Hello, way back in March 2013 myself and my late father walked into the MINI showroom at our local dealer JCT600 I had heard the hype about the 2nd generation JCW GP2 but never seen one in the flesh, however sitting pride of place central position in the showroom was a JCW GP2 my late father was instantly smitten, and although my late father had a current driving license, due to a fall in 2012 he broke his Right humor bone, and that sadly put an end to any driving ambition :-(

So as I would do absolutely anything for my late father, we placed our order for a new factory built JCW GP2 there and then no ifs or buts, with that Said my late father was now all excited regarding his impending JCW GP2 delivery, and we watched all the JCW GP2 YouTube clips available.

Now some of you maybe aware that a short time after ordering the JCW GP2 my late father was diagnosed terminally ill with Cancer, and sadly the diagnosis was weeks and a maybe a few months, rather than months and years :-( the JCW GP2 arrived at JCT600 the second week in April 2013 sadly my late father never got to see his JCW GP2 which has been sitting in the storage compound at JCT600 ever since.

My late father sadly passed away on Sunday 9th June 2013 and so on Friday 21st June 2013 I finally agreed to continue with my late fathers ordered JCW GP2 of which will be in memoriam to my late father with a few cosmetic and performance touches, which will put a smile on his face :-)

But for now here she is sporting her PDI suspension ride height, which will be adjusted to the normal road ride height tomorrow, she will stay just as she is for now, not cleaned, de-stickered or any protective plastic covers removed, I will be collecting her on Friday 28th June 2013 she will then be treated to a professional detail and then put away, her first outing will be to MITP 2013.

Her number is 1880 of the 2000 worldwide.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. I can't imagine what it feels like to lose a parent, especially my father (whom I am extremely close with).

Beautiful car, for what it's worth.

 

^^^ Thank you for your lovely kind words and thoughtful wishes, very much appreciated, today is the day I collect the JCW GP2 in memoriam to my late father.

 

I was touched by your story and am sorry for your loss. I hope your ownership is ever rewarding and you carry on his excitement for this car each time you get behind the wheel.

 

My first drive of the JCW GP2 was only 11 miles, that said, the engine is now broken in nicely as are the fabulous brakes, unfortunately I couldn't push on to hard due to the ever changing damp/dry and drizzling weather conditions, however the Kuhmo Ecsta tyres the JCW GP2 comes with fitted as standard, are not for the faint hearted in damp drizzling road conditions, the front turn in grip is there as expected, but the rear breaks away surprisingly easy, but is fun and can be balanced easily with a gentle squeeze of the throttle.

I am confident then when I get the corner scales out, I can fine tune the suspension to my driving style, I will also be purchasing a second set of the GP2 wheels and wrap them in Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 sized 215/45/17 these will be everyday road use, whilst the Kuhmo Ecsta's will be used for dry track days.

 

Good evening, today I have had the opportunity to check, adjust and fine tune the suspension on my JCW GP2 whilst adjusting the tyre pressures to suit the suspension adjustments, and after 111 miles of testing and adjustments the end result is nothing short of amazing, the JCW GP2 straight from the factory is excellent, spend a little time adjusting and fine tuning the suspension and under bonnet strut brace, the excellence is transformed into sure footed crisp precise turn in and control.

Furthermore, now that I have woken the engine up, with large amounts of hard throttle, the engine delivers savagely smooth instant growling power all the way to the Red line, it really is quite relentless in its delivery, and if your slickly quick with the gear changes the JCW GP2 is a very capable and rewarding drive, it really doesn't need vast amounts of power, it is very very potent straight out of the box, and will quite happily shame other hot hatches and bigger more powerful cars.

All in all anyone still lucky enough to be thinking about one, or indeed wanting one, while they are still available, don't hesitate just do it, I guarantee you'll be smiling each and every time you get in, and your smile will grow as you accelarate hard then a quick dab of the fabulous brakes before each twist and turn, enjoying the effortless precision from the very well weighted and balanced steering, before squeezing hard on the throttle accelerating through the slick gears to the next twist or turn, without any torque steer.

 

For those of you with the GP2 be aware that this might happen at prolonged high speed, the rear window water seal can peel away and fall off, as it is only secured by double sided sticky tape!

Driving along everything was fine, then, I became aware of a tapping noise on the rear window, I glanced in the rear view mirror, to see this flapping around in the turbulent wind, I am far from happy to say the least. :evil:

 

Called in to my local dealer JCT600 Saturday 20th July, just to say hi and thank you to the sales staff, and a promised drive of my GP2 to Debbie of the sales team staff who dealt with the purchase of the GP2, upon Debbie's return after her promised drive, Debbie commented on how the turbo screamed, I didn't say anything at the time, as I hadn't heard the turbo scream, however when I drove away, sure enough there is a definitive induction scream with a noticeable reduction in throttle response power, I must point out this has nothing to do with Debbie from the sales team, it is a pure coincidence, I have monitored this on each and every drive since, and the induction scream is still there, it's not a loud induction scream, nevertheless it is audibly noticeable, so there is definitely a charge pressure leak to match the reduction in throttle response power!

My GP2 seems to be turning out to be of either a Monday morning or Friday afternoon build, I have noticed other slight issues, besides the rear window water seal falling off, my bonnet decal is not straight, the trailing edge of the carbon fibre roof spoiler is a very poor finish it has a rough unsealed finish to the rolled trailing edge, the passenger seat rattles, there is a knocking from the N/S/R and all this with less than 700 miles on the clock!

 

Shocked about your issues. Will follow this.

 

I had the same issue with the rubber seal on rear window but I could see it was imporperly installed. The other issue which is more critical is I have paint seperating from metal about two inches above right side of hood scoop. Dont know if I will have it repaired as it is about 1 inch long a 1/4 inch wide. But it has been noted by dealer so I will take my time thinking about it.

 

Strange... I have a similar paint issue is same place. Does it look like a minor bubbling?

 

Yes it looks to be bubbling but has not gotten any worse and maybe even flatten out a bit.

 

Maybe it's the heat since there is no heat shield?

 

It is suspect as our bubbles seem to be at the same spot on the hood

 

I have a GP2 0438 and was wondering if you guys could post a picture of the paint issue on the hood. I have not seen any on mine yet but I have not parked it hot yet either

 

I got one of these fitted



and one of these to keep an eye on temps, just need to code it for oil temp