A big wing and no rear seats: the 2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP

For some people, John Cooper is best known for the race cars with his name that showed F1 and Indianapolis that the engine should go behind the driver. He learned the lesson in 1960, and 61 years later it remains as true as ever. But more will associate its name with the small front-wheel-drive Minis, which it has introduced in addition to the successful single seats.

The Mini Cooper was a cheap byou performance car, a good 16 years before VW invented the Golf GTI, beloved among rally drivers and celluloid bank robbers. Nowadays, there is an entire John Cooper Works range at Mini, with hot versions of the various vehicles that make up the Mini range. And this is the hottest of them all, the $ 20,900 $ 20,900 Mini John Cooper Works GP.

The JCW GP is limited to just 3,000 cars and is the most extreme Mini you can buy that is not a Dakar off-roader. Its track is widened and the wheels are pushed further apart – hence the bare carbon fiber-reinforced plastic wing arch extensions with vents that you can lose inside.

Aerodynamics were obviously a concern for the design – testifying to the larger front lip spoiler and the massive double element affair at the rear. And up front there are extra ships and tubes to get more fresh, cold air to the big front brakes and a 2.0-liter turbo engine that is much more powerful than anything else in the Mini-Series, with 301 hp (225 kW) and 450 Nm (331 lb-ft)) call to your right foot.

It’s all sent to the front wheels, and only via an eight-speed automatic gearbox – here’s no option for a manual gearbox. You do have a mechanical diff with limited slip, but later you will read more about this.

As we discuss things that Mini left out at the JPW GP, do not estimate plans that involve more than one passenger. Instead of a rear seat, there is a bright red chassis support, which makes the car a two-seater. The rear seats to save weight are a proven technique on track-oriented sports cars such as Porsche’s 911 GT3 or the current Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, as well as the crazy mid-engined hatchbacks that Renault sticks out from time to time. time.

Mini’s diet was so successful that the JCW GP has a curb weight of only 1,295 kg (295 kg), which fits into our NCAP Safety-dominated era for featherweight. Clearly, wider and lighter are a unique setup, and the JCW GP is both lower than a normal Mini and stiffer – far, much stiffer. Some car brands, like Lotus, make their cars work by making them flexible so that they flow down the road. Mini followed the opposite approach, with here and there stiffer buses and even some rubber-free connections.

The result is definitely intriguing. It’s still a Mini, so it fits in small spaces, it’s easy to park, and with no rear seats, it’s pretty easy to transport cargo. It’s even relatively beneficial for a car that’s so crazy, getting 30mpg (7.8l / 100km) on the highway and 24mpg (9.8l / 100km) in the city, even if you push it. But the driving experience shares a lot with that of a supercar – really. Because it is so stiff and so low, bumps and potholes are your enemy. But because it’s so light, too, instead of hitting a bump, you might rather see yourself bouncing. Either way, your spine is startling.

There are great examples of grip at the front, thanks to some Hankook summer tires that still did their job wonderfully at an ambient temperature of 52 ° F (11 ° C). In fact, such was the grip between the sticky rubber and the limited slip range that I never got close to the car’s traction on the road. I’m not sure I’ve seen DSC once, and you should indeed go very fast to lure it to where you can end up in a ditch. The brakes were more than the task of slowing everything down.

It feels faster than a 0-62 km / h (0-100 km / h) time of 5.2 seconds. Although, to make the most of the car, you want the transmission in S, or just control it yourself with the 3D-printed metal paddleshifters. Be warned, however; There is a fair amount of torque in the lower gears, as 300 hp is still a lot to ask of the front wheels, even with 21st-century traction control and tire technology.

But no matter how fast you can turn, it just is not enough. This could be due to the steering feel, or the lack of it – you turn in and the car goes, there is grip, but the steering does not really communicate much.

I can’t help but wonder if a three-pedal option increased the driver’s engagement factor. That, or a session on the track. Predictably, Mini introduced the JCW GP at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, and the limits of a racetrack provide the freedom and safety to explore the performance envelope of the car in a way that would be irresponsible on the road. I suspect I might have written a more glowing report if the JCW GP had had some time; cars like these can sometimes come alive at nine or ten tenths.

But I did not do it, and because I just drove on the street, this one feels too excessive.

Entry image by Jonathan Gitlin