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The third generation F56-era MINI John Cooper Works GP model of 2020 was the most extreme MINI ever. This uber-quick hot hatch was a present that MINI promised itself for its 60th birthday and was intended for a very select audience of brand enthusiasts.

History

If you know your fast MINIs, this is one to savour. Back in 2020, the third generation MINI John Cooper Works GP was the fastest car the brand had ever made.

John Cooper would have loved this, a car that's bold irreverent and politically correct, the kind of tonic we all need. At launch, the idea of an uber-fast version of the already rather quick MINI Hatch John Cooper Works 3-door shopping rocket was nothing new. The very first JCW GP model was launched in 2006 with a supercharged 1.6-litre engine offering to 218hp. Six years later, a second generation JCW GP was made available for an equally limited production run with a turbocharged 1.6, also putting out 218hp.

Both these variants signalled the impending end of that generation MINI Hatch's production run, as did this 'F56'-series third generation JCW GP model at its launch in early 2020. Only 3,000 were made, with just 575 of those reserved for UK customers.

What You Get

Nothing is subtle about this MINI - certainly not the way it looks. Has the brand ever produced anything with more radical racetrack presence? It's doubtful.

The first thing you'll notice of course is the simply enormous GP-branded rear wing, with its subtle lip spoilers and a look apparently inspired by the boxy turbojet housings of the Concorde supersonic aircraft. More subtly altered is the rear valance within the rear bumper, which incorporates centrally-mounted twin tailpipes.

At the front, the GP-branded grille has a red bar, there's a red-framed lower air intake and the slim bonnet vent and the headlamp bezels are framed in black. You get a deeper front bumper than the one on an ordinary JCW hatch, with bigger cooling ducts and a more pronounced lower splitter.

At the side, you'll note the 10mm lower ride height; and the fact that this is a 3-door. In profile, the biggest change its incorporation of the much wider wheel arch extensions needed for this extreme variant's wider track. These extensions aren't the car's most stylish feature but they're apparently fashioned from the same carbon fibre used in construction of BMW's i3, they carry the car's individual build number and they house 8-inch wide 18-inch forged four-spoke lightweight rims with red GP centre badges. What else? Well the interplay between the narrowing window area and the rising shoulder line traces a wedge shape that gives the impression of acceleration even when the car is stationary. You get lower red striping on the doors. And the exterior paint finish - you have to have 'Racing Grey metallic' - alternates between light grey and blue-violet, creating a powerful sense of depth, while the roof and mirror caps are finished in a copper-coloured shade of 'Melting Silver'.

Inside, it's all equally focused. There's two brilliantly supportive front sports bucket seats trimmed in dinamica and leather and fitted with red seat belts. They position you perfectly in front of the grippy three-spoke race-spec 'GP Walknappa' wheel which features a race-style 12 o'clock top marker and GP-branded steering wheel gearshift paddles manufactured using 3D printing.

Otherwise, the cockpit's pretty similar to that of a standard JCW Hatch, apart from the adoption of a free-standing 'GP digital display' instrument cluster. Otherwise, it's not very much different to an ordinary JCW model, apart from a few minor trimming changes (carbon additions and GP-branded door entry strips and floor mats). There's also a bespoke build number on the fascia panel ahead of the front passenger, along with an anthracite headliner.

The central infotainment screen (which has a special GP screen on start-up) is only 6.5-inches in size as standard, but most original owners upgraded to the optional 'GP Touring Pack', which gets you a larger 8.8-inch display, complete with Navigation and various MINI Connected services. It incorporates various vehicle functions too, including a 'Sport Display', showing power and torque outputs. Even the consumption displays are on a racetrack graphic.

As usual with a MINI hatch, storage space is at a bit of a premium - the glovebox and door pockets are small. A compartment between the seats usefully incorporates a phone charger but it rather gets in the way of the lower infotainment controller, so you'll probably have it raised most of the time. There's a cup holder behind it. And two more cup holders are provided near a stowage tray at the base of the centre stack, near to a couple of USB ports and a 12v socket.

As with the two previous generation MINI GP models, the rear bench here was chucked out in the interests of weight saving - as would be the case with a MINI race car. There's just a transverse brace behind the seats finished in 'Chilli Red'. It's actually there to stop luggage sliding forward, but if you want, you can tell your friends it's a roll cage-style structural element.

Out back, the main part of the boot is just like an ordinary MINI Hatch 3-Door, which means it's quite deep but pretty small, this primary area being 211-litres in size. The advantage of having no rear seat means that you can also push items onto this higher ledge where that bench would normally go - towards that red bracing bar. You'll still need to pack pretty light though.

What You Pay

From new, this JCW GP MINI cost just over £35,000. We'd be very surprised if you found one for less than £30,000 (which is about £10,000 more than an ordinary '20-plate JCW hatch would be worth. Many examples of this rare GP model will have appreciated in value. All quoted values are sourced through industry experts cap hpi. Click here for a free valuation.

What to Look For

If you're lucky enough to find an F56-era MINI JCW GP, make sure it hasn't been thrashed on track days; tyre wear may be a good giveaway for this. The bespoke rubber will be expensive to replace. Make sure the service history's fully up to date and that there are no scratches on the expensive alloy rims. Ensure that all the infotainment functions work as they should. And that there are no interior scuffs and scrapes, particularly in the compromised boot area.

Replacement Parts

(approx based on a 2020 MINI JCW GP excl. VAT - autopartspro.co.uk) Front brake pads start at around £47 and run up to around £125 if you want an expensive make. Rear pads are in the £14-£50 bracket. Typical front brake discs are in the £75 bracket. Rear discs sell at around £14-£68. Air filters sit in the £10-£25 bracket. Oil filters cost between £6 and £52 depending on brand. Fuel filters are in the £2-£30 bracket. Pollen filters can be anything from £6-£60. Shock absorbers lie in the £149-£217 bracket. An alternator is in the £239-£440 bracket. A starter motor is in the £181-£414 bracket. Think between £138-£152 for a radiator. And £37-£73 for a water pump.

On the Road

Back in 2020, no MINI had ever been faster, the 62mph sprint dispatched by this GP in just 5.2s, though you'd hope for that given that this was the largest, most powerful engine ever shoehorned beneath the clamshell bonnet of a MINI Hatch. Unlike the 1.6-litre units used in the previous two MINI GP models, this one's 2.0-litres in size, offering a 306hp output. You have to have an 8-speed paddleshift auto gearbox - something that might trouble the kind of audience this wild MINI is aimed at. There's no 4WD system either, something you might think this defiantly front-driven MINI might need when you stamp on the throttle from rest - or even in the mid-range - and find the front scrabbling desperately for traction and sometimes even orientation.

Yet at the same time, you feel that this is all somehow an integral part of the extreme fairground ride this uber-MINI wants to take you on. It helps that the whole performance is accompanied by various evocative exhaust crackles from the huge 19mm-diameter tail pipes during throttle lifts and downshifts. And that some semblance of control, particularly in the wet, is maintained by the standard mechanical differential lock and the dynamic stability control system. Tame it all and simply astonishing point-to-point times over secondary roads are possible.

The body structure, chassis and driveline of the standard MINI Hatch JCW had to be practically re-invented for this GP version. There's a new engine mount, a stouter front tower strut brace and a beefier rectangular support for the rear suspension. The brakes are brilliant too, with 360mm discs gripped by four-piston calipers at the front. Handling changes include special camber rates, a wider track, stiffer anti-roll bars and a greater offset for the bespoke 18-inch forged wheels that come shared with track-style Sport Performance-spec Hankook tyres. Plus the ride height is 10mm lower and the steering is even sharper than it already is on a JCW MINI. Don't worry about having to scroll through different drive modes; this GP model is programmed for 'Sport' only, in which it pulls all the way to the 6,800rpm red line as the gearbox performs its crisp and rapid shifts.

Overall

Want an uber-fast hot hatch you could use every day from the 2020-2022 period? There are much better choices than this one. Most of them will have two extra doors and will ride better. Toyota GR Yaris has the AWD and the manual gearbox that this MINI lacks. And a Honda Civic Type R in its more restrained 'Sportline' form will attract less disapproving stares car park.

On top of that, almost all the things a modern hot hatch isn't supposed to do are startlingly evident in this one; you fight with the steering and battle with torque steer under heavy acceleration, waywardness at speed requires after attention and the ride acquaints you with every tarmac tear. So why do we still want one of these? Because in almost completely dialling out all of these things, as most competitors have, you also lose something: the raw venom this MINI has. And the challenge you feel from trying to master it. This car's extreme, it's addictive. And there's nothing quite like it.

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