The GP booklet

Posted on by Ian C.

I visited MINI of Peabody today and was given a couple of copies of the US MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works HP kit booklets, which I have scanned and put in a gallery:


The booklet describes the exterior (remodelled front and rear aprons, side skirts, new rear wing spoiler, 218 horsepower, 18″ light alloy wheels, thunder blue metallic paint with pure silver contrast roof), the interior (anthracite speedometer and rev counter dials with red needle), seating (Grey / Panther black cloth / leather with red stitching, adjustable thigh support, built-in heating, and no rear seats), equipment list (aero kit, a/c, DSC, JCW kit with 16″ breaks [sic], LSD, sports suspension, 18″ light allow rims, on-board computer, CD player radio with MFSW, anthracite interior) and technical data (weight 2649lb, max power 215hp+/-, max torque 180ft lbs @ 4500rpm, max speed >146, fuel consumption 24.7/38.0)

It’s interesting to compare this with the one from England – they are mostly identical but the English version has a few differences, including different units for the technical specs (218 hp UK compared with 215 SAE hp, 245 Nm torque UK compared with 180 ft lbs, etc).
Most significantly, the English car gets Recaro sports seats, not available in USA due to tighter airbag laws.


Also the English booklet doesn’t have the “breaks”/”brakes” typo!

Corrupted by the GP

Posted on by Ian C.

I’ve never been too interested in the MINI Cooper S with JCW GP kit – GBMINI#3 is only a year old and the GP is simply not designed for day-to-day use; it’s 18″ wheels will give a horribly harsh ride, and are likely to be easily damaged by potholes; the rear seat removal doesn’t much affect practicality, but the fact that you can’t choose any options is disappointing …

On the other hand, after a year with MCSa GBMINI#3, I’ve concluded that there are times when I miss the manual transmission, and there’s often times I miss the power of the JCW in GBMINI#2 – it’s obvious now that the last years waiting and rumours about a JCW upgrade for the MCSa will never come true in USA (see one of Jeff Straccos answers on MotoringFile).

And I was very impressed by the GP video released back in February:

 

Yesterday I received a GP press release package from the New York motor show, and the fabulous pictures on it finally corrupted me – I decided that I could buy a GP while keeping my current MINI, using that car for day-to-day driving (softer ride with 16″ non-runflats), and the GP for fun rides when I want the power … although who knows how that plan will change once I own two MINIs!

The other thing that swayed me was the super cool Monterey delivery option and the MINI Takes The States coast-to-coast drive; I’ve always fancied driving coast-to-coast (though not as frantically as this trip), and MINI offered a simple way to solve the problem of what to do with the car at the other end!
MINItakesthestates.jpg

So this afternoon I visited MINI of Peabody and gave General Sales Manager Paul Taylor a $1000 deposit … he wasn’t sure that he could get another GP (each dealerships allowance is variable), but having a deposit in hand is likely to sway things.
However, I totally missed any chance of signing up for the Monterey delivery, unless some strings can be pulled! So now I wait to see what can be done …