MINI Countryman WRC racer set to reclaim rally crown August 12, 2010

As anybody who drives one knows, MINI is disposed to gobbling S-curves in third gear, sipping petrol through a straw, and pouncing on tight parking spaces where no S.U.V. would dare tread. Even non-MINI drivers know a four-wheeled happy factory when they see one, a machine that makes old codgers and toddlers alike turn their heads and grin - and, perhaps, gurgle and squeal - as it motors by. MINI even makes the competition happy. "What competition?" you ask. The new competition. The forest-dwelling competition. The mud-flecked competition. The competition that mandates gobs of turbocharging, power at all four wheels, and drivers hailing from the lunatic fringes of the earth - which often translates to "Finland." Yes, MINI is set to go rallying. MINI announced its entry in the FIA World Rally Championship series, with the introduction of the new MINI Countryman WRC, on the 28th of July. Oddly, competitors were overjoyed by the revelation. The director of one prominent program said it was "the best news we and WRC could ever have." Another added, "It sends a great message for the WRC that we've got another important manufacturer coming into the championship." Were these fighting words? Wherefore bravado and braggadocio? This was a race series, right? One theory: Teams know to be cordial and complimentary where MINI is concerned - or be prepared to suffer the consequences. A bit of history. Half a century ago, rallying was dominated by big, V8-powered cars that labored over mountain passes and occasionally set fire to their brakes on downhill sections. Their power and girth only worked to their advantage on the occasional straightaway. Then, in 1964, Irishman Paddy Hopkirk arrived at the Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini designed by an English engineer named John Cooper. The V8 teams made no effort to hide their amusement or contempt for Cooper's plucky two-door, joking at its expense throughout race-week festivities. Mr. Hopkirk went on to pilot his Cooper S to victory, stunning the assembled royals - both automotive and crown-jewel varieties. Mini would reprise its Monte Carlo success the following year, and again in 1967. As Paddy would later say, "It was David and Goliath." So, then, WRC teams might have reacted graciously to news of MINI’s imminent rally return out of fear — fear of suffering Monte Carlo-caliber humiliation. Another explanation for their cordiality might be an abiding respect (no, call it love) for Mini and its place in rallying history. One competitor recalled how, as an eight-year-old, Mini caught his attention at a hometown rally. “It was such a small car, with sparks coming off the sump guard, but no other cars were doing that,” he said, the fascination still fresh. Another was lucky enough to witness Mini’s success firsthand as a young man at Monte Carlo. “I went to see it with my scooter when I was 16,” he said. “I went to see it during the night and I see the Mini. It was a good choice.” As these gentlemen so touchingly illustrate, MINI sparks nostalgia even among its competitors. But for all their fond recollections, they will be thinking only one thing later this fall: how to defeat MINI’s thoroughly modern, all-new rally weapon, the MINI Countryman WRC. Based on the MINI Countryman Sports Activity Vehicle, the WRC racer will seek to burnish MINI’s rallying legacy at select races beginning this fall. The 1.6-liter, turbocharged, four-wheel-drive car is being co-developed with Oxfordshire, England-based Prodrive, who have won six World Rally titles in the last two decades of WRC. At the MINI Countryman WRC’s heart, ingeniously housed behind the front axle, is an eager, energy-efficient turbocharged motor, set to spool up and down the dusty, muddy, gravel-strewn tracks of the world. Luckily, MINI enthusiasts who do not make their living hurtling through pine forests at 125mph have the MINI Countryman Cooper S, which sits just below the WRC racer. That translates to a twin-scroll turbo generating 184 horsepower at low engine speed, ensuring punchy, easily exploited acceleration. With available MINI ALL4 permanent all-wheel drive, the MINI Countryman Cooper S and its diesel counterpart — the MINI Countryman Cooper D — will also move with unprecedented traction and confidence over variable road surfaces. And so, a new chapter begins in MINI motoring. No longer can critics claim that Mini was a great rally car. As the MINI Countryman WRC pilot blips his downshifts and sends all four wheels airborne, the truth will be written in a plume of dust: MINI is back in the rally business.