Rolling Road

[The Mini Clan]

Hi,

The Mini Clan have arranged a rolling road event to which a couple of MINI members are coming to.

Has anyone had experience of a MINI on a rolling road and what results these guys can expect (small wagers are being placed on the Minis )?

We are also arranging a couple of Mini experts to be there on the day, can anyone suggest a MINI expert we could approach?

Thanks

The Mini Clan

[macblob]

Factory specs are 90bhp for MINI one, 115bhp for the cooper, and 165bhp for the cooper s, with no mods. The sky is the limit with cooper s mods though, as you will find out if u ask Julz or Bonnie Scotland

Have no idea if the factory specced bhp figures are accurate however.

[Gismo]

My BHP figures are gonna stay in the pub i'm afraid, having heard of some stories resulting in engine damage i'm not that keen to potentially put any additional strain on my engine.

I'd gladly watch though :)

Bonnie Scotland

[lightbody]

Last year I had problems on the rolling road simply because there was no-one in the rolling road garage who had any idea about MINIs. They ended up testing my car at 7000rpm when they thought it was at 3500rpm and with the car in complete diagnostic fail-safe mode (multiple warning lights on and speedo reading zero)...

The Clan have 2 expert mechanics in Classic Minis to keep an eye on things, and one person who knew a bit about tuning/modifying MINIs and how to actually operate the car would be helpful to have *in the garage*... all other participants, including the vehicle owner, were not allowed in the garage as i recall for legal reasons...

[GAJ]

Rolling roads are scary! The engine is designed to be at high revs when it is moving quickly forward getting cooled by air. Sitting still revving away - no matter how many fans are helping it is not a good idea!

[Julz]

I'll be in the pub with BS, I was warned by BBR to keep away from rolling roads as they do not have the ability to keep supercharged or turbo engines cool enough!!!:( But would be good to find out how everyone else gets on!!

[Willie M]

Yeah, I remember lightbody's scary experience last year (following which, Stouffer and I beat a hasty retreat to the back of the carpark ). I remeber the computer showing around 3500rpm, but looking inside Robs car you could plainly see the rev counter was in the red . Needless to say the electronics on the MINI got confused (why are my front wheels being spun off their hubs and yet my back wheels ain't moving???) and kicked into 'safe mode'. Poor Rob had the devils own job 're-setting' the poor wee car.

I'd certainly be interested to see a MINI complete a full Rolling Road test but I'm afraid I'd certainly think twice, or three times, about doing it myself.

Hope the Clan manage to find a MINI expert though to help them out on the day.