Mini races into Frankfurt with extreme John Cooper Works GP concept
It's small, it's wide and it looks ready to party.
Off the top of your head, tell me the automaker that you think would build some pretty gnarly racecars. Did you say Mini? After this, BMW's diminutive subsidiary may come to mind a bit faster.
Mini will debut the John Cooper Works GP Concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week. As the name suggests, and as the images will very clearly spell out, this is Mini's vision for a hardcore racecar. It's a spiritual successor to two different Mini models -- the 2012 JCW GP and the 2006 Mini Cooper S with the JCW GP Kit.
While those cars were actually built, this is just a concept, so things can get a bit... wilder. A new body kit widens the Mini considerably, with very aggressive bumpers, wide side skirts and a wing that looks like it could push the car through to the center of the planet. Many of the parts are carbon fiber, and there's a bunch of red accents, because we all know red is the sportiest color in the visible spectrum.
Mini also brought over the Union Jack-style taillights that were recently seen on the too-obviously-named Mini Electric Concept.
The outside might look like some sort of show car rather than a racer, but the interior makes this car's intentions very obvious. There's a proper roll cage for safety, five-point harnesses and racing seats. A lack of weight-adding creature comforts like complicated door panels, carpeting and a back seat also hints at its racing nature. Information comes from both a head-up display and the digital gauge cluster.
Since it's just a figment of Mini's imagination, there was no information on power output or other racing-drivetrain bits -- there's probably a stock engine under the hood, to be honest. But that's fine, because it gets our imaginations ready to race no matter what. If you'll be in Frankfurt for the auto show, give it a bit of your time.
