Last week my dad and I got to work on installing an 19mm Eibach rear sway bar on the MINI. I would encourage anyone who is planning on getting an R.S.B for their MINI(and has a decent set of metric tools) to save a little dough and install it themselves. Just allow yourself plenty of time and you’ll really learn a lot about your MINI. As for how the Eibach performs? I would say when set on the stiffer of the two settings, it’s really an ideal setup! When I first installed it, I had it set on the more conservative setting, which did make it a bit more surefooted in the turns compared to stock, but there was still plenty of under-steer present. Once set on the stiffer setting, it really had me grinning. In most cases it’s now very close to a neutral handling car. On the track I’ll probably be able to apply a little trail braking without experiencing excessive snap over-steer. I imagine trail braking could get pretty scary with a 22mm or higher rear sway.

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On Tuesday I went with few guys from the Tar Heel MINI Club to the Hybrid Technologies open house in Mooresville, NC. It was great to see all the technologies involved to convert vehicles to electric only (didn’t I mention that’s what they do?) Check out the pictures in my photo gallery and the short video below.

And thanks to Bill who also showed us around the Roush-Fenway garages as well!

Day Trips, Videos

On the morning of April 12th, Courtney and I joined over 20 other MINIs for a great adventure to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Swan Quarter Ferry brought us to Ocracoke after a two and a half hour ride. After a quick lighthouse photo-op, and hotel check in, we had dinner at Howard’s Pub.

MINI Runs, THMMC

These super sticky tires replace my BFG KDWs. The KDWs were great, especially in wet conditions but they’re a bit overpriced in my opinion. These Falken RT-615s were almost 30 dollars cheaper per tire! While my KDWs were 205/45/17, I decided to go with 215/40/17 which is a little smaller in diameter, but I don’t notice a lot of difference in acceleration or wheel-well gap. I’m now looking to get some front camber plates to reduce some of the outside edge tire wear I’ve had on my previous two sets of tires. Hopefully regular rotation and the camber plates will help these last until the Phil Wicks MINI Academy at VIR.

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..and I’m really liking the sound, it really lets the supercharger sing. Unfortunately it does now have a bit of a partial throttle lisp, but I’m able to live with it for now.  Click play below to hear a quick sound clip of my MINI’s new sound.

Mods

The MINI’s seats are known for not being very supportive during quick cornering maneuvers. The CG-Lock is the perfect solution to our slippery seats! It locks the lap portion of the belt as tight as you can stand, and unlike a racing harness you can sit forward when you need to. I really didn’t notice how often I use my knees to brace myself until getting the CG-Lock.

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Installing this 3rd backup light was a snap, and it adds some much needed visibility when backing up (my tinted tail lights weren’t helping things.)

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Check out this video clip I threw together of the PC game rFactor, with the MINI Cooper Challenge addon. rFactor is a racing simulation that encourages its community to create cars and tracks to add to the game. The Lime Rock Park and Laguna Seca tracks in the video are user created as well.

Races, Videos

We left a day earlier than originally planned in order to check out Forest City N.C.’s Christmas decorations and ride in a horse drawn carriage. It’s cold and rainy so there were no horses to be seen. The decorations on Forest City’s Main Street were still great to look at.

Vacations, Videos

This post is just to brag about the fact that my dog Jasper was a winner in the Toyota Dog Days Calendar contest! He can be seen on the November page of the calendar and also received a $100 PetSmart gift card.

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Just in time for the holiday shopping season, it’s the top five MINI gifts you’ll never get!

5.) Alta Twurbo ($3,999.99)

"Featuring a Garrett GT3071R turbo, ALTA™ has created an easy bolt on turbo kit for the MINI Cooper S that will produce up to 400 horse power." (link)

4.) m7 Cosworth Stage 2 Tuning Kit ($5,999.00)

Featuring a Cosworth intake manifold, ported head, performance cam, ported and polished supercharger(just to start), m7 can turn your MINI into a true race-ready machine. Read more…

Mods

Thanks to Google’s Panoramio service, your photos can be added to Google Earth(if the photo meets their guidelines) I submitted this photo months ago and it was just added. If you have Google Earth, navigate to Sevierville, TN and try to find my photo.

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