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60 Minis will race in the Silverstone Classic for Mini's 60th anniversary

It was just 60 short years ago when Mini established itself as a manufacturer of small cars as part of the British Motor Corporation. Over the years, the Mini became popular among the British people and beyond, not just as a car but as a cultural icon. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Mini is taking over Silverstone Circuit in England. The racetrack announced that 60 classic Minis will be racing in the Silverstone Classic outing, July 26-28. Back in May, Silverstone sought pre-1966 Mini Cooper S models to participate, and the APB received an overwhelming response but fell just short of the 60-car goal. But with the help of Motorsport UK, Britain's motorsport regulatory council, Silverstone was able to find two additional Mini Cooper S models to participate. "It only seems right and proper that we mark the Mini's 60th milestone with a 60-car grid, so we are really grateful to those at Motorsport UK and Masters Historic Racing, who are organizing these anniversary races, for securing this special permission," said Nick Wigley, Silverstone Classic's CEO. "As well as being a sixties fashion icon, the Mini's reputation was built on some wonderful motorsport successes, so there could neither be a better, nor more appropriate, way to celebrate its 60th anniversary than with an incredible 60-strong grid at the world's biggest classic motor racing festival." The Mini first received world recognition as champion of the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally with Paddy Hopkirk and co-driver Henry Liddon. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Hopkirk will be present for 60-year Mini tribute and will be reunited with his original winning car, Cooper S #37 with license plate 33 EJB. Hopkirk will lead the Silverstone Classic's Diamond Anniversary track parade with his Cooper S. "I'm really flattered to have been asked to front this fantastic parade," Hopkirk said. "It's great that I'll be back in my old car, and I'm going to be bringing the Monte trophy along, too. It was presented to me by Princess Grace.The Classic is such a brilliant event and, oh my goodness, it will be absolutely amazing to see 60 Minis altogether on the track at the same time." All of the Mini Cooper S models invited are powered by the same race-prepped 1.275-liter inline-four, so it'll be an adorable and exciting race and a pure test of driver skill.

2020 Mini Countryman Review & Buying Guide | The big Mini is still fun

The 2020 Mini Countryman manages to keep most of the fun character of the regular Mini Hardtop, but with the practicality and style of a small crossover. How small, though? It's definitely among what we'd classify as subcompact models, but given its level of engineering, interior quality and, perhaps most obviously, its price, the Countryman fits well above mainstream models like the Hyundai Kona or Kia Soul, but doesn't quite reach the luxury rungs where the Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class, BMW X1, and the Audi Q3 reside. Given that in-betweener status and its quirky design aesthetic, the Countryman is bit hard to classify or stack up with competitors on an apples to apples basis. Best to think of it as an alternative, then, and focus on the things it does well. Most of all, it’s one of the best handling, and most fun-to-drive subcompact crossovers on the market – luxury or otherwise. It can be had with a number of peppy turbo engines, including a certified hot hatchback-grade 301-horsepower engine for the John Cooper Works. It also has a roomy interior with solid quality and characterful details. And although it's very expensive when compared to the Souls of the world, with a base price of just under $30,000, it starts at thousands less than those luxury models. So it may be tough to classify, but it's still worth a look.  What's new for 2020? Two of the more niche Countryman models see significant updates. The John Cooper Works model gets the aforementioned new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 301 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. The Cooper SE Countryman plug-in hybrid gets longer electric range, going from 12 miles to 18 miles thanks to a higher capacity 9.6-kWh battery. Fuel economy with a drained battery also rises from 27 mpg to 29. On other Mini Countryman models, the manual transmission has been dropped altogether, leaving two different automatic transmission choices. What's the Countryman's interior and in-car technology like? The Mini Countryman has a cabin with as much whimsy as you would expect for the brand. Though the speedometer has long since moved to the steering column, the dash continues to have a giant center circular motif as a tribute to past models. Vents, door handles and more have funky shapes, and Mini employs a wide array of plastics of different grains and colors to keep things interesting and looking premium, even if the plastics themselves feel average to the touch.

Jamaican bobsled team pushes a Mini around town to keep Olympic dream alive

PETERBOROUGH, England — The Jamaican bobsleigh team is used to training without snow, but the coronavirus lockdown has seen its male athletes resort to pushing a car around the streets of an English city to stay in shape, with an eye on Olympic qualification. Some residents of Peterborough have offered their help to Shanwayne Stephens and Nimroy Turgott as they push a Mini down the road, before realizing it is part of a new training regime to work around the closure of gyms in England. "We had to come up with our own ways of replicating the sort of pushing we need to do. So that's why we thought: why not go out and push the car?" Stephens, 29, told Reuters. "We do get some funny looks. We've had people run over, thinking the car's broken down, trying to help us bump-start the car. When we tell them we're the Jamaica bobsleigh team, the direction is totally different, and they're very excited." The couple said they had been inspired by the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics men's bobsleigh team, immortalized in the 1993 film "Cool Runnings." But they said they aimed to qualify for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 and then outperform the 1988 team, who did not officially finish the four-man bob competition after crashing. "Those guys set a legacy, and a movie came out of it. For me personally, I want to surpass that level, and even go beyond that," Turgott, 27, said. Turgott, who normally lives in Jamaica, has been staying with Stephens since January, and the pair had always planned to do summer training in Britain, albeit in gyms rather than on roads. "If you're able to do the same sort of training without the same equipment, then you should be able to achieve more with the right equipment," he said. The pair are focused on qualifying for Beijing 2022. While the woman's team competed for the first time in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the men's team failed to qualify. "The last Olympics, we missed it by one slot. And now we are using that experience as our motivation moving forward," Turgott said.   Weird Car News MINI