Big 24-hour endurance races began as ways for car companies to prove the durability of their products, and while cars have become a lot less likely to expire in a cloud of steam in the intervening decades, there’s still plenty to be gained by running a car fast and hard for an entire day. That’s why the latest version of the Mini JCW is lining up at this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours.
The N24, of course, is one of the endurance racing calendar’s crown jewels, and sees a stacked grid every year made of production-based racers, ranging from heavily race-prepped GT3 machinery to stuff like this near production-spec Mini.
Mini JCW N24 – side
It’s being entered by Mini and Bulldog Racing, an independent team based in Nürburg that’s been running Coopers for a few years now. In fact, at last year’s race, the outfit’s old-shape Cooper JCW took victory in the SP3T class (granted, there were only a few other cars in the category, and fog shortened the race from 24 to seven and a half hours, but a win’s a win).
It’ll be hoping to repeat that success with a racer based on the new JCW, which also sports a natty new livery touting Mini’s new collaboration with clothing brand Deus Ex Machina. Indeed, that’s about all the info we have on the car for now. We assume, though, it’ll be entering the same SP3T category as its forebears, which is for cars specially built for endurance racing at the ’Ring, with turbocharged engines of between 1750 and 2000cc.
Mini JCW N24 – detail
The JCW’s 2.0-litre turbo four-pot – the same one that was in the old car – makes it a neat fit for this class, with its 231bhp and 280lb ft of torque unlikely to change much for the race. Same goes for the sole gearbox option in the new car, a seven-speed dual-clutch auto.
Underneath, there’ll likely be the odd chassis tweak, and the interior will receive the usual racecar-spec stripping out and safe-ification. Otherwise, though, this should be a largely similar car to the one you can nip into your local Mini dealer and buy, which makes it all the handier for Mini’s marketing team if it’s able to win its class again.
Mini JCW N24 – rear
That’s no mean feat at the N24, where even finishing 24 (weather-dependent) hours of running around the full 15.8-mile version of the infamously unforgiving circuit is an achievement in itself. We’ll find out when this year’s race takes place between 21 and 22 June.
Read the full article here
