The feisty bulldog returns in 2017
The 2017 Mini John Cooper Works Rally has big shoes to fill at next year's Dakar Rally, but Mini and X-raid pledged to keep complacency at bay.
The rally-bred JCW Dakar Racer sits on a Mini Countryman platform, but the Countryman side is out of the way as the desert-blazing racer now meets both safety and race-related purposes.
After all, Dakar Rally equals to driving in rainy, snowy and dry conditions on every type of terrain one can think of, sometimes at 3,000 m (1,000 ft) above sea level.
According to Mini, transforming a run-of-the-mill Countryman into a competitive piece of machinery involved a racing package that touches aspects such as aerodynamics, weight distribution, engine mapping along with thermal management and chassis design.
For example, the car's outer shell mixes carbon fiber and kevlar, including for the underside shields.
Reiger Racing provided the suspension setup with two adjustable units per axle, allowing the wheels to travel up to 250 mm (9.4 inches).
Stopping power comes from six-piston calipers pressing on vented steel discs. Rear calipers are both water- and air-cooled, so high temperatures don't alter braking credentials.
Speaking of power, a 3.0-liter dry-sump six-cylinder diesel unit from BMW's backyard pumps 340 hp at 3,250 rpm and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque at 1,850 rpm.
Getting the power to all four wheels falls within the responsibilities of a six-speed sequential gearbox, while a set of BF Goodrich 245/80R 16 tires will squeeze grip out of every surface.