Mini has announced that its upcoming John Cooper Works GP hot hatch will be priced from £33,895, and that it will be revealed at the Los Angeles motor show later this month.
The brand has also revealed that a development prototype has set a Nürburgring lap time of less than eight minutes, suggesting it could be capable of beating the Renault Mégane RS Trophy-R's 7min 40.1sec lap time, set earlier this year.
A camouflaged JCW GP prototype appeared at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, giving British Mini fans a first taste of the 302bhp hot hatch following its disguised public debut at the Nürburgring 24-hour race.
All the news from the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019
Development cars wrapped in camouflage took to the 'Ring before the start of the famous endurance race to preview the brand's most powerful and fastest production model yet, which is due to go on sale in 2020.
Mini used the event to confirm the car would see a limited production run, with just 3000 models produced worldwide - some 1000 cars more than either its immediate predecessor or the 2006 Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP kit.
The British firm previously revealed that the hot hatchback will take its power from a four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, likely to be shared with the new BMW M135i hot hatch.
The JCW GP will retain the extreme rear wing design, aggressive bodykit and bespoke wheels seen in the 2017 GP Concept. Preview images released by Mini showed a close-up of the rear diffuser, apparently previewing a design that's revised from the original concept, and four-spoke alloy wheels that aren’t as motorsport-inspired as the centre-locking 19in wheels used on the concept.
The four-cylinder turbocharged engine will make the GP the fastest and most powerful road-going Mini ever built by the company. No performance figures have been confirmed.
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It's the same engine and
It's the same engine and platform as the M135i. Same engine also used in the latest JCW Clubman/Countryman so no great leap to create a new GP version. It was never going to arrive before now to steal the thunder of the new 1 Series launch.
Endless references to the 'Ring are endlessly boring. I don't think it's for me.
What’s changed?
We were talking about this car in March and it's still not here,and it's nothing special, 300bhp, that's just not enough to compete, maybe they should have done a limited edition with 400bhp and sold them for say £45K.....?
Peter Cavellini wrote:
If it was designed and built with a decent platform from the beginning, it wouldnt need 300bhp, the standard Fiesta ST makes do with 200, and its rated as one of the best drivers cars there is, as are the GT86/BRZ twins and the MX5 with similar outputs, the problem with the mini is its just to fat and heavy to be fun with limited power..
The Porsche method...?
Do a light weight version and charge more?.....just like Porsche do?
Peter Cavellini wrote:
400bhp and front wheel drive? No thanks.. 300bhp and fwd is bad enough.. And frankly, for that money, 4WD is justified.
Mini Cooper JCW
It would have been crazy for Mini to offer a 300bhp version of the Countryman and not do so for their hot hatch. A 4wd version would be even better. Mini might be the only company offering a 3 door hot hatch as everyone else only offers 5 doors. The performance figures for this car will need to be on par with the S3 and A35 to justify the price.