Open Track Day at NYST

I got the full season membership with S2K Takeover this year which included a private invite only open track day at NYST. It was for 2 days but I could only make the first day and it was still all worth it. It didn't start all rosy though as on my way to the hotel the night before, I felt something metallic drop from the car and drag on the highway. I was able to quickly pull over and realize my sway bar arm had wiggled its way loose from and disconnected. 

Sway bar arm came off

Thankfully I was convoying with Dhariel and he had his jack with him so we were able to quickly get it up off the ground and I was able to quickly detach the endlink from the arm to get it completely off and into the trunk so we could get on our way.

Roadside repairs

The next day I got the car up on jackstands to check underneath. There was thankfully no additional damage and I didn't lose any bolts or nuts so I was able to reattached the bar. The endlink had bent a bit but it was still enough to get it secured and working again.

Time for repairs

Re-attached sway bar arm

With the bar secured again, everything was driving back to normal. Weather was near perfect at high-70s to low-80s the whole day. I got some decent laps in the morning but as the temps started to go up, the tires started to get a bit greasy and the times started to go up so I packed it up a little early to get home at a decent time.

It was a good day

NYST Uptown - 1:40.60

New fuel cap for Bumblestook

For some time now I've been noticing a faint fuel smell coming out of the side of the car once it gets hot. I thought maybe it's just venting some fuel from the pressure but read online that maybe it's my fuel cap starting to fail. I have been noticing that it's not only harder to open my fuel cap but it also seemed like it took lots of turns to lock it. 

New fuel cap

I ordered a new fuel cap, part number 17670-S5A-A32. It looks a bit different from the original one but it did screw on and tighten just fine. I also noticed as I was replacing it that my old cap wasn't on tight. I'm 100% sure I tightened this when I fueled up at NJMP two weeks ago so something is definitely up. Hopefully this resolves my issue. 

Double header at NJMP

Midway through the season and we're back at NJMP with S2K Takeover and EMRA. We did NJMP Lightning on day 1 and NJMP Thunderbolt on day 2. Both days were pretty hot but we got hit with quite a bit of rain on day 1 making it a bit tough to put down any flyers. On top of that I was feeling under the weather with some pretty intense back pain so it was a struggle bus every session out.

NJMP Thunderbolt - 7-20-2025
Photo by: JRose Photography

NJMP Thunderbolt - 7-20-2025
Photo by: JRose Photography

Car felt pretty good out there though and I wasn't getting that weird claustrophobic feeling I was having in the car at NYST. I think I'm getting used to my new helmet and my lighter new HANS device feels like it's not there which is great.

NJMP Lightning - 7-19-2025
Photo by: JRose Photography
Wet track conditions

NJMP Lightning

NJMP Thunderbolt

Disinfecting the AC system in the Mini

Starting a few weeks ago the AC in the Mini started to have a bad wet dog / mildew kind of smell that was making us feel sick. To address this, I got a can of Klima Cleaner Pro, removed the air cabin filters that were still very new in the car then sprayed everything in there to disinfect the system. I let it soak up and drip out of the condensation drain for about 15 minutes, reinstalled the filters, then ran the air on high (no recirc) for 15 minutes to let it go through the system. Pretty simple 30 minute total job. 

It definitely smells better now though I may need to reapply one more time if it's not 100% gone. Seems to be a common BMW/Mini problem maybe in the way the condensation drain is set up. At least I know the drain itself isn't clogged since I saw all the fluid I was spraying in eventually go out the drain and drop onto the ground under the car. 

New Haltech ECU for Bumblestook

A few months ago I noticed that I could no longer connect my old laptop to my Haltech ECU. It wouldn't detect it and later it would actually shut my laptop off if I did. I setup a new laptop to see if the laptop was the issue but it gave a warning that whatever was plugged into the USB port was drawing too much power. I knew at this point the USB port on my Haltech Pro Plug-in must've shorted out since changing the cable didn't fix it either. 

Old ECU left vs New ECU right

I ordered a new Haltech Pro Plugin for the S2000 which looks pretty cool with the new black and yellow color scheme to match the car. The guts and the firmware haven't really changed since years ago so it was as simple was swapping everything over, reloading my tune and configuration and firing the car up. I did recalibrate the TPS voltage which has changed a bit over time just to make sure everything was good and everything ran just fine.

New ECU

New ECU talking to my new laptop just fine

Joe Engineering NACA duct

I've had the Achtungcraft air duct for the oil cooler on Scarlett for some time now and the screen has started to come off. I've also unfortunately hit it with my knee a few times when walking around the car. I saw the new NACA air duct from Joe Engineering and it looks much better. It's streamlined into the bumper so nothing is protruding and funnels air nicely to the oil cooler. I ordered the premium version which has a nicer finish and made of better material. 

Joe Engineering NACA duct

Joe Engineering vs Achtungcraft

Install was super easy and just took a few minutes since I had already removed the side marker before to install the Achtungcraft duct. I made some suggestions to Jose about how to improve on it a bit in the future but overall a nice piece.

NACA duct installed

New cabin filter for the Mini

The AC has started to smell a bit musty so it's probably time for the air cabin filter to be replaced on the Mini. I curse the engineer who designed this system. Not only is it all the way in the center console but the flap you open up to replace it, goes up to open so it's literally trying to close on you as you remove and install the new filter.

Old filter left - New filter right

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 81,065

- New Hengst air cabin filter