Are you in the US and have you ever wanted to own a MINI Challenge race car? Here’s your chance. MotoringFile reader Charlie Arolla...The post For Sale: Ultra Rare US Based R56 MINI Challenge Race Car appeared first on MotoringFile. (visit MotoringFile for the full article) More...
Nicely outfitted for the track, but a tough sell at $65K for a 175 hp car that isn't street legal. It was made only for the MINI Challenge race series to compete with identically built cars. Edit: the correct number is 210 hp, not 175 hp. But it doesn't matter. Anybody looking to spend $65K on a dedicated track car will laugh at 210 hp.
175 hp with no weight though...think about the handling. Plus, with that wing you'll make all the shopping carts jealous. (p.s. I know it's functional)
It came with a 210hp N14 JCW motor "The new MINI John Cooper Works CHALLENGE will be delivered to customers in race trim, and a specially developed John Cooper Works performance engine will provide maximum output of 154 kW/210 hp."
I stand corrected. The 2007 press release for the Challenge is really confusing: http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/21/mini-cooper-jcw-challenge/. It discusses at length about the 175 hp engine of the regular S, before mentioning much later that it got boosted to 210.
It's a worthless $65 K track only toy. You can't register it for the streets and you can buy better, lighter and fast R53's that can be driven on street and track. (Private built RMW cars with twice the HP and more)
The Challenge car is a competition race car. Dedicated track cars are rarely street legal. But yeah, you could build something similar for less $ for sure.
I love this car. No need certainly to have it, but it is a cool addition for a collector or someone who may be wanting to race it.