MINI Article New York MINI Social, Motoring Alliance, GP3 Concept... yea!

Recently I received an invitation to the "MINI Social" in New York and I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to make it, since I don't live in New York. However as luck would have it, my schedule changed and I was going to be in New York the week of this event, so I packed my bags and headed to New York.

On the day of the event, I was schedule to arrive around 4:00 which is when doors opened. Needless to say, work got in the way and I did not arrive until 6:00 or so. As I pulled up to the event, I thought I was in the wrong place. It was low key in a somewhat residential feeling area and there were not a ton of MINI's sitting around. However the building said The Warehouse so I went in. It was a swank space with 50 - 100 attendees. They were serving appetizers and an open bar was in the back mixing some drinks. A very good fun feel.



From what I understand I missed meeting some of the top brass from corporate and hearing the announcements. While I would have loved to hear the future direction and the question and answer session, I'm not sure I would have actually paid attention since the GP3 concept car was there. Now I realize some people may not like the looks of the car or question if the wide body is functional. All real questions. For me, its a concept car that reminds me of the homologation days from the 80's. Where manufactures designed a car for a specific race series and made just enough of them to meet the series rules for what is a production car. Usually these cars were wide body, wings and spoilers that were functional; not just plastic stuck some where to look "good" and fall off later. In this case, I think its a mix of functionality learned from racing and plus some elements that are there for the look. Its a concept car to present new ideas and elements. Frankly, I love it. Now on the the pictures!

Beware! If you are not into big scoops and wide body cars.. skip this the rest of this article. I will be adding another article on the Classic Mini electric project, the 2019 Electric Cooper and my discussion with Luis Perocarpi about the JCW Racing team.

Front Profile -


Side rear

Drivers side front corner (note that is not me in the picture)


Back corner - note the "British" tail lights

Yes the wing is MASSIVE.. makes my GP2 wing look like a baby... That said, either the fins are truly aerodynamic or just a cool feature. My gut says they are adding value.



Many wondered if the flairs were capped off or not. I can say they are not, they are open all the way through on the upper part of the flares. On the lower they are capped since the wheel is there.

Rear Wide Body:

Front Wide Body:



The front lower spoiler is massive, no other way to say it. For those of you up north, think about how much snow you could move out of the way during the winter. In all seriousness, it did look good and fell inline with the overall wide body characteristics of the car.




One of my favorite touches was the side mirrors. They really looked nice. Granted they would need to be convex to work, but they were clean and tucked in nicely.

Sarah checking out the Mirror..


I also liked the door handles. Very clean and pretty unique.

It also had a handy dandy roof scoop. While this looks good, from a street car perspective, it wouldn't add any value since the engine is up front. But you can get a view of the interior seats which looked very nice.

The interior was pretty darn cool. The car was locked so I couldn't open it up and these pictures don't do it justice as the window reflections are throwing it off.




And of course the production number of the vehicle. Granted, I wasn't able to find out if the 0059 actually means something...


Overall, to me its a really cool concept car. I like many of the elements about it. Do I think it will become the base for the production GP3? I hope so, but like most concept cars it will be tamed down. I do think it provides some insight into some of the upcoming design changes (more on this later) and its a darn cool concept. If they do produce it with an engine and handling to match the looks, I'll own one for sure.

In the next few days, I'll add more articles to this series to include the Classic Mini Electric project, The 2019 Electric car and my discussions with Luis Perocarpi - President and CEO of LAP motorsports which includes what they will be doing next year..

If you are near New York, you should go to the show and see it, the classic Mini and the Electric MINI prototype. It's worth the trip. If you go, make sure you find Sarah in the MINI booth and tell her hi!

Love to hear your thoughts in the discussion thread located here: https://www.motoringalliance.com/threads/new-york-mini-social-motoring-alliance-gp3-concept-yea.30493/

Until next time, Happy Motoring!