Look it’s a meaningful update.. I mean it has only been 10 months. I did provide some updates on the socials, but I never came back around to update this site. This post will likely be a slightly expanded version of the social posts.
Day 0 – Travel Day
I had worked in the days leading up to the departure day to prepare as much as possible. Everything was loaded, fluids all refreshed, and the bags packed. When the day came, none of that mattered. We were about to leave and the trailer lights decided to not work. Spent about 30 minutes trying to sort the issue (connectors, fuses, broken wires) and were not able to find anything wrong. We were already a bit later than planned leaving, so rather than waste tons of time chasing electrical gremlins we decided that we could do without a lot of the extras and repacked just the necessities in the back of the Mini and headed out without a trailer. We made it about 1.5 miles. With all the extra weight in the back of the car, the tires were rubbing pretty bad. So we made the call to turn around and raise the ride height a bit. That also went well, managed to pull a stud out while taking a wheel off. So that had to be replaced. On the positive side, we got lunch before we left, however, it meant a late arrival to South Bend.
Day 1 – Sticker Day
Thankfully Day 1 is a nice calm day with a lot of catching up and hanging out. Today is stickers, tech inspection, and the driver’s meeting. We still had some rubbing (not too bad) on the transit up to South Bend, so that was the first order of business. We had to sort out the suspension so that we didn’t destroy the tires on the highways and we didn’t destroy the handling on the tracks.
Day 2 – Competition Start
This is the first time to drive in anger this event. Today starts at TireRack.com’s headquarters for the wet skid pad test and then a drive down the road for an Autocross hosted by the Indianapolis SCCA. It was a cold start to the day, but the rain held off until we had completed the autocross event. It was the worst weather we had all event. The Mini on 200tw tires does not really love the rain. That made the transit a bit slower during the rains, but at least it was when the tires were in their best state. Both events were close in but we took the win in both events to start the OLOA.
Day 3 – Gateway or WWT Raceway
First track session of OLOA’25. No real experience at this track (sim or otherwise). Going into this one a bit a blind. It was a small enough track to actually walk though and that showed a couple things that helped when I got out on track. First runs in the morning had the competition all very close, just a few tenths between us. I managed to take first in the morning runs. Spent the lunch talking with Scott Robertson (Robertson Racing) on the approach to T1. That helped a good bit. I managed to drop 1.5 seconds in the afternoon sessions and took first in class there as well. There was a NHRA event running next door, the day was filled with amazing car sounds.
Day 4 – Hedge Hollow
A great private track in the middle of nowhere Missouri. This is a fantastic track, big and fast, great technology, great garages, food is a bit of a challenge. Dad enjoyed the track so much that he decided to take some of the grass as a souvenir to remember. I got a lot more laps here than intended. During the afternoon run, one of the DadBod Lotuses (Loti?) had an adventure off into the wall (gently). We were red flagged (my first time reacting to a light versus a flag and marshal). We had to come back in and restart the session. Despite the size and length of the straights, we took first in class for both sessions by a comfortable margin.
Day 5 – NCM (Corvette Museum)
This is the first day where the grind starts to hit. On the transit over, our Mini brethren hit a deer and suffered some front suspension damage and lost a headlight. NCM is one of my favorite tracks, but in my history here, it is also very unkind to mistakes. The last time I was here, the weather was terrible so I was very excited to really attack the track in picture perfect conditions. I over drove the car all day, but still managed to turn in pretty quick times. I placed first in class by a good margin and managed to be ahead a lot of cars that I had no business beating. Bolstered by finishing position, I over drove the car even more in the afternoon. I was really trying to wring everything out of it and made a bunch of mistakes and ended up slower overall in the session. It still was another first in class for the session. Leaving the event, we were on one of the longest transits but still managed a group dinner. As we made our way through out of the state, I was awarded a driving certificate (well deserved) from Kentucky’s finest.
Day 6 – Virginia International Raceway
This night, early morning didn’t go how we intended. We rolled into our hotel around 2:30am only to find out that they had given our room away. It was super frustrating, because we called ahead and confirmed that we were coming and provided our expected arrival time. It took some 30-45 minutes for us to find a non-ideal room but sleep is sleep and we needed it.
