us, we thought supporting our local food bank and sponsoring a food drive would be a great way to help our community. We know Mini owners have a big heart when it comes to lending a helping hand. So this year we would ask if you could bring one grocery bag of non perishable food to the event where it will be collected and distributed by the Inter Faith food bank in our local area.(suggestions are: cereal, soup, canned goods, etc.) We thank you in advance for your participation and support.

find out more about NCA ‘09!

Mini Mania is having a site-wide 15% off sale Wednesday & Thursday of this week!

This will be a 48 hour sale. If you’ve been waiting for some big savings, this is it!

The sale starts on Tuesday, April 15th and ends April 16th at midnight.

http://www.minimania.com