Most liked posts in thread: No More LSD? WTF?

From my understanding the challenge cars do not have the ediff. I have seen what the ediff does to brake pads on both the 135i and Mini, and it's not a pretty sight. On the 135i, the driver, who is a fantastic driver, told me he was done until he got a true ediff installed. I forgot how many sets of pads he went through, but even with an extra set he had for insurance, he still couldn't get through a weekend at Road America.

These are not the old F1 style electronics; they're more suited for everyday driving. The new brake ducts, as Matt alluded to, are there for a reason--they never did these on the R53 refresh....

 

The Challenge cars started production in late 2007 and MINI didn't introduce eDiff until mid 2008. The specs say it has LSD and it seems to be the standard factory LSD unit: MotoringFile Archive 2008 MINI JCW Challenge Official Details

 

Exactly... it's a very difficult comparison to make. It would be very interesting to get 3 stock R56 Cooper S's out to a track day... one with an open diff, one with the factory LSD, and one with EDLC... and eliminate as many variables as possible (driver, track, weather, etc). Unfortunately, we all know how likely THAT is.

It's just the engineer in me that would like to see some real comparative testing of some sort before coming to a conclusion on the value of any of the options.

Agreed.