Mini isn’t mucking around when it comes to the next John Cooper Works GP. While the old one made do with 215bhp, the third-gen Mini hatch-based JCW GP will have “more than 220 kW/300hp [over 296bhp]” to play with.
The JCW GP’s rough output was revealed a few months ago, along with some teaser shots hinting at an aggressive aero package. Now, a camouflaged prototype has been revealed, and it looks even angrier than we dared to imagine.
That rear-wing! Those box arches! The huge front splitter! It’s immediately clear the GP means business, even if we don’t know a whole lot about it just yet.
Mini says the GP has “model-specific suspension technology harmonised with John Cooper Works motor racing expertise, weight-optimised construction and precisely defined aerodynamic properties,” without going into specifics.
Want we have been told about the JCW GP is that it’s monstrously quick around the Nurburgring. The testing phase for the car is far from over, and yet it’s already bagged a sub-eight-minute Nordschleife lap time.
Despite upping the ante considerably compared to the last John Cooper Works GP, Mini will actually make more examples of the latest version. While the Mini Cooper S with the JCW GP kit and the 2012 – 2014 GP were each limited to 2000 units, it’s been confirmed that 3000 of the new one are set to be built.
It’ll likely be very expensive, however. We can expect a starting point well over £30,000, potentially a little closer to the £40,000 mark. Worth it? We’ll let you thrash that one out in the comments.
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