[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkltL1cWei0[/ame] From MotoringFile A few of you may have seen the MINI vs Porsche ad in yesterday’s New York times. We now have the exclusive first look at the official video from MINI USA. Yes MINI USA is calling out Porsche to meet them on the track at Road Atlanta with a Porsche Carrera S and a driver. MINI will bring a 2010 Cooper S and their own driver. We don’t know much about any of the other parameters or if Porsche will even show up. But we do know that MINI will win win lose or draw in just posing the challenge to a car costing (at least) three times as much. The video above shows MINI USA head Jim McDowell (former Porsche exec) calling out Porsche and even throwing in a few bald guy Porsche jokes for good measure. Clearly the overall tone is cheeky and MINI is taking themselves too seriously with this. But can they win? If the track is tight and technical enough perhaps. However as much as we love MINIs, a Carrera S is fast car on any track (provided the driver is decent). For MINI to win it would need to be a combination of the right track and right driver. You can follow all the updates right here on MotoringFile and on MINI USA’s Facebook page. We’ll have much more on this soon.
You have to watch the video, it's quite funny. The track in question is Road Atlanta, there ain't NO way a MINI can keep up with even a plain Jane Boxster on the looooooong back straight run from Turn 7 to Turn 10A. Now if it was Lime Rock, that would be a different story.
That is the best part. Either way, everyone is waiting to see what happens and paying attention to our little cars and to see what big bad Porsche does. And while RA is a fast track, you can't discount the twisty bits. You have to be careful. Big thing is acceleration and cornering. Porsche will be tough once in the higher gears, but that oversteer can be sneaky. I know I will be there if they do it at RA! That is in my backyard.
Porsche is at least considering taking Mini up on its offer. "Porsche has the most racing victories of any manufacturer out there — 28,000 and counting — maybe we should go for 28,001," Steve Janisse, Porsche's Media Relations Manager, told Jalopnik. "We just need to see what they're up to."
Just for clarity, a basically stock motored Porsche with a Jan tune was like 10 seconds a lap quicker a Watkins Glenn than the heavily modified racing Mini's best lap. Good stuff though!" Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Wow, the gauntlet has been thrown. If MINI wins, we can expect to see some crazy ads. This "throw down" is going to be fun.
MINI already won before a single wheel is turned in anger. It's starting to get on the mainstream auto sites with loads of comments, both good and bad. But isn't that probably the real goal here. MINI has always done this non-traditional marketing. The full page color add in the Sunday NY Times cost a bit but that was just the tip of the iceberg with the way MINI will milk this. As Jerry said to me, "you know, somehow I feel like Porsche is in on this". I wouldn't put it past Porsche either.
Hence the "this is marketing at its finest" comment. It takes true creativity to do it well, and MINI does it very, very well, as does Porsche.
You should read more of Mini's illustrious history. They laughed at them a lot in the early years... Only to have it jammed down their throats.
Having been on Road Atlanta with the Porsche, we better hope for rain . LOL Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Some folks on Jalopnik are thinking it may be the small autocross track between turns 6 & 7. They don't say WHERE at Road Atlanta, do they?
Which MINI and which Porsche???????? A stock 1958 356 Porsche against 2010 factory R56 JCW would be nice.:devil::cornut: Jason
Different tracks, but from Car and Driver's Lightning Lap at VIR in 2009: 2009 Mini JCW - 3:17.1 2009 Cayman S - 3:05.8 2009 Carrera S - 3:05.8 Minis are great, but racing a Porsche head-to-head is just silly.