Modern incarnation of Mini's sporting heritage

A sporty sub-brand under MINI, the JOHN COOPER WORKS, will hit Chinese roads this summer.

The brand, focusing on racing cars, is parallel with the M series of BMW, the AMG of Benz or the RS of Audi, in terms of branding. The only difference is that the JOHN COOPER WORKS are smaller cars that bring an exhilarating racing feel to daily driving.

From its first win in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally to its most recent victories in the Dakar Rally, JOHN COOPER WORKS has made its badge more than a logo - it's a symbol of MINI's strong racing heritage that stretches back more than half a century.

When Alec Issigonis sketched the first Mini model some 60 years ago, he made history with a groundbreaking design that extracted the maximum interior space from a minimal footprint.

Right from the start, front-wheel drive, extremely short body overhangs, a wide track, a low center of gravity, optimum use of space and low weight were fundamental features of the Mini.

Before the first Mini was ever driven, Issigonis talked about this new car with his good friend John Cooper. But while the designer envisioned a highly efficient car for daily use, Cooper saw something else entirely.

In Cooper's eyes, the Mini was light and agile, and he noticed that this ingenious concept for an economical compact car also provided an ideal starting point for a highly promising sports model, and set out to fine tune the Mini for racing even before the car had entered the market.

Known as a godfather of motor sport, Cooper raised the concept of a mid-engine racing car in 1955, and that rule has been followed in the F1 until nowadays. When Cooper cars won the 1959 and 1960 F1 Championships, one of the drivers was Bruce McLaren, the founder of today's McLaren F1 Team.

Now integrated within the MINI organization, JOHN COOEPR WORKS represents the epitome of supreme driving pleasure based on both its tried-and-tested racing know-how and successful tradition of cooperation going back years, even decades.

The profound expertise and experience of JOHN COOEPR WORKS ensures that the MINI still feels at home in today's motor sports. On every continent and in the most diverse racing series, teams regularly put the MINI on the starting grid, whether in rallies, club sports or long-distance races.

Three overall victories for the classic Mini Cooper S in the Monte Carlo Rally were the most spectacular, but by no means only successes that the classic Mini managed to achieve during the 1960s.

In 2011, six years after the third victory, the World Rally Championship was held for the first time, in which the MINI celebrated a high-profile comeback.

The JOHN COOPER WORKS has an output of 132 horsepower per liter of displacement, while for the MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS COUNTRYMAN and MINI JOHN COOEPR WORKS PACEMAN its 136 horsepower per liter of displacement, which takes the models into the realms of thoroughbred sports cars.