MINI Countryman WRC

[Farnsworth]

MINI Countryman WRC

MINI has introduced the new MINI WRC model at the Paris motor show today.

The new MINI WRC is not just for show, with it MINI marks its entry into WRC and will compete in the World Rally Championship next year (2011).

Wearing the shell of a MINI Countryman, the MINI WRC will feature a 1.6 liter turbocharged engine. MINI began development on its WRC entry back in 2009 and the car recently began its race-conditions testing at the Prodrive rally track.

"The interest in motorsport among the present generation of MINI customers is massive. The WRC provides an excellent communications platform for the MINI Countryman, upon which the MINI WRC is based," said Dr. Wolfgang Armbrecht, brand management chief at MINI.

The MINI WRC will compete in 6 of 13 rounds of the 2011 World Rally Championship. MINI plans to fully compete in the 2012 season.

Kris Meeke of the U.K. has been named as one of the drivers for the 2011 season.

[Farnsworth]

MINI Countryman WRC

[Birdman]

It will be interesting to see whether the Mini can be on the pace of the new cars from Ford and Citroën.

[clutch-monkey]

tiniest spotlights..

[RacingManiac]

Pretty sure the Mini dash will be gone by the first rally next year....

[Ferrer]

It's a bit horrible.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Does it make sense to rally the heaviest car in your range?

Marketing > Motoring here.

[aiasib]

Does it make sense to rally the heaviest car in your range?

Marketing > Motoring here.

Heaviest?! Did you not see the carbon fiber around the dials on the dashboard?! :P

[IBrake4Rainbows]

It seriously looks like a Mini - cool, hip urban city dweller - who ate a lot of pies, had 2.1 children and moved into the suburbs, got fat and lazy.

Then it puts on a tracksuit. It's still fat, sorry.

[Ferrer]

Also the wheels look ridicously small.

(Or the car is preposterously huge)

[RacingManiac]

I think its the latter....

They picked the country man because the stock version has AWD, I guess they want to have some kind of marketing tie-in....since its obviously not required through homologation....

[NSXType-R]

Also the wheels look ridicously small.

(Or the car is preposterously huge)

Small wheels = less unsprung weight!

[Cyco]

The Countryman was chose due to the size restrictions

[VOGUE_MAN]

So I doubt the Mini will competitive from the get go, but that's to be expected. However I love everything about this car and can't wait to see it in action. And for the benefit of WRC, the more manufacturers the better.

[group c n b man]

It's a shame the rules eventually dictated that 1.6 turbos would be used instead of 2.0N/As. However the 1.6 turbos seem to have the same quoted power as the current 2.0 turbos and this is something to be pleased about. So, why did the Citreon boss say " I don't think the DS3 will be quite as fast as the C4"? Also Danny Sordo said "The DS3 has half the torque of the C4." I can't find the torque figures for the new 1.6 anywhere but I don't think it will be as little as half of what the C4 had. The C4 had about 550NM and there is no way the DS3 will have only 275NM. Normally these highly turbocharged engines have more torque (in lb ft) than power. I would guess the 1.6T engine will have about 330-340 lb ft (about 450NM) of torque