Video of the Countryman WRC Introduction
Today MINI took off the wraps of the most anticipated MINI Motorsport program in over 40 years. Prodrive and the factory WRC team were on hand to speak to the crowd and offer a few lucky journalists some free rides around the Oxford plant parking lot.
We’ve put together a quick composite of the day’s activities and Prodrive’s effort in prepping for the team. Enjoy!
<p>Sweet!</p>
<p>Very cool video, ProDrive has really done a predictably great job. I do wonder how much connection there is with the rally history of the Mini brand. The classic was in a David vs Goliath battle during its run. It was running against normally much more powerful competitors, all recent rally cars are basically the same general car with different bodies on them. For this reason while I am glad to see Pro-Drive come back to rally I just really don’t get the connection with the early brand other than a MINI badge on the car.</p>
<p>I did get a chuckle that Ian used the facts that the R60 has four doors and is over 4 meters in length as reasons why MINI has gone to WRC. I think the only two reasons why this has happened was the reduction of using 1.6 liter motors and AWD, and even funnier to think about since the AWD system in the WRC car is not related to the R60 I would say the only real reason for the return is the reduction to 1.6 liter motors. I do hope that Pro-Drive has a great season.</p>
<p>I got a bit hung up on the 4-and-4 rationale as well (ironically, most of the WRC entries are 2-door coupes, no?).</p>
<p>MINI is getting some ink from the NYT:
<a href="http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/mini-countryman-geared-up-for-rally-racing" rel="nofollow ugc">http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/mini-countryman-geared-up-for-rally-racing</a></p>
<p>What about a street legal version ASAP!</p>