New Car: 2011 Mini John Cooper Works World Championship 50 Edition

At last summer’s Mini United festival at the famed Silverstone circuit in England, Mini announced that it would be building a limited number of cars to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Not only was 2009 Mini’s 50th, but it was the 50th anniversary of the year that John Cooper’s F1 racing team won its first championship.

To celebrate, Mini joined forces with John Cooper—actually “John” Michael Cooper, big JC’s son—to design the Mini John Cooper Works World Championship 50 Edition. Basically a Mini JCW coupe, the MJCWWC50E is sprayed in a deep Connaught Green, one of a few hues our resident Brit says count as original British Racing Greens—although the true original is darker still and also known as Napier Green. White stripes trifurcate the hood, and the right one is signed by John Cooper—or Mike Cooper, anyway, who signs his name John Cooper.

As the original British Racing Green was almost black, the MJCWWC50E receives a number of black external accents—convenient, isn’t it, that carbon fiber is black? The bi-xenon headlights shine from black settings, the 17-inch Challenge wheels are painted gloss black, and carbon fiber makes up the hood scoop, the rear diffuser, the mirror housings, and the lip above the rear license plate. Along with a plaque on the center console, the fender vents are numbered.

The dark-green exterior is complemented by black interior leather with red highlights. Red piping sets off the black seats, while the lower dash panel and armrests are red, too. Red stitching adorns the shifter and handbrake boots, as well as the floor mats. The carbon-fiber theme is continued inside with the dash panel and trim on the doors and steering wheel made from the lightweight fabric.

Of the 250 MJCWWC50Es to be built, 50 are coming to the U.S. beginning late this spring. At a cost of $40,300, the car carries a premium of more than $10,000 over a regular JCW coupe, although—as we proved with our long-term Mini convertible—Mini makes it easy to pile on that much in options and accessories anyway. Outfitting a workaday JCW three-door as close as possible to what you see here would cost roughly the same as this limited edition, so the price seems fair to us.

Thanks to: Car and Driver