THSCC Forums

I wanted to express a big thank you the Mike Whitney, Rob Harvey and Keith Strassel for helping me out today with my broken MINI. The lower rear control link busted under compression today during the left sweeper going into the last section of the course. Looking at the design of the link, I suspect the piece was design to do that to save other components of the car.

Mike hauled my ass home
Rob loan Mike the tires so I could drive Mike's M3 home
and Keith let me use his car to finish my runs.

Even though I was only a .5 sec off from getting a trophy, I am thankful that I was able to get my car home without too much pain and I was still able to get my runs for the day.

For those that like to see carnage...
The wheel that rolled under the car. I can't image the angle it was at to scrape like it did.



The control arm... The scratches indicate the strut pivoted in a good 3 inches

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

Chris,

I hated to see that happen. I was the course worker that came over after the incident. It was nasty to see. The wheel folded under parallel with the ground. I am glad to see you got some help getting the car home.

I hope I didn't come across as a jerk rushing you to get the car off course. T&S was calling in across the radio asking for it to be moved so we could continue.

Yay stamped steel on a 3K# car's critical suspension.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

That is/should be a known issue with the early Minis Mark Chiles had that happen to his first Mini a week before nationals. There were no spares in the country yet at that time so his dealer pulled one of a car on the lot and shipped it to him. He traded that one in on a later one, so I don't know if they offer a stronger part for the early ones or just strengthened it on the newer models.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

That is nothing short of scary. The arms looks like it is straight so I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to use some rod ends, threaded hexagonal tubing and some adapters to make a real solution.

My Focus has a similiar issue insofar as the rear dogbones flex so much that the bushing holes ovalize and then it can slip around causing some peculiar mid corner toe changes. Another stamped steel part, but thankfully it doesn't snap like this one did. These multi-link suspensions that are on so many modern cars that require large scale bushing compliance and even component flex to function are worrysome IMO. I don't know how happy I will be to be instructing in a 7-year-old Mini Cooper S or any other car with this kind of setup.

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

Unfortunately the rules don't allow you th build your own replacement parts in stock class even if there is a design issue. If the factory doesn't offer a stronger replacement part you can't beef up what you have. I think the replacement arm doesn't have the holes in it. You may want to research if there was a TSB or recall on those arms from BMW.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

If there has been no improvement in the new part, given the nature of the failure ("wheel folded under") I would change class. I would rather have a non-stock car and a stock head on my shoulders than the other way around!

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Rich
http://www.v8mongrel.com/

I was in the PW MCS next to you in pit. Glad you you got it home.

Think you'll upgrade to an aftermarket? I mean, you're already in SM right?

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

I was in the bus at the beginning of the event when this happened. I wanted to make sure that everything was working as expected before I went and got the car ready to run, so I know what was going on in the bus and would like to pass it on.

We had the starter send one car out to test everything. That car just happened to be Chris in his great looking Mini. Then all of a sudden we see him STOP on course and get out looking under the rear bumper. We thought that maybe he grabed a cone under there and it was making a hell of a racket. With that in mind we were calling for him to get off the course and get the cone out there. Once Chris O. called in that he broke his car, we stopped asking for him to drive off. Matter of fact, I think the quote was "That sucks!!"

I hope that we didn't come off as being jackholes during this. As everyone knows, if T&S doesn't run smoothly and can keep the cars moving, we won't have a good event. And as ALWAYS, our team did one hell of a job.

Just wanted to make sure that everyone who heard our conversations on the radio knew where we were coming from.

Chris S., I'm glad you got the car home OK.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza