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What
is the One Lap of America?
Below are a few images of the Madness
Mini Cooper S entry. Click the thumbnail to view each image.
 Click
here to download the PDF Spec Sheet for the Cooper S entry.
The
Challenge
6 months ago MINI-Madness decided to
showcase our products performance and reliability. We searched
for the right venue and decided upon the One Lap Of America.
It encompassed what we felt to be one of the most demanding
challenges in the United States.
Our 3 main goals
when entering the One Lap of America were:
Goals
1. Showcase
Madness product performance
2. Showcase Madness product reliability
3. Achieve a 1st. place finish
The
Drivers
Next was finding a 2 willing participants
to undertake the challenge. We found N.W. from the Seattle
area who was more than willing to take on this challenge.
In fact he offered up an additional challenge! N.W. suggested
that the One Lap of America wasn't enough for him and desired
more. N.W. suggested driving additional racetracks before
and after the One Lap event. In fact he basically doubled
the amount of track time over the One Lap event. After N.W.
significantly upped the ante we simply couldn't back down
from the challenge. Next on the list was to find a good co-driver.
We found that in John Larson. John hales from Northern California
and has significant seat time on the track. He saw the challenge
and jumped in with both feet.
The
Car
A MINI of course, a 2003 red and black
Cooper S to be exact. We started with the base MINI and developed
a strategy that would be both track and road worthy.
Suspension was the the first thing to go. We decided to run
with the LEDA remote resovior fully adjustable coilover system.
We choose this for its excellent ride characteristics, ease
of adjustability and build quality. The team adjusted dampening
rates on the fly to suite each race track as well as front
and rear camber settings with our easy to use Camber Plates
and Rear Control Arms. The ease of adjustment allowed them
to fine tune the MINI for the track and then quickly and easily
set it for the street use. This was vital in maintaining uniform
tire ware as the One Lap of America Challenge only allows
you one set of tires for the event!
Polyurethane suspension bushings and a 22mm Madness sway bar
also added to the suspension lineup. Final suspension tuning
was completed by Andre Motorsports in San Francisco.
Engine
The MINI's stock bottom end was maintained
based on it's superb strength and reliability. The Madness
Water to Air Intercooler was used to provide excellent cooling
properties over a wide range of temperatures. This worked
flawlessly keeping boost temperatures to a minimum even in
the Las Vegas 120degree heat! Many other mods including cylinder
head, cam, throttle body and software all contributed to this
winning entry. See spec sheet for full details
Results
One Lap of America Winner!
1st. place finish in class
Zero
product failures during the 6 week odyssey
consisting of 13 racetrack's and 18,500
hard miles across 13 states.
Below
you will find a list of the 13 race tracks that were attended
in a 6 week span of time
> Pacific
Raceway Park Tacoma WA. Pacific
Raceway Park
> Portland
International Raceway Portland OR. Portland
International Raceway
> Spokane
Raceway Park 2 days Spokane WA. Spokane
Raceway Park
> Thunderhill
2 days Willows CA. Thunderhill
2004
TireRack Cannonball One Lap of America Schedule
> Friday
April 30 Tire Rack HQ Wet Skid Pad Shootout
> Saturday
May 1 Heartland
Park 2 Time Trials
> Sunday
May 2 Pikes
Peak International 2 Time Trials
> Monday
May 3 Sears
Point 2 Time Trials
> Tuesday
May 4 Las
Vegas Motor Speedway 2 Time Trials
> Wednesday
May 5 Pueblo
Motorsports Park 2 Time Trials, Drag Race, Bracket
Drag
> Thursday
May 6 Hallett
2 Time Trials
> Friday
May 7 Road
America 2 Time Trials
> Saturday
May 8 Tire Rack Dry Skid Pad Shootout
Finish
at Tire Rack
> Watkins
Glenn
> Mid-Ohio
Future events include the Alcan 5000
Alaskan Rally and the Targa Newfoundland Rally
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