I run a ton of HPDEs and NEVER failed tech with Schroths, with any group. They are street legal belts for a 2006 and below MINI, they work with the belt tensioners, there is no reason on god's green earth that you can't run in class 2 with them. Class 1 requires cage/harness and at least 5 points. You don't want to run class 1 unless you enjoy being on track with race prepped GT3s.... I'm instructing with the Milwaukee PCA tomorrow....if you're going five or six point, that's where they get strict with the proper seat, harness bar and at least a 4 point bar.
If I'm gonna turn into a nutter and buy seats, I may as well get a bar... And strip my interior... And put 6-points in... And mount a fire extinguisher... Oh boy.
That's fine, and better in the long run, but in the meantime the Schroth's are better than a stock belt or cig lock, and no one should fail you for them.
Fire extinguisher...LMAO. Not worth it unless required. If you catch fire on the track, do you: A: Fumble around for the fire extinguisher, which is too puny to do much anyway once you get it, and in the process risk permanently roasting your twinberries Or B: Get out of your harness, then and out of the car, and let the corner workers get started with a real fire extinguisher until the fire crew can gets there, all the while congratulating yourself from avoiding becoming a roasted hobbit Dinky fire extinguishers look cool, I'll give you that, but they're pretty much a waste of money unless they're absolutely required.
I leave it out unless it's required, I feel like more of a poseur than usual when it's in. No one ever checks it to see if it's charged, I'm going to put an empty one in to save weight. It's a nice decoration though. It MIGHT be big enough to put out a cigarette if someone tried to smoke in my car, so there's that. You oughta get yours painted with a Union Jack if you haven't already.
So if you know what you're looking at, it's pretty obvious in this pic: The paint on my XP12 brake pad has turned to ash. I do that a lot. :cornut: When I was replacing my rotors, I noticed that this time I probably did it a little more than usual... because the outer jacket of the wheel speed sensor wire, for about the last 2" above the bracket, had melted to the point that it actually flowed and made a little drip/glob on top of the bracket. Guess I should keep a couple of spares of those in my track box... Though I doubt I will be running as hot from now on.
Yesterday was the first day at the track I had Jan's backing plates on my front brake air ducts, made a huge difference, not just in the rotors, but in the pad wear. Much shorter distance from the tubing to the hub center, better angle, than what I had before, I'd put it at the top of your list, it'll help your brakes immensely. The ABS bleed appears to have worked wonders as well.
Any pics of those backing plates? Definitely planning to do ducts now. Heat management really is everything. I bought hose for it a few years ago but never did it. Think I'm going to try N2MINI's ducts when he has a set for me. Glowing rotors look cool.... But aren't. Glad the ABS bleed worked for you.
I'll take pics or try to find some pics of them--with the ducts, they work much better with a backing plate rather than a hose on a bracket (like the Sneed ducts). You'd have to make something custom for your brakes, I know Jan has them made for Brakeman, stock, and JCW brakes, but those aren't going to fit. They wouldn't be too hard to do a custom fab job for though.
I found some old pics of Jan's original setup, in the brake thread on the other site. Very cool. Need to see if one of the types he has can be modified easily to work with my setup...
Here are pics of the setup for the RMW/Brakeman calipers, looks like these might be close to working as-is, maybe with minor mods? cct1 - I assume this is your setup... What would keep these from fitting my setup?
Each caliper is going to have a different clearance, and they may--or may not--clear with minor modification. What you can't see is how they attach--they attach to the dogbone, with a spacer between the dogbone and the brake duct, you have to drill two holes in the dogbone. I actually changed mine a little--you can't see the second attachment point in that pic, but it is actually inside the brake duct inlet. I cut it out to get more airflow, and put a second hole in the plate above the inlet--it's rock solid stable, it needs two bolts for that, but the exact location isn't critical. It's a slick setup the way the lower edge of the duct sits above and goes half way around the spindle. You might ask Jan to send you a single duct to see how/if it fits, and wether it lines up with the dog bone properly, if it does, order the second one, if it doesn't, take measurements off of it and see if he can make you a set for your setup. I think your calipers may a bit taller than the Brakeman calipers, but the wider brakeman rotor may make the overall length pretty close, meaning it's possible they'll be very close to fitting. If that's the case, all you'd need is a proper spacer, and that would be very easy to sort out. The air to the hub helps everything though--not just the brakes, but the sensor wire you melted, hub bearings, outer ball joint and boot, etc. Whatever you spend on them you'll recoup on decreased wear and tear.
Yep - I'm trading emails with Jan to see if he can send me an unfinished pair - that way if all they need is a little nudge, I can mod them myself. Otherwise take measurements and have him fab a set as you suggest.
It may not be exactly what you want, but I really, really like the simplicity of Sneed's kit. This is the brake cooler kit I've been considering. MINI Cooper S R53 Brake Cooler kit
Yeah, I've installed a Sneed kit for a friend. Wasn't really awesome. Could accomplish just as much with just the hose and some metal ties.
So I replaced my auto transmission valve body today. I had some minor surgery two weeks ago, so that weekend was out. Last weekend was going to be tranny weekend... but I had complications from the minor outpatient surgery that put me in the hospital for 5 days!!! All better now. But 3 weeks later, I finally get around to the valve body. With only one week to go before next big track weekend. Install went smoothly. No issues. Flushed, filled and went for a test drive. All was well until it heated up after about half an hour. Then FAIL. Similar or worse symptoms than before. A little different symptoms, so I think the valve body swap did SOMETHING. But either I got a bad rebuilt valve body (which happens) or I have bigger issues (control system or temp sensor or ?). I guess next step is to get a replacement valve body and try again. Soooooo unhappy. Just cancelled my weekend at VIR (next weekend) because no way now I can get it fixed in time (will be on the road with work this week). GDMFSoB. Grrrr. At least I'm off the narcotics as of last night... so I can drink now. The Captain is helping me get through it.