MINI John Cooper Works GP Review - Most EXTREME MINI Ever?

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Hold on tight: this is the most extreme MINI ever. This John Cooper Works GP model is a present that MINI promised itself for its 60th birthday and it's intended for a very select audience of brand enthusiasts.

Background

If you know your fast MINIs, this is one to savour. Welcome to the third generation MINI John Cooper Works GP. The fastest car the brand has ever made.

John Cooper would have loved this, a car that's bold, irreverent and politically incorrect, the kind of tonic we all need just right now. The idea of an uber-fast version of the already rather quick MINI Hatch John Cooper Works 3-door shopping rocket is nothing new. The very first JCW GP model was launched in 2006 with a supercharged 1.6-litre engine offering to 218hp. Six years later, a second generation JCW GP was made available for an equally limited production run with a turbocharged 1.6, also putting out 218hp.

Both these variants signalled the impending end of that generation MINI Hatch's production run, as did this 'F56'-series third generation JCW GP model at its launch in early 2020. Only 3,000 will be made, with just 575 of those reserved for UK customers. And here, I'm going to test one of them.

Driving Experience

No MINI has ever been faster, the 62mph sprint dispatched in just 5.2s, though you'd hope for that given that this is the largest, most powerful engine ever shoehorned beneath the clamshell bonnet of a MINI Hatch. Unlike the 1.6-litre units used in the previous two MINI GP models, this one's 2.0-litres in size, offering a 306hp output. You have to have an 8-speed paddleshift auto gearbox - something that might trouble the kind of audience this wild MINI is aimed at. There's no 4WD system either, something you might think this defiantly front-driven MINI might need when you stamp on the throttle from rest - or even in the mid-range - and find the front scrabbling desperately for traction and sometimes even orientation.

Yet at the same time, you feel that this is all somehow an integral part of the extreme fairground ride this uber-MINI wants to take you on. It helps that the whole performance is accompanied by various evocative exhaust crackles from the huge 19mm-diameter tail pipes during throttle lifts and downshifts. And that some semblance of control, particularly in the wet, is maintained by the standard mechanical differential lock and the dynamic stability control system. Tame it all and simply astonishing point-to-point times over secondary roads are possible.

The body structure, chassis and driveline of the standard MINI Hatch JCW had to be practically re-invented for this GP version. There's a new engine mount, a stouter front tower strut brace and a beefier rectangular support for the rear suspension. The brakes are brilliant too, with 360mm discs gripped by four-piston calipers at the front. Handling changes include special camber rates, a wider track, stiffer anti-roll bars and a greater offset for the bespoke 18-inch forged wheels that come shared with track-style Sport Performance-spec Hankook tyres. Plus the ride height is 10mm lower and the steering is even sharper than it already is on a JCW MINI. Don't worry about having to scroll through different drive modes; this GP model is programmed for 'Sport' only, in which it pulls all the way to the 6,800rpm red line as the gearbox performs its crisp and rapid shifts.

Design and Build

Nothing is subtle about this MINI - certainly not the way it looks. Has the brand ever produced anything with more radical racetrack presence? It's doubtful. The first thing you'll notice of course is the simply enormous GP-branded rear wing, with its subtle lip spoilers and a look apparently inspired by the boxy turbojet housings of the Concorde supersonic aircraft. More subtly altered is the rear valance within the rear bumper, which incorporates centrally-mounted twin tailpipes. At the front, there's a deeper front bumper than the one on an ordinary JCW hatch, with bigger cooling ducts and a more pronounced lower splitter.

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