We just had seat time in a pre-production 208-horsepower Mini John Cooper Works Coupe on a little 0.7-mile Austrian circuit. By now you've all seen the 2012 Cooper Coupe officially revealed and they're still popping up testing on public roads around the Nürburgring in slight camo mode.
Coincidence? Nay. This weekend – 25 and 26 June, 2011 – the 39th running of the wildly popular Nürburgring 24-hour race takes place. There will be 250,000 fans in attendance and they shall behold, among other things (barring the onset of beer goggles and thick barbecue smoke), this Mini John Cooper Works Coupe Endurance competing in the "SP 3T" class.
We were shown this wee beast in a secret tent off to the side during our recent Austria test, but now the truth can be told. This official factory effort by Mini Deutschland is Mini's world premiere in 24-hour endurance racing. Here's hoping it can handle the 14.2-mile Nürburgring-Nordschleife for a day in really fast traffic.
Coincidence? Nay. This weekend – 25 and 26 June, 2011 – the 39th running of the wildly popular Nürburgring 24-hour race takes place. There will be 250,000 fans in attendance and they shall behold, among other things (barring the onset of beer goggles and thick barbecue smoke), this Mini John Cooper Works Coupe Endurance competing in the "SP 3T" class.
We were shown this wee beast in a secret tent off to the side during our recent Austria test, but now the truth can be told. This official factory effort by Mini Deutschland is Mini's world premiere in 24-hour endurance racing. Here's hoping it can handle the 14.2-mile Nürburgring-Nordschleife for a day in really fast traffic.
Mini is bringing to bear everything it has learned from the Mini Challenge series for the iconic hatchback, plus certain lessons from the fresh Mini Countryman WRC effort, when it comes to the JCW Coupe Endurance. First, to help make the long Antoniusbuche Straight that leads to the finish go by quicker, horsepower is nudged up to 247 hp and torque on tap from the twin-scroll turbo N14 1.6-liter four is now at 243 pound-feet. Meanwhile, as you can see, the car is stripped of all civilian amenities to reach a taut sub-2,200 pounds (versus the standard JCW at 2,735 lbs). The four chubby normal seats have been swept aside in favor of a single Recaro competition seat.
Helping matters in the longer bits where top speed is the goal is the flatter rake – by 13 degrees – of the Mini Coupe windshield. If oodles of downforce are called for, this special version of the JCW aerodynamics pack with big adjustable rear wing is there to glue it to the tarmac. When the turns arrive, the adjustable race suspension taken from the Mini Challenge racer takes over together with a race-tuned map for the Dynamic Stability Control suite of settings. There is Race ABS as on the Challenge cars as well.
Final flourish for the pits? Four-point integrated pneumatic jack tucked into the chassis. Schwing!
Any design comments regarding the street Coupe aside, this right here is how we want our Coupe.
Final flourish for the pits? Four-point integrated pneumatic jack tucked into the chassis. Schwing!
Any design comments regarding the street Coupe aside, this right here is how we want our Coupe.
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