The Mini John Cooper Works Buggy Is The Retro-Cool Entry To The 2018 Dakar Rally

While Mini has been doing pretty well with its John Cooper Works Rally entries to past Dakar events, with the help of its partner X-raid the firm is bringing another fun-looking toy to the 2018 party

Matt Kimberley

22 Nov 2017

The Mini John Cooper Works Buggy Is The Retro-Cool Entry To The 2018 Dakar Rally

Mini is adding some extra interest to this year’s Dakar Rally with a two-pronged assault using all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive.

Alongside the John Cooper Works Rally, a conventional all-wheel drive rally monster, Mini and its Dakar Rally racing partner, X-raid, is throwing the John Cooper Works Buggy into the mix.

This rear-wheel drive joy machine should be an absolute blast to drive. It’s powered by a 3.0-litre straight-six diesel with 335bhp and 590lb ft, “newly conceived” but based heavily on a BMW unit. The same engine sits inside the JCW Rally.

The Buggy, though, is by far the cooler racer. The body is made of carbonfibre-reinforced plastic, while kevlar is stretched over the tubular steel frame.

Apparently, during testing, the Buggy didn’t have to stop once for a mechanical failure or breakdown. That should be a cast-iron guarantee that something important will break on stage one of the actual rally…

Three of them will race alongside four JCW Rally cars when the event starts on 6 January in Lima, Peru. This event is the 40th annual running of the race, dubbed the toughest of its kind in the world.