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Watch Jay Leno bounce around with Dakar winner Roma in his Mini All4Racing

With Jay Leno off the Tonight Show, he has all the time in the world to focus on his passion for cars and can even travel a little. Leno teamed up with two-time Dakar Rally winner Nani Roma to jump and slide a Mini Countryman All4 racing truck around the dunes in Death Valley, CA.
The Mini-branded trucks are highly modified for off-road duty. They have won the Dakar Rally consecutively in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and even took a 1-2-3 finish in the most recent running. The specialized Minis are propelled over the dunes by a BMW-sourced, diesel engine with a six-speed sequential gearbox and heavy-duty all-wheel drive system with a locking center differential.
It is amusing to see the big smile on Leno's face, and Roma appears a little worried while Jay is driving. If this is what to expect from the post-Tonight Show Jay Leno's Garage videos, then things are only getting better from an already fantastic series. Scroll down to watch Leno and Roma take a Mini through the dunes.

U.S. issues new tariff threat, this time against British-built cars

WASHINGTON — Britain is the United States' closest ally but their long friendship may be sorely tested as the two countries try to forge a new trade agreement after Britain's exit from the European Union. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday in London that he was optimistic that a bilateral deal with Britain could be reached as soon as this year. But Mnuchin gave up no ground after a second meeting with his UK counterpart, Sajid Javid. Javid has insisted that Britain will proceed with a unilateral digital services tax, despite a U.S. threat to levy retaliatory tariffs on British-made autos. Mnuchin told reporters after Saturday's meeting that such taxes would discriminate against big U.S. tech companies like Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The UK Treasury declined to comment on the private meeting. The divide highlights the challenges ahead as the Trump administration seeks a new bilateral agreement with Britain, part of a broader push to rebalance relations with nearly all its major trading partners. The stakes are high — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pegged the trade deal with United States as a way to ease the pain of breaking with Europe, Britain's largest trade partner. U.S. President Donald Trump, has promised a "massive" trade deal to support Brexit, the product of a populist movement similar to his "America First" agenda. The goodwill and special relationship the two countries have enjoyed for decades may not count for much, experts say. "Trump is not going to be doing Johnson any favors," said Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington. "He's not going to give him a trade deal without major concessions." Even before the digital tax issue arose, the Trump administration threatened to tax foreign car imports, which could hit British-made Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, and Honda Civic hatchback cars. Stiff U.S. trade demands include increased access for U.S. farm goods, concessions that will be difficult for Britain's entrenched natural food culture to swallow. The United States also wants Britain to change the way its National Health Service prices drugs and allow in more U.S. pharmaceuticals, which could prove politically unpopular for Johnson's government. Washington's demand that London block Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for national security reasons could also cloud talks.

Mini John Cooper Works GP spied with wide body, big wing

The Mini John Cooper Works GP was just announced to have over 300 horsepower, and we got an early glimpse at it with teaser images. And now one of our spy photographers caught the car with very thin camouflage. The spy photos reveal that the Mini GP is sticking fairly close to the Frankfurt concept, but toning everything down a bit. At the front, the Mini GP clearly is using the current John Cooper Works hardtop front bumper, but it does have deep chin spoiler additions that allude to the GP concept's massive splitter. The grille has been revised, and the gloss black lower sections are now made of a matte black mesh design. The slot in the middle could have red accents on each side like the red stripe on the concept. The front spoiler blends right in to the new extra-wide fender flares. While the fender extensions don't protrude as far as on the concept, they're otherwise very similar in how they sweep backward at the tops and stand away from the body to allow air to flow through. Something else noticeable from the side are the enormous front brakes. The rotors nearly fill up the wheels, and the calipers look really beefy. The five-spoke wheels on this prototype will be replaced by GP-signature four-spoke wheels as revealed by teaser shots. The back of the GP looks about how we would imagine it. The split rear wing is roughly the same shape as the concept's, but a little narrower. The bumper has a big diffuser area that doesn't necessarily look functional, but should at least look cool. The rear exhaust tips look bigger than normal Mini John Cooper Works models. The Mini GP will go into production in 2020. Only 3,000 examples will be built. We suspect the GP will use the same turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine as the BMW X2 35i, which makes 306 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Coupled with weight savings, possibly involving a rear seat deletion, and upgraded suspension, and this should be a shockingly fast Mini. Related Video: