The 2008 European MINI Challenge has officially kicked off at Hockenheim in Germany with one final testing. You can see some reports and even interview over at mini2.info. Or you can look at the photo set after the jump. A huge thanks to Sebastian for making this all available too us.
Be sure to click through to all the pages… and 29 of them. The further you go into the gallery the more interesting it gets.
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Fantastic shots, only wish I were there to watch it. Of course would have been even better to have not only been there but participated also heh.
NIce shots, thanks for sharing.
Is it just me or do those fuel drums look very similar to beer kegs..
That was the first thing I thought too.
Looks like testing–as there are no assigned car numbers, and the pits are a little disorganized. I want the onboard jacks, so I can go all Speed Racer on the next SUV that comes near my MINI. 😉
But why is there a guy in a Citroen Sport driving suit, and another in an Alfa Romeo one?
Of course they’re beer kegs. The cars are powered by Lowenbrau !
Are these races going to be televised anywhere in Europe? Do they ever get posted to the internet? I would love to be able to watch them.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I thought the first John Cooper Works Factory car was going to be a roadable version of these little beasts. Now that would have been a HALO car.
I’m no fan of the jcw body kit, but I have to say it looks so much better as seen here with the chin spoiler and rear ducts – as in this is what should come on the jcw factory car.
>Not to beat a dead horse, but I thought the first John Cooper Works Factory car was going to be a roadable version of these little beasts. Now that would have been a HALO car.
Well truth be told they are essentially the same components in terms of the drive-train. In fact part of the reason the factory JCW car was given the green light in terms of production was because much of the development was already done for the race car’s engine and gearbox upgrades. So in <em>some</em> respects they are quite similar.
Of course that doesn’t mean I’ve changed my opinion of the factory JCW car’s base spec 🙂
Totally with you on that Gabe.
Anyone recognize the make and model of the treaded tires?
Where do MINI Challenge Cars go to retire? (I want one!)
Very nice….is there a way I can download some of the pictures? Thanks.
Hi, you can Download the pictures on flickr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/73765184@N00/sets/72157604395324670" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.flickr.com/photos/73765184@N00/sets/72157604395324670</a> or on my private site: <a href="http://www.sebastiansuk.de" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.sebastiansuk.de</a>
Thank you so much, Sebastian!
(you got a lot of very good photos too on your website)