I'm buying a second car as a daily driver to keep miles off of the GreyLenz. I spent the last few days test driving and researching the Focus ST. It is a nice car for the money and will likely be popular with the autox crowd. But, after all that I went down and drove a MINI Cooper Roadster R59. I'm so used to doing the MINI thing I've decided to get another one. I'll place the order in a few days and should get it in Feb 2013. The plan was to get a "justa" and drive it most of the time and keep the Lenz for the weekends and autox. But, I've been looking at the recent changes in the SCCA classes. They've set up a new class for modern "small bore" coops like the Mazda2 and Cooper. The class will likely be popular since the older Honda Civics can't class hop anymore. I'm ordering the R59 Cooper Roadster in Blue with the JCW aero kit just because I like the look. I'm confident SCCA will put the Roadster in the STF class since it is way underpowered for the normal two seater class of STR. If not, well... I think the MINI Cooper will be a strong contender in STF and hopefully they'll let the Roadster play there as well. So, if anyone has any plans to do something similar with the R56 Cooper for the R59 please chime in. I'll likely do the basics first and may go all the way on mods though the suspension will not likely be as pricey as I did on the GreyLenz. Lot's of decisions about wheels, brakes, etc as well. Note: no LSD decision to make...not allowed.
STF Competitors One of the main competitor cars is the Mazda 2. It produces 100 hp at 6000 rpm and 98 kb-ft @ 4000 rpm...curb weight is 2306 with std trans. The justa produces 121 hp @ 6000 rpm, 114 lb-ft @ 4250...curb weight is 2535. The local national level driver Andy Hollis is developing a Mazda 2 for autox. He's using several components developed for the B-Spec Mazda 2. The B-spec mini is using KW V1's and Vorshlag plates. Here's a thread on a Mazda forum which Andy is contributing to...anyone looking at going STF might find this interesting. New STF SCCA Class Thread - Page 2 If you drive a justa and want to get into autox it should prove a very fun class though you're likely more competitive in H-Stock which the Cooper has dominated for years. Here's a posting by Andy Hollis on his weight reduction effort on his Mazda 2... http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=273485646068742 In addition, Andy is a hell of a driver. I guess my STF events next year will not involve any first place points. Still, it should be a blast.
Quick update...Andy Hollis said in his Mazda 2 STF forum that he was moving on to another effort and won't be running in STF anymore. So, it looks like we mortals in the San Antonio/Austin area that want to do STF will have a chance after all. I'm rethinking the Roadster thing...looking at just doing another Hardtop. The Justa should end up pretty competitive in this class.
Any remember Andy and his infamous tech bulletin from many years ago? Good driver? Yes. Always honest? Well......
That was a very controversial event to be sure...also before my time in AutoX. I have to assume all appropriate amends have been made and his expertise still remains.
Move to R56 Cooper Instead of Roadster After working through some thoughts I think I'll likely stay with another Hardtop R56 in Justa form instead of the Roadster.
Agreed. Took some real balls to go that far with it. Shame too, because he was usually good enough to win anywhere. His wife (ex ?) Ann was also a very competitive driver.
I say hey to them at the events though I don't know them. They are still together and quite the team. They do a lot of autocross, tire testing, writing, photography and each year they do the one lap of America and place strong.
Are you going to use the Justa for DD or AutoX? Can you use Greylens for STF if you are on street tires?
Good questions. The Justa will be primarily for DDing but I'm thinking it would be fun to go ahead and configure it for STF and run it occasionally. Actually, I'm thinking of taking full advantage of the fact that we have two very good local clubs here that run year round...totaling 20 events a year. I'm thinking I might run GreyLenz in all SASCA events in DSP. That is twelve events for the year. You need to complete in eight events minimum to qualify for the annual award. Interestingly, SASCA and Spokes hold four joint events now...June, July, August, September...to help slide through the hottest months a little easier. Everyone likes that structure so we're going to do it again in 2013. If I do all of those events in DSP that will leave 10 possible events for the year with Spokes. If I do eight or ten of those for Spokes I'm eligible to compete for the annual award for Spokes. Instead of doing all those Spokes events with GreyLenz, which is probably the smartest thing to do for building expertise with my primary autox car, I'm thinking I'll maybe use the new DD for the spokes events in the STF class. That gives me an excuse to spend even more money on cars. I've done two things to GreyLenz that will keep it out of an ST class. I installed an upgraded intercooler and I run the Accessport Stage One tune. I could just drop the tune for the events, of course, but I still have the intercooler in place. If I took the intercooler out I'd run it in STX where the S or JCW belongs. The Justa goes in the new STF class.