MINI Challenge cars are very, very cool. Take one road-going JCW hardtop, rip its guts out and turn it into a bona fide racecar. Do that a few times over and put them all on a track and you have a recipe for fun and rubbing doors.
The 3rd-gen MINI Challenge car is ready to terrorise circuits around England. We trust you’ll enjoy this video brought to us by Xcar.
Due to the recent inactivity on AUSmotive it’s clear we’ve been having fun and enjoying the festive season. Thankfully, our good pals Nik and Richard from Bad Obsession Motorsport have been working their arses off to bring you a new episode of Project Binky for your enjoyment.
And it’s another ball-tearering episode too. Yep, a real rip snorter. You’ll be wowed by door details, panel gaps and a downright clever removeable front-end. Remarkable stuff, as always.
Let’s hope the lads find some time to enjoy a well-earned rest.
MINI is a brand that is a triumph of marketing. That’s been the case since BMW bought the British icon over a decade ago. More often than not MINI’s marketing has been very good. There’s been a lot of hits and not many misses.
Watch this video for the new JCW hatch, featuring skate guru Tony Hawk and ski/rally guru Guerlain Chicherit, and see if you think this is a hit or a miss.
MINI UK has quickly responded to the overnight leak of information for the new John Cooper Works hatch by publishing a short press release. You can see that after the break, along with more 2560px images.
In side profile the new JCW looks pretty good and dare we say it, we’re even starting to soften our views on that god awful front body kit. A 2.0 litre engine knocking out 170kW/320Nm is nothing to sneeze at, even if we suspect it’s marketing reasons only from preventing the hottest MINI hatch from having more power to play with. And four-pot Brembo brakes are a nice touch too.
There’ll be more info in a few weeks when Detroit lights up and we’ll bring you up to speed then as well.
UPDATE #1: 15 page press kit now available for download (165kb PDF).
UPDATE #2: 11 new pics added below.
Apparently MINI is not set to release details on its new John Cooper Works model until next week, but Australian media has reportedly led the way in giving the world an early look at what is the fastest MINI ever made.
Here’s the key stats:
The F56 JCW will make its show debut in Detroit next January. Expect it to be on sale locally in late 2015.
[Source: Drive.com.au | Thanks to Andrew for the tip]
We really want to like the new MINI. But we’re finding it pretty hard to do, visually anyway. Yes, it drives well, but its looks aren’t getting any better. In the past the John Cooper Works bodykit (aka JCW aero kit) has made a nice visual improvement over the regular Cooper S bodywork.
But not anymore.
That guppy mouth front-end is just so cumbersome and clunky that even the work experience kid would be ashamed. It had better have some pretty solid wind tunnel numbers behind it, otherwise we cannot see how on earth it ever got signed off. It is hideous!
We got a preview with the JCW concept late last year. Alas, it seems they were serious. Yes, it will look that bad.
In more positive news the MINI JCW should be online for us all to see sometime next month, before making a physical debut at Detroit in early January. That’s when we’ll learn how much power BMW will let MINI play with now that the Cooper S range employs 2.0 litre turbo engines.
The tip is around 170kW/345Nm. If nothing else it will be better to read about the next JCW than it will be to look at.
[Source: MotoringFile | Thanks to Andrew for the tip]
Here’s a great way to start your weekend, the latest episode of Project Binky! The focus of this episode is cooling and even a bit of consideration for modern day crash protection. Not to mention a critique of Jim Morrison’s music career. As always you will be blown away by the engineering and level of finish on display.
Keep up the awesome work lads!
And did some dickheads really complain about Richard’s wife being in the last episode? Get a brain morans!
Here at AUSmotive, despite generally being big fans of all things MINI, we think the F56 is, well, a little bit ugly. Over time we expect our dissatisfaction with its design will fade, but right now, we think those lower air intakes at the front of the Cooper S are just ghastly.
Over in Germany, though, readers of Auto Motor und Sport have voted the MINI as the best looking car in its class. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. Even so, we’re amazed those crazy Germans could come up with such a result.
