Hey everyone, A recent discussion regarding different aftermarket Mini headers got me thinking... Most folks on the boards seem to "keyboard race" and throw around dyno numbers, which as we all know opens up the can of worms for who's dyno is accurate, who's dyno is optomistic, why my dyno shows lower numbers then yours, etc. It's also pretty obvious that while the UK folks enjoy the 1/4 much more then most American Mini owners do, so trying to compare 1/4 mile times is out of the question. Finally, it's been driving me crazy that I have no real comparisons to look back on, as my Mini goes through it's stages of tunes/etc. other then a dyno sheet post-tune, and nothing "real world" to compare the numbers with. So I found a solution. Mounted a video camera on my dashboard, turned the lens to the speedo, and grabbed a few videos. I recorded many many runs, in both directions, etc. and honestly for as "accurate" as the timing is, there weren't many differences in the times. One of the advantages to an automatic car, consistency! Anyway, not sure if other folks have similar videos, or if there is any interest in taking some yourself, but I know that as I move in the next stages of seeking the go-fast goodies, I'll at least have some baseline to compare with. Now, if I only had these from when the car was BONE STOCK, I'm sure I'd be a extra happy camper! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VWPr1-IMg4"]YouTube - Mini Cooper S 0-80 Run[/ame] 0-80 [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgZMIR4tX1s"]YouTube - Mini Cooper S 30-90 run[/ame] 30-90
I've done similar things to confirm the butt dyno. I prefer (since I have a manual) to do a third gear pull from about 45mph to...well the speed-limit I feel this type of pull eliminates any kind of variable with wheel-spin and is a real world evaluation of my car's day to day performance since I can't get lap times or run the quarter as often as I'd like. I think the big reason US MINI owners don't run the quarter more often is because it's really not what the car is most adept at. In the UK the MINI is more typical of the type of car that shows up to the strip while in the US that's still the domain of Mustangs and other RWD/V-8 setups and while a 4cyl/FWD car can turn impressive numbers, the MINI is so much more impressive in the handling department.
hey joe! endulge me while i post my own vid the acceleration part is around 57 sec.s in. i think anyone looking at that section of the video can tell i'm moving "fairly quickly." i've driven through evo's, sti's, corvettes, and m3's at hpde so i think something's working right! sorry for this not so data based response.....but i ain't got no d-pic......yet! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hAwtxOIlg4"]YouTube - mynes header video[/ame]
I have a couple speedo videos of our cars but they were done more for camera mount stability testing than recording speed info. My wife's car: (note dsc light ) 15% sc, intake and invidia http://mini.midwestdrivers.net/videos/dash.html Mine when stock: http://mini.midwestdrivers.net/videos/mount.html