Jun 19th, 2011
As we gear up for MINI’s run at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring this weekend we thought we’d give you a quick overview of the track courtesy of Vimeo member Ozan Halici. This video (shot with four Gopro cameras) captures the track and the danger incredibly well. Check back throughout the week for more on the ‘Ring and the MINI that will be attacking it. continued →
Jun 19th, 2011
German car tuning house AC Schnitzer has built a super MINI based on the R56 JCW. Setting a lap time at Hockenheim Circuit of 1:13.341 minutes, the “Eagle” can turn the course faster than the BMW M3, Ferrari California, Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series and the Porsche 911 Turbo and Carrera S models. It’s little wonder with power at 256hp, and weight is down to just 2,312 lbs. Thanks to a fully re-engineered exhaust system and tweaks to the engine management system, the 1.6L MINI Turbo engine is belting out well over 50hp more than the stock JCW. Custom suspension and 18″ wheels round out the performance package and aggressive styling of the car. Where the Eagle concept for sale, it’d cost you a spendy $88,667, but alas, it is not. Video, more photos and the full press release after the break. continued →
Jun 18th, 2011
At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, one lucky MINI fan will get to ride shotgun with Chris Meeke as he drives the Countryman WRC race car in anger around a 1.67 mile, loose-surface, forest rally course. A raffle will be held at the Glittering Ball, Saturday night, July 2, 2011 to choose the lucky passenger. Other MINI WRC highlights for the weekend include Meeke competing in the annual hill climb event on all three days of the festival. GFoS has been a mecca for petrol heads the world over, and this year there’s something special for the MINI faithful. Cheers! Full press release after the jump. continued →
Jun 17th, 2011
Look for much more on this team and the car next week.
Official news from MINI Motorsports: For the first time Dörr Motorsport starts a MINI at the legendary 24h race Nürburgring this year. In the background of this, Dörr cleverly promotes young long-distance drivers.
continued →
Jun 16th, 2011
The first and third sketches are courtesy of Autoexpress and are just here to illustrate a few ideas in the story below. They are rough and shouldn’t be taken as anything other than sketches from an outside source.
BMW Insider Herr26 on several websites as well on MF with his insight into the upcoming 3rd generation MINI. Code-named the F56, the next MINI will debut at MINI United 2012 (one of the reasons it was post-poned as we previously reported) and then at the Paris Mondial l’automobile in October of next fall.
We’ve reported previously on the F56 sharing a chassis and engine range with the upcoming front wheel drive BMW. In fact the two cars will be virtually the same technically with only the visual design (inside and out) and the software disguising the two. At launch engines will range from a 1.5 three cylinders to (if sources are to believed) an updated version of the 1.6L four cylinder.
But what will it look like? That’s the big question that has been on the minds of many of our readers. And that’s where Herr26′s recent comment on MF can shed some light:
I recently came up close and personal with the car which showed some devious changes hidden under the camouflage which I will go into. continued →
Jun 16th, 2011
Since 2008 we’ve heard rumblings of a higher performance JCW model (in the vein of the 2006 GP) that would close out the R56′s production cycle. The rumors have always centered around more power, better aero and the JCW suspension as standard. Then over a year ago a spy photographer working for Leftlanenews captured these images that seemed to correspond with what we knew of the car. The main feature being the enormous MINI Challenge-esque rear defuser.
Fast forward to today and we see new photos courtesy of Autoblog that appear to show the same formula in an updated prototype form. The key indicators that this is the real deal are:
Jun 16th, 2011
Car Magazine snuck in somewhere they shouldn’t have been and snapped the best pics yet of the forthcoming MINI Coupe. For those that read our review of the coupe last week we see a couple details that we mentioned;
