This Hot Mini JCW Just Stole Renault's FWD 'Ring Record, Sort Of

If you’re getting a bit bored of all these vague Nurburgring ‘records,’ we apologise. But this latest effort deserves a doff of the proverbial cap, as Sport Auto’s Christian Gebhardt has just hurled this Mini John Cooper Works around the Green Hell in 7 minutes and 44 seconds. If you want a little context, that’s not just ten seconds quicker than the Renault Megane 275 Trophy R’s ‘official’ front-wheel drive production record, but also about the same time as previously clocked by a Mercedes SLS AMG and an Audi R8 V10. Not bad.

It’s being dubbed as the ‘Fastest FWD Street-Legal Road Car,’ so as you might have gathered, this Mini ain’t stock. The standard suspension has been replaced with KW coilovers, while the wheels have been wrapped in Dunlop Direzza 03G semi-slick rubber. The 1.6-litre turbo four-pot has been boosted to 286bhp, and that power is sent to the front wheels via a Drexler limited-slip diff.