BMW CELEBRATES A MINI PODIUM AT THE NüRBURG 24-HOUR WITH THE BULLDOG RACING EDITION MINI
How cool is this? Bulldog Racing campaigned its track-prepped MINI John Cooper Works at the Nürburg 24-hour race earlier this year and had a brilliant result. The private racing team piloted the JCW to MINI’s best-ever finish at the iconic race in the brand’s 64-year history when they snatched the silver to take a spot on the podium. That’s no mean feat for a privateer team, and the bosses at BMW took notice. It’s clearly a big deal to the automaker, so much so that they decided to create a limited edition John Cooper Works called the Bulldog Racing Edition to celebrate the amazing victory. How’s that for a massive flex for Bulldog Racing? To make it even better, the car wasn’t highly modified either, it was just a mix of the right components with the right setup. "Finishing in second place and achieving the first podium for MINI after a gruelling 24 hours was a great achievement. The moment we crossed the finish line, the idea of sharing this moment with our fans was born. Our biggest challenge in developing the Bulldog Racing Edition was to keep it as close as possible to our race car while making sure it is still road legal," says Alexander Schabbach, Managing Director of Bulldog Racing. The limited edition version available to the public will be completely streetable but the modifications carried out would see it excel during weekend track days and the like.
Visually, the Bulldog Racing Edition features a large foil Bulldog Racing roof decal as seen on every race car the team campaigns. Then there are the wheels, the OEM hoops have been relegated to the storeroom and in their place, we now find a set of 17-inch Hyper GT wheels from OZ Racing, easily one of the best-looking wheels available for these kinds of exploits. These are wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Performance tyres in 205/45R17. The main ingredient of the Bulldog Racing Edition is the suspension setup, the already good John Cooper Works has been replaced with a fully adjustable (including damper and rebound rate) KW V3 setup. The special edition is clearly only available in Germany / Europe because one of the selling points of the car is that the suspension will be set up to the owner’s driving style by one of Bulldog Racing’s professional drivers on the actual Nürburgring Nordschleife. Another cool flex. To give the car more presence, a Remus sports exhaust is fitted to the car with some nice fat exhaust tips in the OEM location. In the cabin, there’s a Bulldog Racing badge identifying the car as a numbered limited edition and documenting the day the suspension was set up on the Nordschleife, along with a few other discreet features. Not so discreet is the removal of the rear seats to save weight, and the addition of a Stern Performance Parts Clubsport strut complete with fitting mesh and a new carpet. To make it even cooler, the whole package can be retrofitted to MINI models from 2014 onwards. "In order to be able to cater to the widest possible range for individual desires, each car is customized according to the customer's wishes and is therefore unique. Our special model shows what modifications we can make to the car. We are also pleased to be able to offer this service to customers with older MINIs of the current generation from 2014 onwards", says Alexander Schabbach. Boss moves.
Take a look at the YouTube video showing the privateer outfit Bulldog Racing's exploits at this year's Nürburg 24-hour race. The team performed so well that it clinched a podium spot making it the highest finish in MINI's 64-year history, and impressed BMW so much that it decided to release a Bulldog Racing Edition John Cooper Works: 24-hour race at the Nürburgring: Bulldog Racing Team’s Manual MINI John Cooper Works 1to6 Edition | JCW Adventures
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MINI Nürburg 24-hour Bulldog Racing Special Edition MINI Cooper JCW JCW John Cooper Works SXdrv News