Yesterday I pulled out for a drive when I noticed a new mini cooper in front of me.
I followed him for a while wondering if the 'S' in the name means it can hang with me. We both turn onto a three lane divided hwy when he takes off with all he can. I smoked him, it was not even a real race. I let off the gas and let him pull ahead to give him another chance and I downshifted to third and let the turbo spool up'. I passed him again and as I pass him he is staring at me in awe with a huge grin on his face, almost laughing.
We pull up to a light and he hollers, 'man that thing is fast! My car is a turbo but I could'nt keep up! What year is that? I holler back, 87' rotary powered!
He told me to be careful and we parted ways. I know this isnt anything to brag about, I just thought it was pretty funny,I didnt know how slow those things were.

 

He was probably trying to control his torque steer. I've driven one. The turbo cooper has enough power to cause some decent torque steer issues haha.

 

Lol, My N/A Vert took a S/C'ed cooper S with a CAI and full exhaust from a dig to about 60mph. Not very quick cars in my opinion.

 

I'm so glad someone got to run against one of these! I've heard they're similar to our TurboII's in terms of handling/performance, and our retired boss drives one. I rode with him in it once and noted that I'd heard they perform alike and he didn't seem to thrilled about it. Never liked the guy anyway

 

My dad has a mini s jcw and I can guarantee that an n/a vert can't hang from a dig (doubt it would be competitive from a roll either) in fact, a near stock t2 would have a decent race. The jcw is right around 3000lbs and 210hp w/a close (r) ratio 6 speed. The jcw package adds a smaller s/c pulley, a different tune and exhaust. Can't speak on the regular cooper s but I can't imagine its that much of a dog

I raced my friends 300hp civic from a roll in the jcw and got walked....to be expected. Even still, I felt that its not nearly as impressive from a roll.

+1
Torque steer can be a beast in those things, especially on the stock 215-width run flats...although the s/c version is probably a little worse.

In terms of performance (i guess that means straight line ) I'd say they are pretty similar, but handling? Its fwd and torque steers like a beast...@ stock power Levels, not really similar. However it is nimble, and had a short wheelbase so it handles business in auto x.

 

Glad to hear you won.. I've always wanted to race a Mini S in my TII.

About the handling.. I have driven a Mini S in the mountains a little bit, and let me say they handle quite well. Handling is subjective so I can't say they handle better than an FC, but it certainly is different.

 

Forgot to mention it was a auto/stick, and my vert is not really stock...

 

Ive smoked quite a few of these in my 90vw golf. Its an NA, big cam ect ect. The cooper S is not fast in stock form.

There was one at an airport event I went to this summer, it was pretty modded, beat up on my TII badly.

Races are way more fun in the dub, nobody expects that shitbox to be as fast as it is.

 

I can't see Mini Cooper's now without picturing all of the wrecked ones at DGRR in 2011. At least 3 that I saw.

 

Mini coopers love to flip over apparently.