Crazy MINI with a 170HP Yamaha R1 Engine Swap Taunts a Lamborghini Gallardo

If you are looking for a truly unique Mini model to knock you off your socks, forget about the official John Cooper Works variants and the numerous projects presented over the years by the mainstream tuning industry, and check out this 1970's Austin Mini by Pro-Motive.

What makes this car fascinating is not the fact that it has a different engine, but the type of engine as it is fitted with a rev-crazy, 170HP 1.0-liter inline-four sourced from a 2003 Yamaha YZF-R1 sports bike!

Read more »

MINI and British Olympians Save the Day in The Britalian Job

In celebration of the rapidly approaching London 2012 Olympic Games and its partnership with Team GB and Paralympics GB, MINI has created a new short film that reimagines the classic 1969 movie “The Italian Job” on some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament and the Olympic Stadium. Read more »

MINI Faithful Gather in France for 'MINI United 2012' Festival

This past weekend, from May 11 to 13, some 30,000 Mini enthusiasts from 50 countries around the world assembled in Le Castelle, France, for the 'MINI United 2012' festival breaking the previous record of 25,000 attendees at last year's MINI United at Silverstone in Great Britain.

Most fans turned up in their own regular and customized Minis with some even driving as far as 6,490 km (4,032 miles) from the outer regions of Russia to France.

Read more »

MINI Faithful Gather in France for 'MINI United 2012' Festival

This past weekend, from May 11 to 13, some 30,000 Mini enthusiasts from 50 countries around the world assembled in Le Castelle, France, for the 'MINI United 2012' festival breaking the previous record of 25,000 attendees at last year's MINI United at Silverstone in Great Britain.

Most fans turned up in their own regular and customized Minis with some even driving as far as 6,490 km (4,032 miles) from the outer regions of Russia to France.

Read more »

MINI Roadster Goes Top Less in Cheeky Peep Show Ad

Here's proof that you don't necessarily need to employ a bunch of Hollywood stars and break the bank to make a successful commercial that has the potential to become a viral hit on the web.

Mini's new "Peep Show" ad for its recently launched two-seater Roadster model is short, sweet and to the point. And you can watch it for yourself in the video that follows after the break.

Read more »

Watch a Couple of Imbeciles Roll Over a Mini Hatchback [NSFW]

MTV's "Jackass" television series showed us that there's really no limit to what some people may do for some attention and better ratings, which is why we're going to take the following incident with not a grain, but a bucket load of salt.

The video is from a one "Jeff Buff" who apparently wants to be crowned a YouTube star through his clips. It shows Jeff with another guy driving a stick-shift Mini hatchback from 2002 for 'bout 15 seconds before they roll over and land upside down.

If any of you happen to have addition info, leave us a comment after the jump.

Read more »

MINI Roadster Hangs Over the Sea for its New Istanbul Adventure

The new Mini Roadster is returning to Turkey and the city of Istanbul for its new thirty-second promo film as part of the "Another Day. Another Adventure" campaign that kicked off last fall.

Following on from the first episode that saw two men taking the new Roadster for a drive around the back alleys of Istanbul, the second clip shows the two-seater model balancing on a metal structure overseeing the sea.

Read more »

Mini Countryman Wins the Dakar 2012, Peterhansel Records 10th Victory [Video]

Despite not taking place in Africa anymore but in South America, the Dakar Rally remains a very tough race. To finish is in itself a unique experience but to win is a truly great achievement.

Imagine now how Stephane Peterhansel must have felt on January 15, after 38 hours, 44 minutes and 56 seconds and 4,000 competitive kilometers from Argentina’s Mar del Plata to Peru’s capital Lima.

Not only did he win what is probably the most demanding off-road endurance rally in the world but he also did it for a record 10th time, having won six times riding a motorbike and four driving a car.

Read more »

New MINI Roadster Hits the Streets of Turkey in its First Promo Video

MINI's marketing team wants to bring an international flair to the new Coupe and Roadster models with its latest advertising campaigns.

Much like the first video of the helmet-roofed Coupe that was shown driving through various parts of Brazil, Iceland and Hong Kong, the Roadster's first action footage takes us on a trip to the streets of Turkey.

Read more »

Top Gear Spotted Filming Christmas Special in India [with Video]

In a recent interview with WitneyTV, Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson let slip out that this year's Christmas special episode will take place in India.

Being that all episodes are filmed several months before they hit the airwaves, it doesn't come as a surprise that the British TV show's crew were snagged in Mumbai this month.

Along with a short video clip showing Richard Hammond and a modified classic MINI Cooper that we found on Youtube, the guys over at IndianAutosBlog tipped us off about a set of pictures they took during the filming of the Christmas episode of Top Gear.

Read more »

English Champion Jumps Over 3 MINIS in a Promo for the 2012 London Olympics Edition [Video]

England long jump champion and London 2012 Olympic Games hopeful, J.J. Jegede succeeded in his attempt to jump over three Minis in an event that took place at Potter’s Field, London, to promote BMW’s sponsorship of next year's Olympic games.

