Sports Compact Car not only gives us a great review of the MCS with a JCW kit but they also go on to give a solid historical account of how the Cooper name came to be associated with the Mini/MINI and automobiles in general:

At age 15, John Cooper practically invented the mid-engine racecar with his friend Eric Brandon. The two created the single-seater Cooper 500 from two old Fiat Topolino front ends, powered it with a JAP motorcycle engine, and changed motoracing forever.

 

The car's success, thanks to its unique mid-engine design and low price encouraged John and his father Charles to form the Cooper Car Company in the late 1940s.

A few years later, the Coopers built a rear-engine Formula 2 car, which was so small, light and well-balanced, it challenged the front-engine Formula 1 cars on the winding European circuits. Then in 1958, Stirling Moss drove a baby Cooper to the first-ever World Championship victory for a rear-engine car, and in 1959 and 1960, the Cooper Car Company won consecutive Formula 1 Constructor's World Championships.

In 1961, John took his mid-engine car to Indianapolis to compete against the much larger front-engine roadsters. With F1 star Jack Brabhan driving, the car finished ninth, but the die was cast. By 1962, every car on the Formula 1 grid had its engine behind the driver, and in 1965 a rear-engine, Ford-powered Lotus won the Indianapolis 500.

Other accomplishments include the Mini Cooper, which debuted in 1961, and eventually won four consecutive Monte Carlo rallies from 1964 to 1967, and a long list of performance parts and engine-tuning kits for the original Mini in the 1980s.

Although John Cooper died in 2000, the company he started with his dad is still going strong, and it's still tuning Minis. Only now, it's tuning the new MINI and John's son Mike is running the show.

You can read the entire article (and the actual JCW review) here.