Mini’s most potent model ever made touches down

With the wraps having come off at Los Angeles Auto Show last year, Mini South Africa has announced availability of the limited edition John Cooper Works (JCW) GP.

Officially the fastest and most powerful Mini to roll-out of the Oxford Plant, the GP makes use of the same 2.0-litre turbocharged engine as the Cooper S and standard JCW, but with an output of 225kW/450Nm as opposed to the latter’s 170kW/320Nm. Mated to an eight-speed Steptronic gearbox with a mechanical locking differential included, the JCW GP will get from 0-100 km/h in a claimed 5.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 265 km/h.

Lower than the JCW and stripped out like previous generations with the rear seats making way for a red cross brace, the Racing Grey Metallic GP tips the scales at 1 255 kg and rides as standard on lightweight 18-inch forged lightweight alloy wheels with technical revisions consisting of a dual outlet straight-piped exhaust system, new cooling system and upgraded brakes utilising a four-piston caliper at the setup and single floating caliper at the rear with the ventilated Chili Red aluminium front discs measuring 360 mm.

Only available with three-doors, Mini has confirmed that only 38 of the 3 000 GPs build will be offered in South Africa with pricing, surprisingly, not listed on the official media release or the Mini website.

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