Autocar is reporting that Prodrive is working on a hot version of the Mini Countyman, as these scoop pictures exclusively reveal. The Banbury-based engineering firm runs Mini’s works World Rally Championship outfit and team principal and Prodrive boss Dave Richards has previously told Autocar that Prodrive-tuned Mini road cars were possible. “Mini obviously has the Cooper and John Cooper Works brands and it will want to work out ways of harnessing this campaign, its rally heritage and those giant-killing acts of the 1960s through its road cars,†said Richards. This heavily modified all-wheel-drive Countryman Cooper S features a muscular body kit that includes a large fixed carbonfibre wing, along with custom unbranded alloy wheels. Performance upgrades include a Prodrive-branded Milltek exhaust and a Superchips-tuned version of the Cooper S’s turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine. Sources have indicated that the car had run 230bhp on the dyno, but Superchips is still hoping for even more power and a larger turbo was under consideration. Mini has yet to officially reveal the range-topping Countryman JCW performance model. Source - Hot Countryman Prodrive planned - Autocar.co.uk
Very cool. The wife is all scheduled for a Countryman test drive on Saturday (including a voucher for $720.00 off a purchase), so best not let her see this. I'm completely over her trying out a "S". :mad2: Jim
As it turns out these spyshots and the info came from a bloke on Mini Torque. Go HERE to all the pics and read about their little adventure.