STOCK CATEGORY
· Per the SAC, the proposed move of the Mini Cooper S from GS to DS has been withdrawn.
NOT RECOMMENDED
· Move Mini Cooper JCW from BS to DS

I'm a part of that second bit. Feel like hanging up my helmet.

 

I feel your pain, its too bad they won't class the JCW in a reasonable manner. DS would be a perfect fit for the JCW, but, the SEB doesn't want the Mini to be competitive in more than 2 classes for some reason.

 

A letter I just received:

Hi, Jim,

There was a concern that the 2007 MINI Cooper S (Turbo) might be a
better autocross car than the "old" 2005-2006 MINI Cooper S
(Supercharged). If so, it was thought that the 2007 model may be more
appropriate in DS rather than GS.

Also, sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense to separate slight
variations of cars from each other (like separating the 2007 Cooper S
from the earlier year models). It's sort of like a "new replaces old"
philosophy that has seemed to work pretty well for Solo. So keeping the
earlier and later models together seemed to make the most sense.

So if the 2007 car was a better autocross performer to warrant a change
to DS and the Cooper S listing was not going to be split, then it seemed
a possibility to move the JCW version to DS also. This would allow any
2006 MINI Cooper S to update to the JCW version. So those that currently
owned a 2006 Cooper S could have an update to get their cars closer to
the newer car.

After the 2007 Solo Nationals, the SEB looked at event results from 2007
and decided that the 2007 Cooper S was not necessarily a better
autocross performer than the 2005-2006 cars. So the move from GS to DS
did not get much support from the membership or even the SEB. It is
thought that the 2007 Cooper S will probably be a good addition to GS
and the 2005-2006 models will still be good cars to have.

The proposal to move the MINI Cooper S JCW from BS to DS did not get
much attention from the membership. As you guessed in your letter that
was logged 07-386, most of the comments were directed concerning the
MINI Cooper S move from GS to DS. The move of the JCW version was not
generated by a member letter; it was an idea of the SEB specifically to
go with the move of the 2006 cars to DS. So without very much membership
input specifically concerning the JCW versions and since it was not
member-generated, it was considered to be best to leave JCW versions in
BS at this time...."


I think those of us who care about this, need to send some well thought out letters to the SEB, defending our ideas.

"One reason you could mention is there are no other FWD cars in BS. Also mention why this would be good for all of SCCA. Since there are new SEB members coming on board, you may want to send it in a few weeks or after the first of the year. It'll get some
fresh eyes looking at it."

 

The SEB has a history of burying small production performance cars. They want to avoid the possibility of it becoming "the car to have" and no one being able to get one (the GP fits this perfectly) the JCW is on the edge of that.

my .02

 

Doug Gill has suggested the example of what they did with the Shelby Mustang GT (similar in limited production as the JCW) in FS. DS evidently doesn't have the highest participation numbers, so well thought out letters covering that, and that there are no other FWD cars in BS, might make excellent points.