This was it my 1st time on the drag strip and the platform couldn’t even perfect with MINI In The Park being at Santa Pod.
I have watched countless videos on Youtube of people drag racing and i wanted to have some that madness
I was off to Northamptonshire to meet up with Surrey New MINI at Maccy Ds drive through a short distance from the strip
MINI In The Park (MITP) is an annual MINI festival for both Classic & New MINIs
MITP is the only British Mini show that features Mini Concours, Mini Run-What-Ya-Brung (RWYB) racing, Mini Club car displays, a Win-A-Mini competition, Mini Trade Stands and Auto jumble, plus live action entertainment.
This years theme for MITP was cartoons so alot of owners made the MINIs look like famous character
This was my 2nd Event with SNM so i was looking forward more the club members and Bambino didnt disappoint with his sexiness and its Red Bug JCW which was featured in Modern MINI Magazine
Bambino has done alot of the mods himself and gave me some pointers on how to Mod mine and he was loving the Black Line Kit on my JCW
We all left Maccys and head down to Santa Pod in a 25 Strong MINI Convoy getting waves and stares as we hit in the motorway
We ushered into Santa and directed to our Club Stand where we lined up our MINIs and erected the SNM Flag
As soon as i got out of my JCW and wanted to know where i could to sign up to hit the strip
It was £25 for Unlimited Runs up the 1/4 miles drag strip and a extra £5 to be a passenger in someone else MINI
There was a good mixture of Classic MINIs and New MINIs with Christine telling me that she had never seen so many New MINIs at this show before
We all went off to see the Live action show with the dirt bikes doing stunts and jumping ramps
I then moved on to see the Concours section of the show and look at other Club stands
I really liked the Black & Yellow theme of this Cooper S with ‘Bug Eye Lenses’ covers
I always saw the largest collections of MINI GPs in one place at MITP – I think it was about 20 of them there all lined up today
I hoped into my JCW for my 1st Drag race and my competition was V8 MINI Dragster built for specifically for the 1/4 Mile
I switched off all the electronic nannies and press the sport button
Eyed up the starting lights and engaged first and revved the engine to 4,000 Rpms and dumped the clutch to warm the tyres
I rolled the JCW forward to the engage the starting beem to start the clock
I eyed up the V8 MINI Dragster as my heart beat started to beat faster and the nervous kick in with the constant thought of i have to smoke him at the start
Holding the JCW gearknob in my left hand i slotted it into 1st and held the clutch in and built up the revs to 2,500 Rpms
The lights flashed all the way down to Green and dumped the clutch and wheels chirped on the sticky tarmac scrambling for traction
The JCW front end lifted up under full throttle and the JCW Lurched forward expelling raspy exhaust note through its 3′ exhaust tips
I grabbed 2nd just before i hit the rev limiter
3rd gear came quickly in concession with me looking to my left and hearing my opponent miss a gear giving my chance to pull into the lead half way down the 1/4 mile
The JCW Pulled ahead more than a car length head towards the 1/4 mile finish with the dragster pulling alongside my rear quarter before the finish line
I won my 1st Drag race!!!!
The JCW clocked 14.6 Seconds in 1/4 miles @ 98 mph on its 1st run
My next opponent was an 180bhp Classic MINI with no interior expect a role cage & single racing seat, carbon bonnet and radial tyres.
I spoke with the owner before we lined up on the strip to ask how it was running and how long he had been working on it. It was project he had been working on for a while and i complemented him on the carbon hood and the work he had put into it.
I was expecting to lose to the classic even the power ratio of his compared to mini but the JCW held its own again leaving the classic behind when i hit 2nd gear.
My Next race was with a 1st Gen Cooper S and it was interested in seeing the difference in performance of Supercharged compared to Turbocharged MINI
I actually mucked up the start on this one as i forgot switch of the traction control so i didnt leave the line as i should have but i caught up towards the end which didnt make it all so bad
I went up the strip in total 6 times with the last two races being the special ones where i cracked my best time of 14.4213 with a passenger and raced a 1st Gen GP
My friend Mike was drag racing his Cooper S Automatic and was beating JCW. We both worked out that people were not disengaging the Traction control and not launching them correctly.
Mike always got a good start as the box takes care of everything and all he has to smash the gas pedal
He wanted to jump in my JCW after the time i had told i had been clocking and he brought Race Logic box with him for us to see the 0 to 60 times and 0 to 100 times
We hooked up the box to the windscreen and headed to line up the JCW for a pass
This time i built up the revs slightly more higher just over 2,500 Rpm and release the clutch to which i got wheel hop from the sticky tarmac and head down the strip clocking my fastest time of 14.4213 with a 0 to 60 time of 6.1 seconds
Me & Mike was impressed given my JCW is completed stock with only ITG Filter but reckoned i could have been faster if i didn’t change my gear as aggressively as i did on that run
I reckon i could go faster with summer tyres next year given i have my JCW on Uniroyal Rainsport 2 tyres (All weather tyre). I nice set of Continentals Sport Contact 3 will make the JCW faster down the strip given there extra grip
My final pass was with MINI royalty with an 1st Gen GP which was immaculate
We both lined up and the GP had me at the launch but as soon as it 2nd gear before going into 3rd the JCW pulled away cleanly and by the end of the 1/4 mile was over a car length ahead
I noticed that 1st Gens MINIs were quicker off the line given the superchargers nature of always being there all over the powerband but once the turbo has spooled the 2nd Gen MINIs are off
After letting everyone have their runs during the day, Santa Pod brought their Jet powered Dragster as a party piece
I have never heard something this loud in my life or seen something accelerate so hard in a flash of any eye. I actually went momentarily deaf after the Jet powered dragster did its pass with my perception of sound being distorted for about 10 minutes
MINI themselves had a stand which was quite cool so i opted to buy me and my little brother JCW badges and MINI Umbrella.
I love the Umbrella because the handle is like the gear knob off a MINI
Youtube Videos
MY JCW Vs V8 MINI Dragster – http://youtu.be/aHq-6OEuFng
MY JCW Vs V8 MINI Dragster (Interior View) – http://youtu.be/e16GuiOQIGo
My Fastest Run at Santa Pod – http://youtu.be/3iWpS22Zu4g
Jet Powered Dragster – http://youtu.be/Fd4-i5o_BxA
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