I was wondering if anyone out there had any knowledge about the original R50 JC Challenge race cars. I was thinking there might be some mods to be gleaned from these particular vehicles. I know that the original JCW Cooper Kit was basically the cylinder head off these vehicles, but what else was done to these race cars?

 

There is a detailed page on the MINI Challenge Club Sport R53 race cars here.

http://www.tsrennsport.com/weblog/?page_id=3



Short list
- JCW spec Chili Red cars shipped to Motorsport department in Germany for build
- Matter full roll cage
- BBS R90 17" rims, 16" R90 for UK series. Belgium series used the R85 S-Lite.
- KW coil over sport suspension, specific for MINI Challenge R53
- Dunlop MINI Challenge specific slick and rain tires
- 210hp JCW spec sealed engines
- John Cooper Works front brakes by AP Racing
- Custom brake ducts
- Full aerodynamic body kit
- Schroth fabric tow hooks, front, rear
- Factory LSD
- JCW strut bar
- Interior delete ;-)

There are many, many more modifications as you will see. Hope this helps.

 

Can you get me a translation? Also, do you know who did the work for the original R50 cars? Thanks for you reply! Awesome site, Thompson!

 

The original R50s were built by John Cooper Works in the UK and run in the MINI Challenge UK series.

Working on a translate of the complete 2005 MINI Challenge regulations "Reglementauszug"

 

Thank you!

 

2005 MINI Challenge Technical Rules and Specifications in English.

MINI Challenge Club Sport R53 Race Cars in Detail Page.
PDF file is located under the German original, underneath the photo of inside the cockpit and driver.
http://www.tsrennsport.com/weblog/?page_id=3

 

I too have been looking for information on the early R50 cup cars. Up until around late 2005 the John Cooper Challenge site for the series had all the technical info for the cars.

From memory, the power mods are as you said, they used the "JCW Tuning Kit" combined with a intake system similar to the aFe, and DDM systems available for the R50. They also used a less restrictive exhaust system that retained the stock header, but used a exhaust that was only availible for the challenge cars.

The first few years of the series (2002-2004) the cars used an OEM suspension set up. For the 2005-2006 season, the factory JCW suspension was used.

Obviosly the cars were gutted and fitted with a roll cage and other safety equipment.

The R81 "Imola" or "Holie" was the standard wheel used in conjunction with a 195/55-15 size slick or semi-slick tire that was supplied by Dunlop.

Other notes of the early R50 challenge cars included classification in the "Club Class" catagory that raced along side the "S Class." There is still a series run using the R50 Challenge cars. It is called the Scottish MINI Cooper Cup. Here is that site:

http://domain1848659.sites.fasthosts.com/

I hope all this helps. Again, this is all off of memory for the most part, but I am pretty sure of it's accuracy.

 

This is some pretty good information I had dug up right here:
http://www.newmini.org/content/mini_march02.html

So far, I have a new exhaust system from Mini Mania, I have a SS+ rear sway, I have an S head ready to be ported and polished, and I have the JCW sound kit intake on order. So I think I'm on my way to matching the JCW Challenge car!

What do you guys know about the engine stabiliser that was on MINIs? The one that mounts to the side of the engine to the strut tower:
http://www.newmini.org/images/mini/march02/6.jpg
Is this retrofittable to my 06 MINI?

Also, I'm thinking about matching my new cylinder head with the JCW tuning software. Will this be compatible with my 06's ECU? A custom tune is also under consideration but is alot more expensive...

 

The engine stabilizer in that picture is the OEM one out of an 02 03 04 R50. I believe it can be retrofitted, but I don't think you would see anything positive. With the sound kit CAI, MiniMania exhaust, combined with ported head, you'd be on your way to the output numbers of the JCW cars. On a side note I am envyous of your MiniMania exhaust. I've always wanted one.

 

This info is courtesy of the Wayback Machine at archive.org:

WORKS MINI COOPER SPECIFICATION DATA

ENGINE
4 CYLINDER: 1598cc
MAX POWER: 130bhp at 6000 rpm
MAX TORQUE: 118ft/5000rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT: 118bhp per ton
BORE/STROKE: 85.8/77MM
COMPRESSION RATIO: 10.6-1
VALVE GEAR: 4 per cylinder, sohc
IGNITION & FUEL: Siemens EMS engine management, Sequential injection
GEARBOX
Five speed manual. Final drive 3.94-1.

SUSPENSION
FRONT: Bilstein Struts, Coil Springs (Height, bump & rebound adjustable).
Front anti-roll bar.
REAR: Bilstein Coil Over Springs (Height, bump & rebound adjustable).
Rear anti-roll bar.

STEERING
Rack and pinion type. Power assisted.

BRAKES
FRONT: 273mm vented discs single pot sliding callipier
FRONT PAD MATERIAL: Mintex 1155, 1166 or F4R
REAR: 259mm discs single pot sliding calliper
REAR PAD MATERIAL: Mintex 1144
WHEELS
Alloy Holed 15 X 5.5.

TYRES
Dunlop DO2 15" Semi Cut Slick (Road legal) and Dunlop Wet Tyres.

ROLLCAGE
Safety Devices bolt in six plate with removable side bars. F.I.A. approved.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Four litre plumbed in system, manually operated from inside & out by pull cables.
F.I.A. approved.

BATTERY ISOLATOR
Electrical cut out system can be operated from inside and outside of vehicle.
M.S.A. approved.

RACE SEAT
Corbeaur ‘Revolution’ or ‘Pro series’ kevlar compound mix. F.I.A. approved
or Recaro Hans Race Seat.

SEATBELT HARNESS
Luke seat belt harness, five or six point fixings, quick release. F.I.A. approved.

 

Well, there we go then.

 

It took a while, but I finally located some pictures of the John Cooper Motorsports parts that were fitted to the Clubsport cars;

The first image shows the entire kit. Part#JCM550. This is everything fitted to a Cooper including the Safety Devices rollbar, battery isolater kit, Powerflex poly bushings, 7mm wheel spacers, Bilstein coilovers, etc. The flat aluminum plates with the brake parts on top of them are the left & right gas tank isolators that were fitted under the car.



Cooper Header + Exhaust #JCM507 The header design was the same for both the MCS & the Coopers, but I cannot confirm if they used different primary sizes. There was a note on the JCM website to be sure to specify if you were ordering for a Cooper or an MCS because the Cooper used a 2.25" outlet & the MCS had a 2.5"ID.



JCM intake #JCM510 made by Pipercross UK. The foam intake filter had a spun aluminum base shaped like a velocity stack & originally had 'WORKS' in red letters diagonally on the side. In order to get more air to these, the practice was to drill holes in the top of the plastic radiator surround. You can still get a very similar filter from Pipercross, Check out the universal racing filters section of the Pipercross UK website



It takes some hunting, but you can find some good paddock views of these parts in use on the MINI Challenge website. look for the link to the 2004 thru 2006 challenge archives!

 

Great sleuthing! I hope this thread is a good repository for this information for anyone else looking.