Eventful Weekend

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

Well I've been away at Pod this weekend with the Mini Turbo. Previous best had historically been 12.17 for quite some time, until a month or so ago at Avon Park when I managed to run an 11.80.

 

After some post event analysis of the various different runs at Avon Park we thought that theoretically, putting all the best sections together there was a 11.5 or thereabouts in the car, if the driver could get everything just so.

 

So away to Pod with hopes of a mid 11 second time.

 

Saturday was a washout, so used the time to drive the car about the paddock to get it hot, and then rip the top end down and retorque the head bolts. This is something we have had a few issues with hence the hot retorque. As it turns out this seems to have helped significantly.

 

Anyway so Sunday morning, and the first run, using 10"x10" Hoosier drag slicks. Away from the line with what felt not to be a great start, slightly to few revs so the car felt to bog slightly, although it quickly built boost so perhaps was not as bad as it felt. Into 2nd and on the gas, it just about took it without lighting the fronts up. Into 3rd and it baulked me on the first attempt, luckily it went in 2nd try, as it is a dog box and can be a git sometimes if you miss a cog. Into 4th and over the line, it all felt a bit scrappy so I estimated maybe a high 12 second run or thereabouts. Back into the paddock and talking to Carl and Simon, it turned out to be an 11.50 second run! As that was the weekends target, and I'd done it at the first attempt, and with a scrappy run, I was dead pleased, but also eager to see what the car would do with a clean run down the strip.

 

So back round for the second run of the day. Managed to do a decent bit of tyre warming, not so easy with the wide soft slicks and a car that only weighs 450kg, even with them lit up they still try and drag you off down the strip. Staged up and away, a better start this time, through the gears cleanly with the gas in 2nd 3rd and top, and over the line pulling somewhere north of 9000rpm in top. Felt a cracking run and on coming round into the paddock it turned out it most certainly was, 11.12 @ 124mph. From the ticket 0-102mph in 7.7 seconds, in 1/8 of a mile.

 

To say we were pleased with that was an understatement, but also left us in a quandry- it was such a good run from both the seat of the pants judge but also the times on the ticket, that there wasn't really anywhere else to go without either turning up the boost or putting bigger nitrous jets in. Not wanting to take it home broken we decided to stop whilst we were in front, and concentrate on running the twin engined car instead. A few issues with that lead to a best run of 11.6, not slow per se, but the car has run 10.83 in the past.

So with the 11.12 I took the winners place in the class, and very tired and worn out, but fetched home a trophy.

 

What is next? Well the options being mooted at present are a programmable nitrous controller to feed it in a bit more gently, or the other option is more boost- the GT25R we use is sized for up to about 22psi- at present we run about 14psi, so there is certainly more to be had.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Tom Fenton

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

Sounds like a fun weekend, congrats on the time.

 

Ought to be an even livlier beast with the boost turned up.

 

Graham.

[hcmini1989 16]

Tom you might allso want to look at your fuel maybe try some E95 .My boss is an evo nut at and keeps waffling on about this stuff he reckons a mate of his gained 100bhp from changing from unleaded to this .On a back to back test on the rollers

 

allso thats an astonishing time

Edited August 15, 2010 by hcmini1989

[swordfish210 20]

Tom you might allso want to look at your fuel maybe try some E95 .My boss is an evo nut at and keeps waffling on about this stuff he reckons a mate of his gained 100bhp from changing from unleaded to this .On a back to back test on the rollers

 

allso thats an astonishing time

 

I did my dissertation at Uni on Ethanol fuels, specificlly their use in competition engines. In reality it's bloody awful stuff, the disadvantages of it massivly outweigh the advantages. I also found out the maximum permissable gain is around the 30bhp mark from switching to E85 from 99RON, i would suggest your boss's mate is talking out of his ass.

Edited August 15, 2010 by swordfish210

[hcmini1989 16]

I did my dissertation at Uni on Ethanol fuels, specificlly their use in competition engines. In reality it's bloody awful stuff, the disadvantages of it massivly outweigh the advantages. I also found out the maximum permissable gain is around the 30bhp mark from switching to E85 from 99RON, i would suggest your boss's mate is talking out of his ass.

 

I dont doubt that hes talking sh*t mate tbh its all pub car park talk to me .And im on about E95 you cant buy it you would have to make it yourself .When you say 30bhp is that on the same map because he reckons it has to be mapped to suite the fuel or are you talkin about just swapping it over .Is it as dirty as they make out .Ive been looking at it myself with it being cheaper than 99ron and more power but i dont know how good it would be on a n/a engine

 

Allso tom water injection but i suspect you will have looked into these options becuase if youre getting 11 second times you`ve really done your homework

Edited August 15, 2010 by hcmini1989

[swordfish210 20]

I dont doubt that hes talking sh*t mate tbh its all pub car park talk to me .And im on about E95 you cant buy it you would have to make it yourself .When you say 30bhp is that on the same map because he reckons it has to be mapped to suite the fuel or are you talkin about just swapping it over .Is it as dirty as they make out .Ive been looking at it myself with it being cheaper than 99ron and more power but i dont know how good it would be on a n/a engine

 

Allso tom water injection but i suspect you will have looked into these options becuase if youre getting 11 second times you`ve really done your homework

 

No thats with the enging adjusted to suit the fuel. E95 isnt all that different to E85, you can get E100 in America as it used to be the mandatory fuel for the Indy Car series.

