2003 Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works Car on 2040-cars

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Tony Hawk jumps a moving Mini

Remember a couple of years ago when Tony Hawk jumped over a Lexus LFA on his skateboard? Well that was nothing compared to what he's done here.
Sure the LFA is a more impressive car than a Mini hatchback, but that Japanese supercar was sitting still when the world's most famous skater jumped over it. And it was parked sideways. This time Tony's jumped a moving car, front to back. It gets even more impressive than that when you see what happens to the ramp after he's done with it, but we don't want to ruin the surprise.
The stunt was performed in celebration of the partnership between Mini USA and Hawk's Birdhouse Skateboards Tour, details of which you can read in the press release under the video below.

Mini Cooper SE Prototype First Drive Review | This electric hatch is a suburban belter

MUNICH, Germany — A battery-electric Mini SE? Haven't we been here before? Well, yes: A decade ago, as part of its "i Project," BMW conducted a worldwide field trial of some 750 lithium-ion battery equipped two-door Mini Coopers. It was launched at the 2008 L.A. Show, and the lithium-ion battery pack took up most of the space normally occupied by the rear seats. Nevertheless, interest in the 450 lease vehicles offered in the U.S. (at $850 a month) was strong, with more demand than cars available. One result of the 2008-2011 trial was parent company BMW learned that the average owner of a two-door Mini drives about 25 miles a day, and the company is hoping the battery Mini will be an ideal (sub)urban-run-around for two- or three-car families. Now BMW is about to launch a production Mini EV (based on the two-door model, but with the full complement of four seats), which goes on sale at the end of the year. This will join the Mini Countryman All4 plug-in hybrid in the electrified Mini stable, but while the Countryman has an EV range of about 12 miles, this battery Mini will travel around 120 miles on a single charge. The reason we can't be too definite about the new Mini's capabilities is that BMW isn't allowed to "advertise" the car this far in front of its on-sale date. We caught up with the prototype model, mummified in camouflage tape, at an off-the-road driving event held at BMW's Munich driving center on the former military air base of Furstenfeldbruck, now known as Maisach. The drivetrain is based on the middle model of BMW's i3 range, the i3S, with its 135 kilowatt/181 horsepower motor and 94 amp-hour, 33 kilowatt hour battery. The battery is a 96-cell lithium-ion unit from Chinese supplier CATL instead of BMW's previous supplier, Samsung, and it weights 441 pounds. Unlike the team-built, mainly carbon-fiber i3, the Mini is a standard three-door model that runs down the production line in Oxford, with a metal subframe that houses the electric motor, inverter, transformers, and control electronics so they can be slotted into place like a conventional driveline. We can extrapolate a few things about the Mini from the BMW i3S. As well as its working range of 120 miles, the i3S has a top speed of 100 mph and will accelerate from 0-62 mph in 7.7 seconds. With over 360 pounds more to pull about, the 2,998-pound Mini EV will be slower, with less range, especially if used in cold conditions.

Electric Mini tows a Boeing 777 airplane, because why not?

Car manufacturers seem to love hitching up to massive planes. Even Mini is getting onboard with the trend, and it's using a camouflaged version of the electric Mini on its way. Now, we saw the Mini Cooper S E completely uncovered a few days ago in spy photos, so make sure to check those out to see what the car will really look like. If it's the plane pulling you're after, watch the video above. Mini collaborated with Lufthansa on this one. The airliner provided a Boeing 777F freight aircraft for the stunt. That airplane has an unladen weight of approximately 150 tons, or just about 300,000 pounds. Needless to say, it's safely over whatever towing rating Mini is going to give its electric car. This Mini doesn't pull the airplane far, but it's enough to prove the brand's point: Electric equals lots of torque. Like we mentioned before, others have pulled off a similar stunt. A few notable examples include the Toyota Tundra towing the space shuttle for 12 miles, Porsche hauling an Airbus 380 with various Cayennes and then a Tesla Model X pulling a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The Model X is most like Mini's stunt, since it's also an electric vehicle. We'll note that the airplane towed by the Mini is also far lighter than that towed by the Tesla. Still, to have enough torque and traction to move a 300,000-pound airplane is impressive, and if nothing else, it's entertaining to watch. Reports have indicated that the new electric Mini will share the BMW i3's powertrain and battery pack, so that means it may have required only 168 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque to pull this off.