The Mini John Cooper Works Challenge Is A Serious Track Car With A Serious Price Tag

Is it just me, or have we suddenly entered a golden age for hardcore, track-focused cars? I’m not talking about the ultra-focused things with no roofs like the products of Caterham, Zenos, Zuhl et al, but regular-ish road cars that have been given a track-friendly makeover. At the really high end of the scale we have products like the Pagani Huayra BC, in the middle the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage GT8, and buzzing around the ‘bottom’ we have more and more hardcore hot hatches like the Renaultsport Megane Trophy R and the VW Golf Clubsport S. And now there’s a new contender to join ranks of the track bashing hatches: the Mini John Cooper Works Challenge.

Taking inspiration from the race-spec Challenge, the big headline for the road-going version is the fitment of race-derived Nitron coilovers which have adjustable bump, rebound and ride height settings. The brakes have been suitably beefed up too, with drilled 330mm discs at the front and four-pot Brembo callipers, into which Mini has stuffed fade-resistant Mintex pads.

Also up front you’ll find a Quaife limited-slip differential, while at each corner sits a lightweight Team Dynamics 17-inch alloy wheel, each one dropping 1.5kg from the Challenge’s unsprung weight. The weight reduction bro drops is bumped up to 2.5kg a corner when you bear in mind the lighter tyres, which are Michelin’s tried and tested Pilot Sport Cup 2 hoops.

To further cement the idea that this car is all about handling, Mini hasn’t bothered to fiddle with the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. So, we’re still looking at 228bhp, 236lb ft of torque, and a 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds.

The price for all this? £32,000 on the road, which is a lot. But for what you’re getting, it’s perhaps not so bad. The last boggo JCW we tested was optioned up to just £55 off that price, so if you’re thinking of getting a JCW, why not ditch all those expensive creature comfort options, and get one of these instead? Seems like a great plan, until you find out that just 100 of these are being built, and they’re all for the UK market…