If you think it was an easy task because the three Minis abreast measure a little less than six meters, while in ideal conditions, a top-level athlete can manage a seven- to eight-meter jump, consider that a car's rooftop is not as forgiving as a sandbox…

Read more »

MINI Takes New Coupé for a Trip Around the World in its First Promo Film

The new two-seat Coupé from MINI has just landed on the internet, but the British firm is already pushing out its new marketing campaign with the release of the first promo clip.

The campaign builds around a new slogan titled “Another Day. Another Adventure.” with the film shot in the style of a movie trailer showcasing the Coupé in exotic locations, such as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Iceland and Hong Kong.

Read more »

MINI Officially Launches WRC Team, Unveils Countryman Racers

MINI's preparations for the brand's imminent return to the World Rally Championship have culminated with the official launch of the team less than a month ahead of its first WRC event, the Rally d'Italia Sardegna (May 5 - 8). At the company's plant in Oxford, England, the MINI WRC Team unveiled its two MINI John Cooper Works WRC cars, the driver/co-driver lineup and its plans for 2011.

Read more »

VIDEO: When in New Zealand, Beware of the Most Annoying Mini in the World

Did you ever think about adding on some harmonicas to your car's bodywork? Of course not; you don't want people in your neighborhood to vandalize your car. The folks from Mini New Zealand, however, decided to stick 300 harmonicas on a Mini Clubman, just for the sake of a marketing campaign.

Once the job was finished, they created an interactive app on the local Mini website that allows visitors to combine the different sounds from the Mini Carmonica's adventures and create their own compositions. Creative marketing or the result of boredom? Who knows, but one thing's for sure; many of you will definitely turn off the sound after the first seconds of the video below…

Read more »

MINI Shows off New Rocketman at Milan Fashion Week [New Photos and Video]

Only a few days before its motor show debut at next week's Geneva Salon, the MINI Rocketman concept made its first public appearance at a special event on the sidelines of the Milan Fashion Week. The presentation was held at the Istituto Europeo di Design, which is a design school with a focus on automotive and product design.

Read more »

VIDEO: A MINI Cooper S Powered by a Helicopter Jet Engine

Rolls-Royce and MINI may have the same owner, but the two iconic British brands have never been intended to cross paths. That was until a Texas-based firm called BMP Design decided to squeeze a Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C20B jet engine sourced from a helicopter in the back of a MINI Cooper S. Yes, that's right, just behind the front seats.

The consequences of this action are easy to imagine: the 420-horsepower, 400 lb-ft of torque RR engine drives the rear wheels, turning the MINI into a 4WD monster. Managing to drive the car is a major achievement, since the driver needs to balance the conventional controls with the separate levers that command the jet engine.

As you are about to see, the speed and the acceleration of this little rocket are mind-blowing. As is the noise coming from the turbine engine. Watch the videos after the break.

Read more »

AC Schnitzer Turns All-Electric MINI E into a Police Car [with Video]

In support of the German Automobile Tuner Association’s “Tune it! Safe!” campaign, AC Schnitzer built the MINI E Police Look Concept, which is being showcased at the 2010 Essen Motor Show. The idea behind the campaign is to create a car that can satisfy tuning aficionados and also meet safety standards.

Read more »

First Videos of MINI's Countryman WRC Testing in Portugal!

Thanks to a tip from Carscoop reader Rafael, we can now share with you the first video footage of MINI's new Countryman WRC prototype, which was caught testing earlier today (Tuesday) at Ponte de Lima in Portugal.

The Prodrive developed and built World Rallying Championship version of the Mini Countryman is powered by a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo-charged engine from BMW Motorsport to comply with the new Super2000 regulations. Like the road-going model, it also gets four-wheel drive.

Read more »

VIDEO: MINI Diesel gets V8 Roar Thanks to Active Sound Design System

Diesel engines have a lot of advantages over their petrol counterparts, the most significant being their impressive fuel economy and monstrous torque. But there's one thing they don't have and that's the right sound. However, the BMW Group appears to have a solution for the problem - albeit in prototype form for now.

It's called Active Sound Design or ASD for short and it has been applied on two prototype diesel-powered models, a MINI Clubman and a BMW 635d Coupe.

ASD is an electro-acoustic system that makes use of microphones and the vehicle's sound system to change the engine's sound characteristics. The further enhance the acoustic experience, BMW's engineers also used different sound and vibration deadening materials in the engine bay and under the body of the car.

Read more »

VIDEO: Shocking MINI Racer Accident in Australia

A horrific crash involving a MINI Cooper S racer took place this past weekend at the Ipswich Raceway in Brisbane, Australia, when debutant racer Kain Magro, 23, literally cart-wheeled out of control over a barrier and into a crowd of spectators during a racing event that preceded the Ipswich 300 V8 Supercars race.

Miraculously, the driver was unhurt while only two people from the crowd were treated for minor injuries. Check out the video after the break.

Read more »