I'm a long time reader, google finds lots of useful information from this forum. I have a 2006 R53 JCW which I've modified quite a bit during the last four years, and it's still a work in progress. Oh and Tampere is in Finland.
Tervetuloa! My Mom grew up in a Finnish community in Minnesota, Finnish was her first language. She learned English when she started school. I only know a few Finnish words :frown5:
Thanks all! Here's a few pics of my R53 a.k.a. alcohol problem (it runs on ethanol and usually gives me problems)...
Welcome! You Fins have a reputation for driving skills. It looks like yours sometimes exceed the durability of your MINI. CD
It has taken the abuse pretty well tbh. I've done about 100.000km (~60k miles) in it, including lots of track days. It's been mostly various oil leaks, some coolant leaks, and a little gasoline leak. And a cracked JCW head. But that was just a good excuse for a BVH. Clutch release bearing failed at about 180.000km (~112k miles). Good excuse to replace the stock LSD with a Quaife unit. Other mods include a Cat cam, OBX headers, 550cc injectors, -15% s/c pulley and +2% crank pulley. And of course Bilstein B14 coilovers with SPC top mounts. Brakes are standard JCW with Nitrac DCT slotted discs and Carbotech XP8 pads on the fronts. Last May I took it to the Nordschleife on the way home from the International Mini Meeting in Belgium. Only problem on that 3500km trip was that E85 isn't really available in central Europe... Had to switch to a close-to-stock gasoline map, which meant losing a lot of power.
I do not see a helmet...was that a parade lap? Even so, it looks as if the pace is a tad fast for a non-helmet event...:devil:
There aren't that many track day events at the 'ring where a helmet is required. It's mostly public driving sessions (touristenfahrten) during which you're basically driving on a one way public toll road. With no speed limits.
This reminds me of when I first went to Europe back in the '60s. We had driven to NYC in our car and took the SS United States to Le Havre, France. From there, we drove through France to Spain, passing through Le Mans on the way. At the time, I was in total awe of actually being on the same streets where that famous race takes place [and I was not wearing a helmet, then, either!:lol:]. I should have remembered that before my earlier post, so, I stand corrected.