I was walking through Morristown the other night and spotted this "slightly modded" Mini... I can on it guess it was a R53 at one time, and no I didn't have my cell phone with me, so no pictures (sorry)...

It looked like someone turned the MCS into a RWD Group B rally car (like the Renault R5 Turbo from the 80s... what was FWD eco car w/ ~100hp turned into a ~350HP RWD monster.)

The fender flares are what caught my eye initially... they held what looked like 10x18" and 15x18" rims!

As I went over to investigate this beastie, I notice something very, very wrong... There was a BMW engine in the back, and it looked for all the world like a new 335 engine... the twin-turbo 3.0L six!

The car was a dark color (not sure what as it was parked under those orange sodium-arc lights)...

If anyone knows ANYTHING about this beastie, I'm buying the first round!

 

Sounds really interesting, I don't know if I'd call a R53 MCS a 100hp eco car but I do know I'd love to see pics of this beast.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun. I've heard of a few people taking Focuses and swapping out 302s into them and making 'em RWD. Must be a blast.

 

The more I think about this- that was one huge project and had to be very expensive! You'ld have to change everything in the drivetrain,most of the suspention, install a fire wall behind the front seats, probably re-wire most of the car, the list just keeps getting biger, but what a project and result that must be!

 

I had read an artical a few years back that showed a MINI with a BMW 3 series engine installed. Was your sighting something like this?

 

Uhm, well the rear wing was a little smaller,
The front grill was not painted orange, and there was no white on the body anywere...
There was no rear diffuser,

There was a hood scoop still (why, I don't know, but maybe the radiator and intercoolers are still up there, but that doesn't really make sense...)

And there were HUGE intakes on the fender flares. (like for intercoolers)
But otherwise, yes, the car looked A LOT like the racer above.


As for expense, well you wouldn't do this for giggles
My WAG (Wild @$$ Guess) has the rear firewall bulkhead, and suspension was fab'd.
The entire running gear out of wrecked (or new?!) 335 was dumped into the back of the Mini, Motor, Tranny, CPUs, Gages, ABS, everything.
Sig. engineering then went into changing the 335 from a front-eng/rwd to mid-eng. rwd (or maybe AWD?)
Then the springs, shocks, bars, wheels, and body and paint was "just a weekend's work of work"

If the owner didn't do the work themselves, this was easily a 6-figure "upgrade"
I just keep wondering why go for the 335 and the Turbo plumbing when the M3 V8 is due out any day now... Unless said car nut happened to have a 335 that someone wrapped around a tree and a spare R53 laying around and was bored?

 

Like this? (pic from the "show us your wheels" thread)

 

can you post a link to the article?

 

Jackie Ick's (sp) daughter raced a MINI/M3 beast in Europe a few years back, and I believe she then sold it. They called it a MINI S3. It was Blue and scary fast. I want the flares.

Motor on

 

^yes i remember that, they even had very vague guidlines for doing it yourself