MINI John Cooper Works Challenge… double-clickk track-day car

A new Challenge

MINI, John Cooper Works, go-kart feeling, track day car, hot hatch, racing challenge.  Now there is a car which brings these together – the MINI John Cooper Works Challenge. 

This new MINI John Cooper Works Challenge takes track-driving days to a new level, while also offering thrilling smile-on-face regular-road driving.  Unlike other track-day-only cars, this is a daily-usable hot hatch which is also set up to exploit the on-track challenge … a challenge to you, and a challenge to others on the race track.

Home-grown performance hero

A small passionate development team at MINI Plant Oxford (in the same building that houses the OX4 Racing team) worked with key suppliers to the MINI John Cooper Works Challenge full race-spec car (which competes in the MINI Challenge racing series) to arrive at this production MINI John Cooper Works Challenge creation.  Well, production… to a maximum of 100 units.  This home-grown performance hero is a John Cooper Works where the term “works” is fully apt.
The high-performance starting point is the MINI John Cooper Works Hatch, using its 3-door body and 2.0 turbo engine of 170kW / 320Nm and 6-speed manual gearbox, which can be measured on the inimatable MINI-style speedometer as reaching 100km/h from the starting grid in 6.3 seconds, and with safe space can reach 246km/h.  That’s the standard production John Cooper Works Hatch.

Power is therefore already ample, so priority was given to on-track ability, honing in on the chassis, tyres and braking:

• Nitron provides suspension adjustable for bump, rebound, camber and castor, and ride height
• Cornering is bettered by a Quaife automatic torque biasing (ATB) limited-slip diff, in place of the standard car’s open diff
• Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres for superior grip
• Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 rims for lower unsprung mass per corner
• From the MINI JCW Pro Accessories range, the Brembo-developed 4-pot calipers
• JCW Pro Accessories grooved brake discs
• paired with Mintex brake pads for excellent fade resistance

Bespoke body addenda

To mark this as the Challenge car, MINI JCW Pro Accessories (already available from MINI dealers for your MINI JCW) are fitted.  These include the JCW Pro Aerokit with enlarged carbon-fibre air intakes for more cooling (needed on thrashing track days), rear diffuser, rear splitters, uniquely contoured wheel arch extensions, carbon-fibre mirror covers, and a specific rear roof spoiler.  A JCW Pro carbon-fibre exhaust tailpipe finisher gives the MINI John Cooper Works Challenge a purposeful roar.

The exterior is only available in White Silver metallic paint, off-set by a bespoke black sport-stripe graphics package, and a gloss-black wheel and black roof.  The red John Cooper Works horizontal grille bar adds a splash of colour.  John Cooper Works sports seats in black cloth with Dinamica (suede-cloth) panels with white checkered stripes and white stitching plus a sports steering wheel give a sporty interior feel.

02 numbering is seen on this photo model’s dash panel and side marker – this indicates that this is number 02 of 100 built, so each car will be numbered according to build.

Double-click button and special tags

Not seen on your regular MINI, the MINI John Cooper Works Challenge has a special button and tags:  a button ahead of the gear lever on the driver’s side (where the cupholder would usually be) is marked “DOUBLE CLICK > TRACK MODE” so there is no unintentional engagement of track mode, and this has a John Cooper Works branded tag hanging off of it.

Then, a dog-tag style yellow warning label reads:

• Sport mode – PUBLIC ROADS
• Track mode – TRACK USE ONLY
• Use on public roads will invalidate vehicle approval.
  

So, there is no uncertainty that this is a proper track-day car.  MINI track attack!