The fastest ever production Mini, the new John Cooper Works GP, has been revealed ahead of the Paris Motor Show. The most mental Mini ever will be driven by a 160 kW and 260 Nm – 280 Nm version of the legendary John Cooper Works 1.6-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged engine. This makes the new John Cooper Works GP 4 kW more powerful than its GP predecessor of a decade ago. As before, the GP makes use of a 6-speed manual transmission to channel power o the ground through the front wheels.
That torque boost from 260 Nm to 280 Nm becomes available during full throttle acceleration. Mini say the John Cooper Works GP will get to 100 km/h in 6.3 seconds and accelerate from 80 to 120km/h in 5.9 seconds, even if you only use 5th gear.
Of course we’ve all seen the John Cooper Works GP lapping the Nurburgring during testing and it managed to lap the circuit in 8 minutes and 23 seconds, making it some 19 seconds quicker than the previous GP and only 16 seconds slower than the brilliant Renault Megane RS 265 Trophy, the fastest ever front-wheel drive production car around the Nurburgring.
Handling tweaks for the new GP include an adjustable sports suspension, unique light alloy wheels (a hat-tip to the previous model) and upgraded brakes and tyres of course, 215/40 R17. The braking package includes 330 mm discs at the front and 280 mm discs at the rear.
The styling upgrade for the fastest Mini means the GP comes with a bespoke aerodynamic body kit as standard. This includes extended sills, flared fenders with front and rear lips, a new roof spoiler, ducted side skirts and a new rear diffuser unique to the GP edition. Limited to 2 000 units worldwide, you better believe this is going to be one rare Mini, again, just like the previous John Cooper Works GP.
