>It's sort of like a modern day CRX, light and nimble but without a
> lot of power.
the mini cooper as a modern day CRX? words i thought id never hear!!! :)
its quite a bit heavier though.
sounds like a super h-stock car.
-james c
OSP - Overbearing Snake Presence
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto}" <PETER.THANA@ROCHE.COM>
To: "'Carl Merritt'" <CMerritt@luminous.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 11:42 AM
Subject: RE: Let's Talk Minis...
> Hi Carl,
>
> Sean O'Boyle and I had a chance to drive a Cooper at Mini of Mt. View last
> week. They are neat little cars, and pretty much everything you've heard
> about the handling is true so far- very responsive steering and a solid
> chassis. We felt the Cooper was a bit underpowered, especially in the low
> end. Granted we had 3 people in the car, but pulling away from normal
> right-turn-on-green speed in 2nd gear resulted in... bog. Our conclusion
> was that for the street you might be better off with the S, although they
> are not giving out test drives in them yet.
>
> Autox is a different story. I still believe after driving the car that
the
> base Cooper will be the car to have for HS. I've heard weight figures
> closer to 23xx pounds for the base Cooper. With the optional Sport
> Suspension Plus, the car will have much stiffer springs than anything in
its
> class. The Cooper is not available with 17" wheels as a factory option,
but
> comes standard with 15s and has optional 16x6.5 rims. Shod those with the
> current 205 Kumhos or the new 215/40/16 Hoosiers and you have a wheel tire
> package superior to anything in GS, let alone HS. An additional bonus is
> that the rubber band Hoosiers will dramatically shorten the gearing, which
> is something the car desperately needs.
>
> The Cooper S will be a big unknown for DS until someone sets one up and
> tries it. The chassis has great potential, but that class is already full
> of very strong cars like the Integra Type R and the IS300.
>
> I really wanted to love the base Cooper, because I've always had good luck
> with the lesser of two models (Z3 2.8 Coupe vs. the ///M and my non-turbo
> MR2). It's sort of like a modern day CRX, light and nimble but without a
> lot of power. Also while the MSRP spread of the 2 models isn't that
large,
> it will be much harder/more expensive to buy a Cooper S for the next year
at
> least. Having driven just the Cooper, I'd have to say that the S has more
> fun potential for day to day driving though. The Cooper may be a better
bet
> for stock class autox, but then again if it is too good I can see that car
> getting bumped to GS before year's end.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Merritt [mailto:CMerritt@luminous.com]
> Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 9:50 PM
> To: 'ba-autox@autox.team.net'
> Subject: Let's Talk Minis...
>
>
> So I'm seriously thinking about selling my Golf TDI for a new Mini.
Anybody
> have one yet or have one on order? Anybody seen any come out to play at
an
> Autocross yet? Any guesses on weather the NA or S version will be more
> competitive in their respective classes?
>
> For reference, the normally aspirated Mini has a 115HP/110ft-lb motor and
> weighs 2500lbs, and according to MiniUSA does a 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. The
S
> is 163HP/155ft-lbs and 2700lbs, and goes to 60 in 6.9 seconds. They both
> have the same wheel options available (17x7 being the largest), same sport
> suspension and seat options, but the S has a 6-speed. The S is in
D-Stock,
> the NA is in H-Stock.
>
> More food for thought here: http://www.miniusa.com/
>
> Anybody?
>
> -Carl
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