Having run a so-called “tune-it” box on my MG ZT TDi several years ago and felt the performance and the real world tank-to-tank economy enhancements over 80,000 miles, I decided my Dooper could do with the same. In fact, as the turbo is less than 30,000 miles old and BMW Mini kindly did my EGR for free recently, then I figured my 148,000 mile Dooper was probably probably on its last hurrah towards the 200k mark and so I may as well have some fun with it (especially as it still cost £0 VED and will be £20 next year).
My “go to” for a tuning box for a BMW diesel was Rover Ron (https://www.tuning-diesels.com/) but sadly I can see he is hanging up his boots, so I looked for a similar device. The one I settled on was Race Chip and their entry level “S” - always one for KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) - which are a very reasonable £139 (Performance chips – Chip tuning by RaceChip for Mini Mini (F55-56) Cooper D (85KW) | RaceChip). I ordered it on Friday and it came last Monday all the way from Germany. The claimed figures were +23hp, +53nm and +15% MPG.
Before I installed it, I contacted Admiral Insurance and they charged me an extra £150 on my premium, which I didn’t think was too bad. I use about £270 of diesel a month in my Dooper, and if the Race Chip S delivers the 15% economy then that will save me £40. So, £12.50 extra insurance to save up to £40 a month seems pretty fair!!!
The instructions that come with the Race Chip are good, but the picture in them sucked - it was of a VW diesel! I contacted their customer services via email and received the following photo within an hour (how’s that for German efficiency!?) - this shows the 2 sensors that need to be reconnected into the Race Chip wiring loom.
![Image]()
MUST READ THIS. You must follow the Race Chip instructions explicitly. You must open the car, open the bonnet, then lock the car again. Leave it for 15 mins so that all of the electrics are off before you start fiddling with the car. Then, once all connected, and the Race Chip box’s green LED is off, then it is time to unlock the car, turn the ignition on (ie. The start stop switch WITHOUT pressing the clutch down), and then check if the LED comes on. Mine did and there was no Engine Management Light nor faults on the dash. Once that is confirmed, you can start the car. I followed that 100% to the letter to ensure I got not fault codes.
To fit it, you have to take off the engine cover - a sharp firm pull upwards removes this.
![Image]()
Underneath is another cover, which is removed by 3 torx bolts as ringed:
![Image]()
After that, there is a rubberised cover that covers over the diesel injector common rail.
![Image]()
You need to lift it at the oil cap end to reveal the common rail sensor connection. Slide the grey clip back and press it to release the connector as shown below in red.
![Image]()
Also, above in green, I have circled the other sensor with a similar grey clip. Make sure you slide these in the direction of the arrows to release them.
Then connect up the Race Chip wiring loom and route all the cables. I found that the OEM wiring for the sensor for common rail wasn’t very generous, so I had to carefully position it between the oil cap and the new connector. That seemed to work and once the Race Chip was initially tested I tie wrapped it all up so it looked fairly professional. The Race Chip box is tie wrapped to the air intake manifold as I figured it would remain driest up there. You can see the green LED is lit on it to show that power is on. When you first connect it the LED light should be off or it will likely give an Engine Management Light fault. I followed the instructions to the letter and did not get an EML - and I have done 20 miles with it without any faults.
![Image]()
I then took the Dooper out. Like my previous tuning box on my MG ZT you won’t feel the effects instantly as the ECU needs to reconfigure slowly to the new box. In my experience a 20 mile run will do that with a mixture of gear changes, hard and slow accelerations and also selecting through Sport/Normal/Green modes (if fitted). After the 20 miles I took it to a nice quiet, flat, straight, B road outside of town and tried a couple of 0-60 runs and was getting 8.2-8.5 times having noted my Speedo reads 62mph for GPS 60mph. The book is 9.2 secs for my Dooper F56 and so that seems to have improved things. The mid range torque feels better too.
I’ll need to see how the fuel economy works out going forward - I hope it is as good as my old Rover Ron box was.
My “go to” for a tuning box for a BMW diesel was Rover Ron (https://www.tuning-diesels.com/) but sadly I can see he is hanging up his boots, so I looked for a similar device. The one I settled on was Race Chip and their entry level “S” - always one for KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) - which are a very reasonable £139 (Performance chips – Chip tuning by RaceChip for Mini Mini (F55-56) Cooper D (85KW) | RaceChip). I ordered it on Friday and it came last Monday all the way from Germany. The claimed figures were +23hp, +53nm and +15% MPG.
Before I installed it, I contacted Admiral Insurance and they charged me an extra £150 on my premium, which I didn’t think was too bad. I use about £270 of diesel a month in my Dooper, and if the Race Chip S delivers the 15% economy then that will save me £40. So, £12.50 extra insurance to save up to £40 a month seems pretty fair!!!
The instructions that come with the Race Chip are good, but the picture in them sucked - it was of a VW diesel! I contacted their customer services via email and received the following photo within an hour (how’s that for German efficiency!?) - this shows the 2 sensors that need to be reconnected into the Race Chip wiring loom.
MUST READ THIS. You must follow the Race Chip instructions explicitly. You must open the car, open the bonnet, then lock the car again. Leave it for 15 mins so that all of the electrics are off before you start fiddling with the car. Then, once all connected, and the Race Chip box’s green LED is off, then it is time to unlock the car, turn the ignition on (ie. The start stop switch WITHOUT pressing the clutch down), and then check if the LED comes on. Mine did and there was no Engine Management Light nor faults on the dash. Once that is confirmed, you can start the car. I followed that 100% to the letter to ensure I got not fault codes.
To fit it, you have to take off the engine cover - a sharp firm pull upwards removes this.
Underneath is another cover, which is removed by 3 torx bolts as ringed:
After that, there is a rubberised cover that covers over the diesel injector common rail.
You need to lift it at the oil cap end to reveal the common rail sensor connection. Slide the grey clip back and press it to release the connector as shown below in red.
Also, above in green, I have circled the other sensor with a similar grey clip. Make sure you slide these in the direction of the arrows to release them.
Then connect up the Race Chip wiring loom and route all the cables. I found that the OEM wiring for the sensor for common rail wasn’t very generous, so I had to carefully position it between the oil cap and the new connector. That seemed to work and once the Race Chip was initially tested I tie wrapped it all up so it looked fairly professional. The Race Chip box is tie wrapped to the air intake manifold as I figured it would remain driest up there. You can see the green LED is lit on it to show that power is on. When you first connect it the LED light should be off or it will likely give an Engine Management Light fault. I followed the instructions to the letter and did not get an EML - and I have done 20 miles with it without any faults.
I then took the Dooper out. Like my previous tuning box on my MG ZT you won’t feel the effects instantly as the ECU needs to reconfigure slowly to the new box. In my experience a 20 mile run will do that with a mixture of gear changes, hard and slow accelerations and also selecting through Sport/Normal/Green modes (if fitted). After the 20 miles I took it to a nice quiet, flat, straight, B road outside of town and tried a couple of 0-60 runs and was getting 8.2-8.5 times having noted my Speedo reads 62mph for GPS 60mph. The book is 9.2 secs for my Dooper F56 and so that seems to have improved things. The mid range torque feels better too.
I’ll need to see how the fuel economy works out going forward - I hope it is as good as my old Rover Ron box was.
