During the official presentation of the new Countryman JCW, an important announcement was made by none other than Charlie Cooper, grandson of the legendary John Cooper. Bulldog Racing will field at least one JCW car at next year’s grueling 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race. He stopped short of providing additional details, but our sources say the car(s) will be powered by internal combustion engines.
It remains to be seen whether the Charlie Cooper was referring to the outgoing three-door model or the next-gen JCW that has yet to be unveiled. Don’t expect the new hot hatch to match the muscle of the Countryman JCW unveiled today as it’s unlikely to have 296 hp, let alone the 312 hp offered in the United States. Whatever the case may be, Bulldog Racing’s track-only machine will undergo some modifications as one would expect from a race car.
We’ll remind you that at this year’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring, the Bulldog Racing team scored an impressive second-place finish for production-based turbocharged cars equipped with engines that have a 1.6- to 2.0-liter displacement. It represented the best-ever MINI result in a 24-hour race as well as the first podium in history.
To mark the success, the road-going version of the JCW spawned a Bulldog Racing Edition with some mechanical upgrades. These included an adjustable KW V3 suspension, 17-inch OZ HyperGT wheels with Pirelli P Zero tires, and a Remus exhaust. To shave off weight, the rear seats were removed from the modified cabin where an individually numbered plaque was added to denote its exclusivity.
Source: MINI
