While at MINI Takes the States in Boston, I had the opportunity to crawl in, on and around the JCW Challenge Race Car with camera in hand. While I was taking photos, I also got some great information.
Mechanically, this is a Factory JCW MINI. The engine, transmission and clutch are from the Factory car you’ll be able to buy later this month. The brakes are the same 4 piston brakes of the JCW car. The wheels are OEM JCW wheels that you will be able to order with your Factory JCW car.
Once this car is built, it’s sent out “body in white” for it to become a race car. The interior is completely stripped except parts of the dash and the emergency brake boot (which is odd) and all of the safety equipment is installed. One feature that I wasn’t familiar with is the air jacks. There is a quick-release air jack in the boot where you plug in an air hose and the entire car raises. A nice feature for a race car to be sure.
CNN Money, as they like to do, has compiled another list of cars. This time based on JD Powers surveys taken within the first 90 days of ownership of a car.
Buyers are surveyed within 90 days of purchasing their new autos. They’re asked about 80 different vehicle attributes. Historically, cars that score high on this survey tend to sell well without needing heavy incentives, according to J.D. Power.
News of the week from Motoringfile.com, but since it was mostly MTTS related, we recapped the week instead.
We had a great week and you’ve seen most of it. To recap, we posted over 700 photos, over an hour of video and almost 2 hour of audio! Thanks everyone for checking it out or coming by to say during the event. It was great to meet you all!
Planning to attend Chicago or LA? Don’t forget to register. They also posted quite a few updates during Miami and Boston that you can see here.
With more and more people trying to get into more fuel efficient cars, resale values of used cars is going up. From Forbes.com.
It’s not just used hybrids seeing a price increase, however. This year’s Mini Cooper buyers expecting to find a lower-priced used 2007 Mini were in for a big surprise. They paid, on average, $2,300 more for a used Mini in mid-June, a 12% increase over the average transaction price on Jan. 1 of this year. The car has proved its value during the past six months; it gets an average EPA estimated 29 mpg. continued →
Another great event put on by MINI USA! This time, the venue changed to the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
It was kicked off Saturday morning with a meetup and drive starting at Pier 4, up to Gloucester and back to the UMASS campus. I think there were over 300 MINIs for this run, so traffic was a little slow. But, surrounded by MINIs, it wasn’t so bad. continued →
The 135i may not be a MINI, but it’s one of the most talked about cars of the moment on MotoringFile and our sister publication BimmerFile just wrapped up a full week’s worth of driving it. A highly recommended read if you’re at all interested in the smallest of BMWs and (dare we say it) the most MINI like.
Our week started in Miami after the end of the MTTS event at Homestead Raceway as we headed north. We drove a lot, tried not to eat too much junk food and got to have a great MINI experience!
A lot happened between Florida and Boston. Long days starting at 6:00am, driving all day, then not getting into our rooms until midnight and later. There was so much going on, you’ll have to check the photos and video. There were, however, a few standouts.
Starting with our stop in Charleston where MINI of Charleston hosted a great meet-up, beach party style! Great food, boiled peanuts and Tony the peanut man! In the background, the sky was interrupted by an aircraft carrier, which made a fantastic backdrop.
Here it is, all of the audio from MTTS 2008. Listen in as we start in Miami and work our way north to Boston. With many interviews along the way.
Some of you have asked about the MINI we drove. We had an Astro Black R56 S with body colored roof, sunroof and automatic transmission. Yes, we know we are Whiteroofradio. I think someone at MINI USA was having a little bit of fun with us.
This is the last of the audio and there is quite a bit of it. I still have more coming in the shape of video and photos, so you can watch for those later today.
Over the past months there has been quite a low level rumble from MINI enthusiasts about the lack of availability of LSD (Limited Slip Differential) on the new factory JCW MINI. The engineers have opted, instead, for an EDLC (Electronic Differential Lock Control). The reason for the EDLC over the LSD is due to the fact that with a mechanical LSD, the high amount of torque in the JCW MINI causes the LSD to engage too quickly causing what’s been referred to as “anti-torque steer”. Torque steer is something that usually causes the steering to pull to one side under hard acceleration.
What they found with LSD on the JCW MINI was that it caused the car to want to pull the steering back to center and go straight under hard acceleration – not a desirable, or safe, effect in a lot of situations. This is a simplistic, easy to understand explanation and I’m sure a dissertation could be written on the technical aspects of force and intertia involved but hopefully this will help answer the question as to why no LSD. In the end, both options were tested and the EDLC gave the JCW the best handling. continued →
Exclusive! The Factory JCW will be getting the burble exhaust sound back as was on late R53 models. This is great news and you can see and hear for yourself at your local dealer starting July 14.
The MTTS road-trip continues. We just hit Boston last night and this is the first internet access we’ve had in two days. And this is not to mention the only time we’ve seen the inside of a hotel room in the last two days has been between 1 AM and 6 AM. We plan on having some updates tonight and/or in the morning. continued →
MINI UK Press Release: MINI has won the City Car/Supermini category of this year’s highly influential British Insurance Car Security Awards – yet another accolade for MINI’s trophy cabinet.
Awarded on the basis of its New Vehicle Security Ratings (a scoring system measuring ‘theft of’ and ‘theft from’), MINI beat its rivals to secure first place in the award that has become a leading indicator of all that is best in vehicle security. continued →
We arrived in Miami on Friday ready and rarin’ to go! First stop was Bicentennial Park for some meeting, some greeting and a viewing a National Treasure 2. I heard that Nicholas Cage might have been at the park that night, but didn’t see him myself. We did see, however, Rauno Aaltonen and The Stig’s fat cousin as you have seen and heard. The fat cousin guy is actually a great chap by the name of Ian that tells a great joke!
Saturday started again at Bicentennial Park with a breakfast and even more MINIs! The MINIs of Miami club and Sunshine MINIs were almost all in attendance. Once all of the MINIs were there (I didn’t get an exact count, but I think it was almost 400!) and lined up, Florida’s Finest gave us a police escort from the park all the way out of the downtown area! It was like a parade of MINIs!
After a short popsicle stop, we all continued to Homestead International Raceway to get things underway!
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Sections: JCW, MF Feature, Motorsports, R56 (Coupe) Jun 30th, 2008 24 Comments 
News of the week from 
