Dec 16th, 2014
Full crew tonight, including Nathaniel from ScooterFile and Gabe from MotoringFile talking about MINIs and other car related things for you this week. Ok, we spend most of the night talking about JCW stuff. And beards, but you need to click back to the live version for that, and all of the other pre-show things we do.
Be sure to join us next week as we will be talking to the only Jalop guy that doesn’t hate MINIs; Patrick George. Should be a great show. Also, programming update, as we finish out the year, next weeks show will also be our last for 2014 except we are tying to organize a Google Hangout for Christmas day, if you are looking for a way to get away from Christmas for a bit. Stay tuned for deets!
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Dec 11th, 2014
While the covers have just been thrown off the new 2015 MINI JCW and MINI’s marketing blitz has already begun. In the JCW’s first video we find Tony Hawk and French rally driver Guerlain Chicherit (yes the car who attempted to break the long jump record in a MINI) racing around the streets of LA. Why is it important to watch? For one this is the first we’ve heard of the new car. And from what we get from the video, it would seem MINI has taken the exhaust tuning very seriously. Secondly this is the first time we’ve seen the new car in motion and driven in anger.
Click through and check it out. continued →
Dec 11th, 2014
The MINI press office has quickly churned out a press release announcing the arrival of the F56 JCW. In it MINI verifies specs and details we didn’t know before (like a JCW specific HUD for instance). While the release doesn’t come with new photos, we expect more soon. And even better we’ll be hands-on with the new JCW at this year’s NAIAS in early January. Click through for the full official release. continued →
Dec 9th, 2014
In the Automotive press world there are such things as embargoes. They allow the press to properly cover a subject with the appropriate time to not just write a cohesive piece but add intelligent and/or critical thought. They work great. Until someone breaks them. That happened this evening when when Australia’s Carsales.com.au accidentally hit publish on a story due next week. We imagine the black 7 Series are pulling up now to Carsales HQ and retribution will be swift. However for us that means we can publish a sneak peek at the new MINI JCW without such retribution. Now onto the details we’ve all been waiting for. continued →
Dec 1st, 2014
We’ve always loved the JCW suspension. It’s given the MINI more control at the limit while often improving comfort on the road. However the one rub against it has always been the lack of adjustability – especially when compared with aftermarket coil-over systems. For the F56 MINI has rectified this by taking the GP’s coil-over suspension and adapting it to the F56. continued →
Nov 30th, 2014
Although not yet announced by MINI UK, we are starting to learn more specifics of the F56-based MINI Challenge car as provided by AutoExpress UK including a jump of 86bhp over a stock F56 Copper S. Additionally, clips from current MINI Challenge drivers performing early testing of the F56 MINI Challenge car are now available. As a background, the MINI Challenge race series is a single make championship with strict part and budgetary restrictions to make it financially viable for driver teams while maintaining fairness and emphasizing driver skill. MINI Challenge UK and the short-lived Australian MINI Challenge were fan favorites and there is no shortage of coverage here on MotoringFile and clips of races on YouTube. The past R53 and R56 Challenge cars saw relatively few modifications to the powertrain but it appears this will be changing with the F56 Challenge car as reported by AutoExpress UK. continued →
Nov 24th, 2014
In 2007 MotoringFile took delivery of our first R56 and with it a number of JCW accessories – most importantly the JCW Tuning Kit. With the F56 JCW Tuning being released this fall we thought we’d look back to remind ourselves what came before.
The kit for the R56 is extraordinarily straight forward. In the US it simply consists of a more aggressive air intake, a free flowing exhaust, a turbocharger air filter air guide and the all important ECU upgrade.
This is quite a contrast to the previous kit available for the R52 and R53 that included such items as a new head and inter-cooler and pretty big freakn’ check from the new owner. In fact the new kit is almost 1/3 of the $6000 price tag the R52/R53 dealer installed version rang up. But is it even worth the lower $2000 price tag? Especially now that there are so many aftermarket tuning options for the R56?
continued →
Full crew tonight, including Nathaniel from ScooterFile and Gabe from MotoringFile talking about MINIs and other car related things for you this week. Ok, we spend most of the night talking about JCW stuff. And beards, but you need to click back to the live version for that, and all of the other pre-show things we do.
