We’ve got some more information for you on the Countryman Dakar race car. As you can see in the photo above, the car is clearly capable of amazing off-road performance. Want more? You can see a 3D rendering of the car here, get the PDF press release here, and a couple new photos below.
BMW must be delighted to hear their marketing spin being accepted so readily. Is there anything from the Mini at all, except the shape of the outer body panels? It's not got a Mini body/chassis, it's not got a Mini engine, it's not got a Mini transmission and it's not got Mini suspension, but, yep, it's a Mini....
It has big MINI badges.... :lol: That will be enough for many I guess. Over here in the US of A there is a bigger is better mentality. Bigger MINI = must be better. I don't get it, but for many that is the truth. Might even see them outsell the regular MINI. Go figure? Hell there is now even a super-sized 2 door version to be shown at the Detroit Auto Show. Is the normal MINI doomed?
Isn't that true of most of the dakar cars in its class? I know the T-Reg is on a similar tube chassis. That's sorta how many motorsports work... You'd be hard pressed to find any consumer production vehicle that could tackle the dakar rally without modifications to things like the chassis and suspension.
You are 100 correct Rally. Most all race cars & certainly all Dakar cars are just funny cars. They look somewhat like the production car & that is where the similarity ends. For me I much prefer production based racers. Although racer of any kind are great.
I'm afraid the days of "Stock Car" racing and drivers like "Fireball Roberts" are long gone. We need to be happy that they chose that body, so at least MINI is in the mix, as much as any other make. Jim
Well stock car racing is alive, just not in NASCRAP, long dead there. It lives on in the Continental Tire challenge & in some of the SCCA racing classes. The British BTCC cars are also production based. I seek them out & watch them. Great racing for sure. The BTCC is being shown on speed. Catch a race if you can, lots of very close racing action!
Yes, absolutely - but some do have a bit of the manufacturer's kit in them, like the engine - though probably only the block! I guess at a stretch one could say that's true of the Mini Dakar racer as the 3 litre diesel engine is from last year's BMW X3 racer. Indeed I get the impression that the whole car is just the X3 racer shortened a bit and with different body panels to suit the new marketing objective.
The articles I've read seem to suggest a more MINI influenced suspension rather than an X3 as it touts a lower center of gravity and more nimble handling prowess over the X3's chassis which I'm assuming means they've restructured the suspension geometry. While not actual OEM MINI parts, certainly retaining MINI characteristics from the sound of things. All company-backed racing is "marketing" as they seek to strengthen brand identity. Nothing wrong with that.
In the video below showing more testing on the "Countryman" see if you can spot the logo shown on the engine. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtCylxJTn6k]YouTube - Mini Dakar 2011 X Raid Team[/ame]
Yep, standard BMW Bolt Circle on the Countryman. Now the trick is going to see how to retrofit that stuff on the Cooper/Clubman to make our whell selection much bigger.