MINI JCW GP’s 8:23 Lap of the ‘Ring (Video)
The exterior and interior styling may not be finished on this test mule but the drivetrain was obviously complete as head of Development Jorg Weidinger took to the Nordschleife for the official lap time. You can check out all 8:23 of it (compressed into a 1:05) after the break.
Want a look at the GP in final production trip? Here’s a quick clip of the car undergoing final testing at the ‘Ring just a few weeks ago.
<p>Yay just behind a chevy cobalt SS!</p>
<p>So are you saying it’s not a good time because of that? Pathetic some people feel they have to crap on anyones success. Do you really feel that bad about yourself? Going around the Ring isn’t the only thing the car does in comparison. Gas mileage, styling, list goes on but you pick the one thing that sounds embarrasing to the MINI and post it. Sad!</p>
<p>The truth is that it is slower than a Cobalt around the ring. No reason to bash on the guy for stating a fact.</p>
<p>Comments made on internet forums are generally made to illicit a response. Sarcastic comments that feign to be excited that a POS car with a genuinely decent engine and suspension tuning has a faster lap time than a brand new performance tuned euro-hatch deserve discussion. That being said, the discussion so far hasn’t been particularly helpful. Are people cross shopping used Cobalt SSs to 2012 GPs? No more than they would a 2004 Boxster S with a similar lap time. If Jason wanted to bring up useful discussion he could have compared the 2012 GP to the exact same lap time from a 2010 VW Golf R which is another hot hatch with with arguably as high of build quality and interior materials and would be more likely to be cross shopped with a GP.</p>
<p>Jason’s probably the same clown posting stuff at Car and Driver about the Cobalt. I said it there and I’ll say it here. If you like the Cobalt so much go buy one and STFU. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Cobalt. Jason: If the Pontiac Aztek was faster than this MINI would you still rather have that instead? Do they have nothing better to do than to troll car sites of cars they don’t like and just find stuff that isn’t comparable in order to compare on the one statistic they can find that IS comparable? Whatever. It’s clear to me after months of reading this and other car sites that the majority of fools out there care are like single-issue voters. It’s all about horsepower, horsepower, horsepower. Never mind if you’d rather want a FWD car because you live in the snow, or if you want something small and easy to park, or if you want something that gets over 33 MPG. None of that matters if it costs the same price as some other car with 444 HP to the rear wheels. People on the internet suck sometimes.</p>
<p>Dood, 444whp is totally weak. The Testosteroni Steroidster has 447whp and costs the same. :)</p>
<p>Sorry, but the Golf R blows away any MINI on build quality and interior materials. Check one out sometime. Also… it is AWD, can be fitted with 4 doors, and has an actual rear seat. So it really is in a completely different class from the GP.</p>
<p>Although the Golf R and GP are different cars of very different size and with different drive wheels my response was regarding the original posters choice of choosing one of the least likely car that will be cross-shopped with the GP compared to the only other car with a similar lap time that I could see being cross-shopped with the GP. I have actually seen a few Golf Rs on the street and assuming the materials are as good if not better than a GTI, it should be very nice and I may have overstated my original comment regarding the interior. The base GTI’s steering wheel looks as good if not better that the optional JCW steering wheel and the seats look very nicely bolstered. However without a single person seeing the interior of the GP, one can only assume what it will be like although we expect a similarly stripped out interior to the 2006 GP but with Recaros that would rival the Golf R. I think I might have been thinking about some of the quality issues my
friends have been plagued with on their Mk5 GTI, although MINI
is not better in the quality department if not generally worse. At least in the US, if you want a near limited-edition or limited edition hot hatch there are very few choices with the GP 2012 and Golf R falling into those categories even if their designers/engineers took very different approaches.</p>
<p>Glad you conceded the interior quality point. Road/wind noise is also significantly lower on the Golf than any MINI. But, more important, anyone shopping for a car with a functional rear seat (and/or AWD) will not be looking at the GP. The GP competes with and will be “cross shopped” with 2-seat coupes and even convertibles in the $30-40k range. And it faces very, very tough competition in that class, especially given the fact the GP is sending power to the wrong axle.</p>
<p>Why do they have to produce a fake video of the damn lap time setting. Just show the real thing (in car) and make us happy. I hate all this Mtv editing. You can’t enjoy any of it. Not a single frame of that first video was from any real testing. BOOO</p>
<p>Agreed, the video sucks.</p>
<p>And it probably cost more money to edit that short clip than to simply record a flying lap with a camera or two and telemetry. I don’t mind this clip, but I agree I would prefer the whole lap.</p>
<p>Still would love to pull the performance non run flats and then put them onto the R53 GP replacing their runflats. Figure the end time between the cars will be razor thin. I think this is a good development but lacks a lot of personality that really knocked the R53 GP out of the park.</p>
<p>Well we also haven’t seen the final final version of the car. There may be personality as yet unseen.</p>
<p>The R56+ cars are dead from the front end. I like the exhaust note but a huge part of the riot that is the R53 GP is the supercharger. Our JCW Coupe is fun to listen too but boors me to death from the sound from the front of the car.. Not a make or break point, I am sure the new GP will be a lot of fun still, just think MINI is going to have a very tough time matching the feel of the first. I still think of the R53 GP being similar to the E30 M3. Yes there will be faster GPs in the future but the cumulative whole that makes up the R53 is going to be a magical combination</p>
<p>So let me get this straight. You drink the GP koolaid, urinate, and then drink your own urine?</p>
<p>You need to drive more cars and read less MINI marketing copy.</p>
<p>I am quite certain that MINI Marketing and I do not share much. The concept however from the Coupe designers and engineers was saying the car is aimed at being the sporty car of the brand. Pretty certain my view will never be shared or acknowledged by MINI lol</p>
<p>It’s not as razor thin as i originally thought (btw) according to a source. But would be a fun test :)</p>