After a refreshing 5 hours of sleep and a drive-thru breakfast, we showed up at legendary VIR. Big and fast, VIR isn’t the ideal track for small low HP cars, but we were just as excited to run it as everyone else. The times were going to be close with such an advantage to the higher horsepower cars. Dad had a small off and finished second in class in the morning session. The other Mini had a hole punched in its oil pan during the morning session. Crazy effort from them, Team Toyota, the DadBod guys to get it back out for the afternoon session. Fun afternoon session for my drive. Took first in class, but lower in the overall than I had been placing (again… the Mini “might” have 200 hp). Managed a couple overtakes as well.
Day 7 Part 1 – Pitt Race
First and foremost, it is a crime that this racetrack has been sold and is being turned into a data center. This was the track I knew the least about, but absolutely had a blast driving. It was so much fun. VIR is bigger and the horsepower really made a difference in lap times, but Pitt Race was the place that really made me want to drive a car with more power. Fast corners, big uphill pulls, it moves all over, it is fantastic. This was the first event that cars were called in performance order, prior to that it was roughly how fast you are, and then who your friends are. In the morning session, after the fog lifted, Dad took second in class. In my group, I was moved up with some faster cars. Porsche 911 Turbo, Modified Toyota Supra, GT500 Mustang, C8 Corvette… aaannnnnnddddd a 2003 Mini Cooper. Hilarious. Did I pass any of them? Hell no. I did close the gap a bit to the Corvette and was not caught by the 911. I ran 3 fast and clean laps. There was one corner I never got right, but I was slow enough that it didn’t matter too much.
Day 7 Part 2 – Quaker City Motorsports Park (Drag Race)
I think it had been a good 5+ years since the Drag Race was actually able to be run during the OLOA event. Seems as if the weather gods were not interested. This year they were and we got to run. I hadn’t run a drag race in probably 20 years (back when I owned the Mustang). No expectations at all going in to it. The first event was low ET, or fast pass. Not really the Mini’s strong suit. I was able to run a 15.4 second run which actually matched the time the Car and Driver magazine posted when they tested the same model. The second event was bracket races. Pick your dial in number and then run as close to that as possible. I just decided to stick with the 15.4 and that turned out pretty good. I ran a 15.45, a 15.46, a 15.47, and a 15.43. Then I slightly bogged the clutch and ran a 15.6 and lost. Good news, I finished 5th overall. Bad news it was now really late for us to hit the transit and we hadn’t even had dinner yet.
Day 8 – Grattan
Absolutely stunning property, crazy little track. The track literally has a jump pointed directly at a pond. At this point in the event we were well established leaders in class. We were in full “bring it home” mode. Not really what you want, but the tires said otherwise. This track should have been a strength for the Mini, but effectively running slicks we didn’t want to change cording a tire and incurring a penalty. So we drove a bit more conservative. It was still really fun to sling around the off camber turns and go over the two spots where the road drops away from you. And bonus, the second Mini (now featuring a completely rebuilt oil pan) rejoined the event only missing the drag race.
Day 9 – Dry skidpad and Awards
A short transit back to South Bend, and nothing left for it but the drinks and the awards. Oh, and we need to drive in a couple circles again. The dry skidpad went really well considering the condition of the tires. The Mini still pulled 1g! It’s great to have the finish at TireRack as well. We pulled off the skidpad and straight over the service bays where Luke had a fresh set of tires ready to go. The team there installed them while we went and enjoyed a lunch and the awards presentation in their warehouse.
It is such a fantastic and rare event. It’s so large in its scope that you feel part of something larger than any of the individual events. Everyone says this, but you don’t understand until you’ve been here, the people are what make this event special. I’ve only run 2 events, but feel like I have a lifelong bond with many of the others that were there (staff included). If you get a chance, you should join this crazy traveling circus and come home with your own stories.
Massive thanks to RedLine Oil, Racebox, TireRack, Grassroots Motorsports and Driftpoint Media.