Last year, as we have for the past few years, we competed in the Time Attack championship with our race car Polar Bear. However, an unfortunate incident at Rockingham in the final round of last year’s event left us down a race car. Now here we are introducing you to the latest race team member – Jaws – an R56 MINI Cooper S.
2018 Time Attack Season
Our 2018 race season was full or trials and tribulations. Polar Bear got a whole new look courtesy of an in house wrap and running one of the best set-ups yet we were confident she would put in some good performances. Despite experiencing some mechanical faults throughout the season, Polar Bear was able to produce approximately 365 bhp, which meant that we were able to set some good time and get closer to a podium position. Going into the final round, Polar Bear was running a good set up that had been tested and with the bad weather on our side, she was set to make some good time. That was until the third lap of the practice round where she made heavy contact with the wall after a dip in the track threw out her rear end, which was compacted with the impact.
It became clear very quickly that her shell was a write off, so some decisions had to be made as to which route was the best for us. On her return back at Lohen, we decided to strip her of the salvageable parts (which was most of the front end) and we had these installed onto our other MINI Race Car which until this point has been used for development purposes, to create a new high powered race car.
Becoming a Lone Shark!
While Jaws (a Generation 2 R56 MINI Cooper S) isn’t the newest member of the Lohen race fleet, she hasn’t been out on the track for a few years. Used previously as our Arrive and Drive Race Car for the MINI Challenge Series, she has never completed a full race season and her last visit to the track was back in 2014. Originally built to MINI Challenge specifications, over the years she has been used to develop and test parts and components beyond that of the average road MINI.
While Polar Bear last year ran a Helix Paddle clutch and single mass flywheel as well as a 3J Driveline Differential, we have opted to keep this differential in Jaws but we are changing the Paddle Clutch for a TTV Organic Clutch option as this can tolerate up to 475 Nm of Torque while maintaining good drivability. Most of the salvageable parts from Polar Bear have been added to Jaws so you can step up and become ‘the’ Lohen Race MINI – you can see her full spec list HERE.
Development for the road and the track
We focused last year on getting Polar Bear producing more power consistently by developing a turbo system that could safely deliver more power without the need for alternative cooling or fuelling options such as methanol injection, so cars can be driven continuingly on a daily basis. This year we have continued the development of this on Jaws and we believe we have a winning combination in the form of a Garrett GT2860 RS Turbo and Custom 3” Downpipe, which will be run with a development ECU from Link – watch this space for more details.
Staying Jaw-some!
The 2019 race season has begun; we plan on taking each race as it comes. Unfortunately we had to miss the first round of this years Time Attack event as we had other commitments but we are positive that Jaw’s can sink her teeth into this race season, set some good lap times and drive us ever closer to a podium place, whilst continuing to help bring together the best of the track and the best of the road.
This years Time Attack Rounds are as follows:
- Round 1 – 6th May 2019 – Cadwell Park
- Round 2 – 9th June 2019 – Brands Hatch
- Round 3 – 13th July 2019 – Oulton Park
- Round 4 – 26th August 2019 – Donnington Park
- Round 5 – 13th October 2019 – Mallory Park
- Round 6 & 7 – 2nd and 3rd November 2019 – Snetterton (Final + Night Time Attack)
You can keep up to date with all of Jaws’ progress by following us on social media.
