Feisty, hardcore, thrilling, uncompromising, pricey; the original limited edition MINI John Cooper Works GP was many things, but more than anything else it was a trendsetter. It arrived in 2006 at a time when the idea of a hot hatchback with no rear seats and track-tuned suspension was as novel as it was nutty. But the idea somehow caught on. Over the following years, the likes of Volkswagen, Renaultsport and Abarth adopted the JCW GP’s concept for themselves and evolved it in their own ways.
MINI itself was so besotted with that fundamental recipe that it superseded the GP1, as it’s become known, with a second John Cooper Works GP in 2013, adding ultra-sticky trackday tyres to the mix. Then a third, even crazier model was introduced in 2020.
MINI GP Generations
- MINI John Cooper Works GP F56 (2020-2023)
- MINI John Cooper Works GP R56 (2013-2020)
- MINI John Cooper Works GP R53 (2006-2013)
MINI John Cooper Works GP F56 (2020-2023)
Bodystyles:
- Three-door hatchback
Notable features and facelifts of the MINI John Cooper Works GP F56
- No rear seats
- No manual gearbox, just an eight-speed automatic with paddles
- More than 300bhp
- Limited to 3,000 units
With a little over 300bhp, the GP3 was the fastest MINI road car yet: its powerful engine could help it reach 62mph from a standstill in just 5.2 seconds and its top speed was 165mph. A mechanical limited-slip differential (unlike the electronic version found in the second-generation car) sits between the front wheels to get all that power down to the road. The only gearbox option is an eight-speed automatic with 3D-printed aluMINIum shift paddles on the steering wheel.
Like its predecessors, the latest GP is a motorsport-inspired two-seater and built in limited numbers: 3,000 compared to 2,000 for each of the previous versions. As an indication of just how far the GP3 stretches the MINI’s performance envelope, consider its 7min 57secs Nurburgring lap time. That’s almost 30 seconds quicker than the previous GP and some 44 seconds faster than the original.
Yet rather than hardcore bucket-shaped sports seats, you get the same-spec chairs you’ll find in the ‘regular’ JCW, as well as the same digital instrument cluster as in less extreme versions of the MINI.
Yet although there are surprising similarities with the likes of the Clubman or Countryman in terms of creature comforts, everything else about the third iteration of the MINI GP is rather senior, not least its price tag. But perhaps the most ludicrous thing about it is the way it looks, with its enormous rear roof spoiler and extravagant carbon fibre wheel arch extensions. The MINI John Cooper Works GP has grown madder and madder with each new iteration.
MINI John Cooper Works GP R56 (2013-2020)
Bodystyles:
- Three-door hatch
Notable features and facelifts of the MINI John Cooper Works GP R56
- Aero kit reduces drag by 6% over MINI Cooper S
- New turbo engine keeps same power but ups torque
- Weight also up by 70kg
- Electronic differential replaced limited-slip diff of old GP
The second model in the GP dynasty of John Cooper Works models managed the same 215bhp as the first. Now turbocharged, however, the 1.6-litre engine developed far more torque all the way through the rev range, making the GP2 feel much quicker on the road (even if the official figures said it was only 0.2 seconds faster to 62mph).
Once again, the rear seats made way for a chunky strut brace, helping to reduce weight. But the R56 was a more substantial car than the previous model, the R53, meaning the GP2 was 70kg heavier than the original. As it gained weight the MINI GP also lost its mechanical LSD, the newer model preferring an e-diff that nibbled away at the front brakes to manage wheel spin. The GP hadn’t gone soft, though; with stickier Kumho tyres, enormous Brembo brakes, manually adjustable Bilstein dampers and trick aero, the GP2 was in fact an altogether more serious proposition.
That narrowed its effective operating window somewhat. On a smooth, dry road, the uncompromising suspension was at its best and the aggressive racetrack-ready trackday tyres could claw insistently at the tarmac. In those conditions, the GP2 was unbelievably good to drive, with strong performance, the agility of a rally car and so much mechanical grip that you soon realised braking for corners was more or less optional.
But then the weather would turn and the road surface would change. On a wet and bumpy road, the tyres would run out of ideas and the suspension would barely cope, all of which made the GP2 a wild ride. All of sudden, the very pointy balance and built-in oversteer that had been so thrilling in the dry felt almost dangerous.
But that was kind of the point. The GP existed to reflect upon the cutesy MINI a certain edge; an aura of toughness it hadn’t had before, kind of in the mould of an RS Porsche model. The GP2 was never intended to be an everyday car, although by making available an option with less aggressive tyres that would cope rather better in wet conditions, MINI did at least acknowledge that not everybody wanted to be beaten up and scared half to death by their hot hatch.
Just 2000 examples were built by MINI in Oxford. The company’s designers toyed with red accents and aerodynamic addenda here and there with the original GP, then went completely berserk with it all come the second-generation model; the GP2 is about as subtle as a house brick to the face.
MINI John Cooper Works GP R53 (2006-2013)
Bodystyles:
- Three-door hatchback
Notable features and facelifts of the MINI John Cooper Works GP R53
- Launched just before the end of the first-generation BMW MINI’s life
- Limited to 2,000 units
- Lighter and more hardcore than any MINI that had come before
The MINI Cooper was a sporty little front-wheel-drive hatchback. The Cooper S was faster and sportier still. The Cooper S Works was even faster and yet more focused. By the time the new MINI John Cooper Works GP turned up in 2006, it seemed as though all the speed and sportiness had been well and truly wrung out of the little MINI Cooper. Not so. A sturdy strut brace in place of the rear seats, a weight loss programme that ran to 50kg (knocking the GP’s kerb weight down to just 1,090kg), a comprehensively retuned chassis and an uprated engine were the finishing touches that nobody saw coming.
Its official name was MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Tuning Kit. Only 2,000 were manufactured, with around a quarter of those finding their way to the UK. Unlike most other MINIs, the GP1 was assembled in Italy by Bertone, the century-old coachbuilder and low-volume vehicle manufacturing specialist. Consequently, the first of the hardcore MINIs comes from the same stable as performance car icons like the Lamborghini Countach and the Lancia Stratos (but also the Skoda Favorit, for balance...).
Like all go-faster versions of the R53 MINI (the first under BMW’s stewardship) the original MINI JCW GP used a 1.6-litre supercharged engine rather than the turbocharged units that have prevailed since. With tweaks to the intake and exhaust systems, plus revised engine management, the GP’s engine pushed out 215bhp, more than enough in a car weighing so little. It’d hit 62mph from rest in 6.5 seconds and run on to 150mph.
Supercharging rather than turbocharging defined the engine’s character and power delivery. Rather than a great big lump of torque that arrived early in the rev range and began to fade only towards the top end – hallmarks of a turbo engine – the GP’s motor would instead build to a crescendo, power and torque rising in a linear way like they would if there was no forced induction at all.
What it lacked in mid-range muscle the engine more than made up for elsewhere; its throttle response was more immediate than could have been possible with a turbo, while its soundtrack was rich and tuneful. A 10mm drop in ride height, as well as more uncompromising suspension, gave the GP a degree of agility and handling precision that no MINI had offered before, although the ride quality wasn’t unbearably stiff. Meanwhile, a limited-slip mechanical differential lock meant not a single horsepower needed to go to waste when scrabbling away from tight corners.
The first of the GPs was a curious machine, but it showed that a more focussed sort of hot hatch with no rear seats did have its place. Inevitably, though, there was a whole lot more to come.
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