SWRT is no more so Prodrive's rally engineering staff has no factory backed effort at the moment. Only makes sense for a company like MINI to team up. Count the UK location and the fact that Prodrive owns Aston and it would seem like win/win.
The only issue is that MINI's suspension will need to be completely redesigned...it's not meant for long stroke rally duty.
But I don't see the R60 as a good chassis for the sport. It's pretty tall. It would really suck if Mini went back to the world of rallying and just blew chow because they didn't have a competitive chassis. Subaru pulled out.... The Citroen and the Focus both seem to be a bit lower Cg machines than the R60. Really, the Speedster is the car for the ralley world, with the suspension tweaks (and TONS more power) that PGT suggested.
Sad to say, but I think it would take a boatload of money to make a Mini run at the front of the pack in the current WRC.... It's not like the competition is off thier game...
keep in mind that WRC currently requires restrictor plates.....forget the exact size but they're functionally limiting the cars to 300hp or so (and 2.0L displacement). Torque, now that's a different story....over 400tq with anti-lag systems for flat curve.
The REAL issue (and the reason SWRT pulled out) is that the new S2000 spec for 2011 means no turbo cars. The turbo comes back for 2013 but with a 1.6L spec. MINI's got work to do if they want to get in the mix...as soon as they get the car sorted, it will be time for a new one.
That said, Subaru and Mitsubishi ruled the 1990's rally scene and the resulting EVO and STI in the US are due to that. Not much can be gained sales-wise from continued involvement in the sport for them. There's a strong privateer racer following in Europe and it's building in the US in SCCA ProRally among these marques.
