Press Release
Beating Champ Car and Porsche
A road-registered MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works Tuning Kit has scored an emphatic win in the final of three Team Australia Speed Comparisons at Indy. After narrowly missing out on victory on Day One of the Indy weekend, and being frustrated by an aborted run on Friday, when the Champ Car suffered a technical fault, the Team MINI racer driven by Paul Stokell finished its single lap of the 4.47 km Surfers Paradise street circuit a car length ahead of the V8 powered Champ Car. Both finished well ahead of the built for racing Porsche Carrera Cup challenger.
“After the first run on Thursday we changed the suspension set up slightly and the result was far better traction coming out of corners,” MINI driver Paul Stokell said. The multi Australian Drivers Champion and former Lamborghini racer said the MINI felt strong all lap and he could have gone even quicker with a few more laps under his belt.
“Mid-corner grip and stability under braking were all brilliant, helped by the Dunlop slick tyres we were using,” he said. We certainly turned a few heads this weekend with our race pace. We have shown how competitive our car can be on the track.”
The Speed Comparison lap began with a standing start with the MINI given a 25 second lead over the significantly more powerful Porsche and a 45 second head start over the V8 Champ Car. The handicapping system was designed to bring all three to the finish line close together, but if Will Power, Indy racer and driver of the Champ Car thought the MINI would be a pushover, he was proved wrong in dramatic style.
“I think we had a clear car length over the Champ Car at the finish line and about four or five car lengths ahead of the Porsche,” Paul said. As a result of the MINI’s magnificent Indy race win, the Team MINI pit was the centre of attention through the third day of the four day Indy meeting, with plenty of spectators dropping by for a closer look at the road-legal street racer, many posing for photos next to the victorious machine.
The MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works Tuning Kit is perfectly suited to fast road and circuit work, able to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 6.6 seconds thanks to its supercharged 1.6-litre 154 kW engine that produces 245 Nm of torque. It is fitted with competition brakes, developed by AP Racing for the International MINI CHALLENGE series. The 330 mm rotors are clamped by 4-piston John Cooper Works motorsport callipers, complete with braided brake lines and competition pads. At each corner there is a cross spoke 17 x 7” MINI road wheel shod with Dunlop slicks. German K & W coil-over suspension units feature adjustable ride-height, and are adjustable for both compression and rebound. An FIA Group N compliant safety cage, race seats and harness and a fire extinguisher are also fitted for maximum safety.
Compared with the four-cylinder MINI, the flat-six in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup packs around 300 kW. It covers the 0-100 km/h sprint in 3.2 seconds. The Champ Car is a purpose-built racer with a huge 750 horsepower (560 kW) engine that hits 100 km/h in 2.2 seconds. It is an open-wheel, single-seater powered by a turbo-charged 2.65L Ford Cosworth V8 engine, with a top speed of around 300 km/h.
