For the R56S, there are a few intake hood scoops out there. Their main goal is to achieve coolness by bringing cold air straight from the environment! One of their problems is claimed to be, the fact that underneath the hood scoop where cool air enters, is the turbo which is extremely hot! So in other words, cool air comes in but before reaching the engine it gets warmed up again by the turbo! So there real question is, if its worth purchasing an intake scoop!
I just removed the plastic grill from my hood scoop. The stock grill only has a few holes, so it blocks most of the air. That's a lot cheaper than an aftermarket scoop. I think it looks pretty good. I also wrapped my turbocharger with Way Motor Works turbo heat shield. WMW Turbo Heat Shield - Way Motor Works The hood is now cool to the touch after a long run, where before, it was not. This does not affect the engine's intake air temperature as the factory air intake gets it's cool air via a duct in the front left side of the grill.
After market hood scoops are worthless on an R56 for performance because you have a Turbo. A bigger Intercooler would be more useful on an R56. They just carried over the "look" of a functional hood scoop from an R53 which helped cool the top mounted intercooler. On the F56 they just tried to look cool but they ended up melting and warping from the turbo heat. I guess the do offer a little air venting from the engine area but you really get no performance gain at all. Save your money and don't buy an aftermarket scoop for an R56 or an F56.
I think the best use of the scoop on a R56 is the cold air intake kit. On Dave's new favorite car (F56) it's only the size of a mail slot and just there for decoration.
If you're using the OEM air filter, then the scoop is doing nothing. There's a hose on the bottom of the box that snakes to the front and opens between the headlight and the grill openings on the right side. The air is being pulled from that. If you have an after market air filter that removes the OEM Box, then yes, you do need to open up the scoop and let more air in. I just drilled and dremmeled the openings until they were all clear. Or you could just pull the grated part out like DnepeDave. In my case the paint looked bad inside the scoop. I have an Alta filter and inlet pipe, and it works pretty well with this arrangement, though it could be better once everything is hot. I've been toying with taking the old cold air intake pipe (which is still present, but seems vestigial) and making a shunt from the opening's current location behind a chunk of metal, to the grill to force a bit more air into the back. (in fact, I might make a thread about that idea soon) I've also been thinking of getting this: MINI Cooper S R55/R56/R57 DDMWorks Ram Air Scoop (RAS) And of course it goes without saying that I'm drooling over the new Helix stepped intercooler.
I have an M7 vortex scoop with a stainless grill feeding an AEM cold air intake. While not a real power increase yet, after I add the new Helix SCIC and ceramic coated catless DP next month they will enhance the stage II Manic tune I'll be getting in the fall. I like the looks of this scoop more than the Vortex 2. I bought one of each from the NAM classifieds and was able to compare them both installed. Sold the 2 for more than I paid for it. Without the ducting on the ram air type system the increase in cold air to your intake will be minimal. Just my .02 worth.