“We at MINI Design are particularly proud to have won this award. Positive feedback from customers and fans is very encouraging to us in our day-to-day design work for the MINI brand,” explains Anders Warming, Head of MINI Design. “We very much look forward to pursuing this work further.”
So just sign-off on the bloody Rocketman, then, Anders. Now, that is cool!
The little Rocketman concept is the coolest thing MINI has made in recent memory and it’s a real shame we’ve not really had much to report on in the last couple of years. That’s all changed in the last few days, thanks to a report from Auto Express.
We were big fans when the original Rocketman concept was shown back in 2011 and talk of it becoming a production model put a broad smile on our faces. That was soon taken away when production costs for the small city car were deemed too high to turn the plucky concept into a shiny reality.
However, MINI head of design, Anders Warming, is erm, warming to the idea of putting the Rocketman back on the agenda.
“For sure, a MINI should always be a small car, so [a new city car] would be appropriate for the brand,†Warming told Auto Express. “At the moment, we don’t have the right tech solutions, but we are working on it. We don’t yet have a final solution, you could say.”
Warming has also hinted at the direction some of those solutions may take, saying carbon fibre is not the way forward for the Rocketman.
“I don’t believe carbon fibre is the route to a superlight MINI,” Warming added. “Our concepts have had carbon parts, but aluminium is more likely. We want to reduce parts, to do more with less.”
The funky and minimal interior of the show car should remain if the production model gets approved.
“To have a great cabin, all you need is a great steering wheel, a seat and a great user interface. We want no superfluous parts. Driving in the city is stressful enough, so we need a reduction in the number of elements… True luxury is now simplicity.”
It would make sense for the Rocketman to be made as part of the BMW-Toyota agreement and we’re told to cross our fingers for a 2016 launch date.
[Source: Auto Express]
Awww, look at that Mk1 Mini. Even in that battered state it’s just delightful! It’s a Cooper, too. How can you not love that car. Imagine if it was restored into a condition that was even better that the day it rolled off the factory floor.
Thanks to the UK television series For the Love of Cars, produced by Channel 4, we don’t have to imagine what that Mk1 Cooper would look like in mint condition, because they’ve already done it for us!
There’s seven episodes in full and the series is currently airing here in Australia on the ABC. Six cars in total get some quality love and attention from Ant Anstead and his team, while Life on Mars star Philip Glenister breaks down the barrier between Gene Hunt and real life as the show’s host.
It’s a format we’ve seen before, most notably with Wheeler Dealers, but For the Love of Cars is more about the quality of the restoration than it is about making a quick buck. Sadly we don’t get an in-depth look at the restorations, but we do get a great reminder of what made these (mostly) British cars so great.
The classic cars restored during the series are listed below and the seventh episode shows the results of all the cars when sold at auction:
Of course, thanks to the wonder of the internetz you can see these episodes whenever you so choose (see below). We recommend you find the time to do so.
The best thing this show does is put a smile on your face; for the love of cars!
We think Lego and cars is a match made in heaven. Which is why we were so excited last month when we brought word of the coolest Lego product money can buy. And now, as its official 1 August release draws closer, MINI is getting in on the act with an official press statement and a set of images, which you can see below.
More images can be seen on Flickr. There’s a few videos after the break as well.
If you were after a little runabout in 1977 the cheapest new car on the market was the Leyland Moke ($2,995). On the other hand, if you were well to do, the most expensive car money could buy was the Bentley T or the near matching Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (both $58,950).
The Moke was also the least powerful car on the market with just 37kW (50hp) on tap from its 1.0 litre four-cylinder engine. The leadfoots among you would have been more likely to have had your eye on the svelte 239kW (320hp) Maserati Khamsin, which would have set you back $44,000.
At least that’s the deal according to the July 1977 issue of Wheels magazine. You can check out the price list after the break and make sure you click on each image for larger images.
Turns out the Moke was the better buy, though. These days if you wanted to get your hands on a 37-year-old Moke you’ll likely need a lot more than the original three grand asking price. Whereas picking up a similarly aged Roller or Bentley should come in well under its original sticker price.
[Pics: Shannons | Thanks to Stu for the tip]