 

There are so many problems associated with running a powerful engine on an Ethanol based fuel. Firstly you have to consider the bizzare air to fuel ratio, it's about 6:1 for Ethanol so you need massive injectors, second you need a compression ratio of no lower 15:1 (thats ideal, higher is possible) but this can be difficult to get out of an N/A engine. Also with this air to fuel ratio you get horrendous bore wash due to the massive amount of fuel being chucked in, the internals that are in contact with the fuel wear roughly twice as fast as with petrol.

 

Honestly i wouldnt bother. On an N/A engine you will be lucky if you see any gain at all as the fuel only seems to respond to turbo engines, you'll be using twice as much fuel and wearing your engine twice as fast.

[hcmini1989 16]

No thats with the enging adjusted to suit the fuel. E95 isnt all that different to E85, you can get E100 in America as it used to be the mandatory fuel for the Indy Car series.

 

There are so many problems associated with running a powerful engine on an Ethanol based fuel. Firstly you have to consider the bizzare air to fuel ratio, it's about 6:1 for Ethanol so you need massive injectors, second you need a compression ratio of no lower 15:1 (thats ideal, higher is possible) but this can be difficult to get out of an N/A engine. Also with this air to fuel ratio you get horrendous bore wash due to the massive amount of fuel being chucked in, the internals that are in contact with the fuel wear roughly twice as fast as with petrol.

 

Honestly i wouldnt bother. On an N/A engine you will be lucky if you see any gain at all as the fuel only seems to respond to turbo engines, you'll be using twice as much fuel and wearing your engine twice as fast.

Cheers for clearing that up .As i said mate its all pub car park figures to me .I dont think ill bother with it then as you said it looks like the advantages are definatly out weighed

[pip470 61]

Tom, Outstanding mate. Your light years ahead of me with my 205 in development. I would really like to spend an evening chewing the fat and talking set ups ect. I think I could gain a few tenths with a bit of insider knowledge.

 

Great times though and 102 in 7.7 seconds, thats really shifting.

 

Whats made the biggest difference from last year then because a jump from 12.17 to 11.12 at this level takes some doing?

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

Pure and simply the tyres, previous best time was 12.17 on road tyres, that was pretty much the limit though and not repeatable with any ease. With the big slicks on I've since run 11.96, 12.06, 11.80, 11.50, 11.12.

 

Oh and I've just looked at the ticket again, it was actually 7.2s to 102.9mph....

 

As for insider knowledge, you won't learn much from me!

 

Main thing is try and be repeatable, with some decent tyres you should be below 2 sec for your 60ft time, if not then you need to practise. I pulled a 1.67 60ft on Sunday which is about as good as you'll manage with a FWD car.

Next thing is to get weight out of the car. The DON is 450kg which makes the power to weight somewhere approaching 500bhp/ton. Lots of people spend lots of cash on engines, but will not spend on lightweight. Both are equally important without a doubt.

[Tesstuff 222]

Oh and I've just looked at the ticket again, it was actually 7.2s to 102.9mph....

 

Quicker than a Ferrari F40 to 100, very impressive.

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

A pic taken by one of the mini lads on Sunday.

 

[Jrod 7]

Awesome work Tom.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

yeeeeeehaaaaaaa

 

congratulations to you all, unbelievabley quick.

 

I'd like to put my name forward to pilot the don in future, I weigh 10st full cloved and piss wet through. I'd also consider doing it naked for further weight saving

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

Al, sadly for you I am the official works driver, with a fully signed up contract to transport the car there and back, and buy Carl ice cream!!

 

A short vid link to the tube guys, hope you enjoy.

 

[maturin23 10]

Good work Tom - VERY impressive

 

McLaren F1 1994 627bhp 11.1 sec 138mph

 

Triumph 955i Daytona 1999 116bhp 11.3 sec 125mph

 

Yamaha R1 2001 134bhp 11.0 sec 134mph

 

Noble M12 GTO-3R 2003 352bhp 12.3 sec 115mph

 

Porsche 911 Turbo 2000 414bhp 12.3 sec 115mph

 

Koenigsegg CC8S 2003 655bhp 12.3 sec 123mph

 

Ferrari 360 Modena F1 2000 400 bhp 12.3 sec 120mph

 

edited to add some context

Edited August 18, 2010 by maturin23

[Anthony 1,003]

A pic taken by one of the mini lads on Sunday.

 

Would running a bonnet of sorts not help aerodynamics considerably and probably give you a higher terminal speed?

 

I appreciate that a Mini is hardly the most aerodynamic of things, but surely that's got to be worsened with the exposed engine and vertical bulkhead causing drag?

 

Either way, as others have said, that's a very good result and seems mind-bogglingly quick when put in the context of various supercars/bikes

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

You would have thought so, but we have tried it back to back and it seemed to make not a jot of difference suprisingly.

[pip470 61]

Its nice to see the wind pointing the right way for a change, Last two times i have been its been a strong wind head on.

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

I remember that mini very well from my mini days, didn't know it was yours though !