Official Release Small car, huge win: it is now 50 years since one of the most spectacular victories in the history of international motor sport. On 21 January 1964, the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time. It was the pairing of Northern Ireland’s Patrick (“Paddy”) Hopkirk and his co-driver Henry Liddon that pulled off the big surprise, resisting the supposed superiority of significantly more powerful rivals in their small British car. Its faultless run over country roads and mountain passes, ice and snow, tight corners and steep gradients laid the foundations for the underdog-turned-giant-slayer to cement itself in both the hearts of the public and the annals of motor sport legend. Indeed, the classic Mini’s dominance of the Monte Carlo Rally continued over the years that followed, Hopkirk’s Finnish team-mates Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen adding two further overall victories – in 1965 and 1967 – to the British manufacturer’s collection.

Now 80 years old, Paddy Hopkirk’s eyes still light up when he recalls the driving qualities of his winning car: “Although the Mini was only a little family saloon, technically it had a lot of advantages. Its front-wheel drive and front-mounted transverse engine were a great advantage, and the fact the car was smaller and the roads were ploughed, they were quite narrow, so I suppose that was an advantage. We were very lucky – the car was right, everything happened at the right time and came together at the right moment.”

It was the legendary “Night of the Long Knives”, the penultimate stage of the Monte, which put the Mini Cooper S with car number 37 and the now famous licence plate 33 EJB on course for victory that winter of 1964. Hopkirk crossed the finish line just 17 seconds off the pace set by his chief adversary Bo Ljungfeldt in the far more powerful V8-powered Ford Falcon. The handicap formula at the time – designed to even out the weight and power differences between the various cars – meant the classic Mini actually led the way in the overall standings. And Hopkirk defended his advantage in the sprint through the streets of Monte Carlo that rounded off the rally. At the winner’s ceremony he shared the cheers of the crowed with his team-mates. Timo Mäkinen’s fourth-place finish and Rauno Aaltonen’s seventh overall set the seal on the success of the Mini Cooper S and ushered in the era of the “Three Musketeers” in the Monte Carlo Rally.

The classic Mini’s victory was celebrated with particular excitement in its native Britain. Hopkirk received a congratulatory telegram from the British government and the Beatles were also among those leading the applause. “I got a telegram from the Beatles,” remembers Hopkirk. “That was followed by a photograph of the four of them autographed to me saying: ‘You’re one of us now, Paddy.’ And it’s very nice to have that nowadays.”

The triumph of the classic Mini in the Monte was lauded as a sensation by motor sport fans around the world. But this wasn’t a success that came entirely out of the blue: the small car developed by Alec Issigonis, then Deputy Technical Director at the British Motor Corporation, possessed an inherent sporting talent from birth. The first person to spot this potential was John Cooper. The sports car designer was the driving force behind construction of a more powerful version of the car. The Mini produced only 34 hp at launch, but its front-wheel drive, low weight, wide track and comparatively long wheelbase made it an extremely agile four-seater and paved the way for its forays onto race circuits and rally courses.

As early as 1960, big-name racing drivers like Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark were spotted testing the cornering flair of the John Cooper-tuned small car on the Silverstone Formula One track. However, the classic Mini was most at home in rally racing. Patt Moss, sister of grand prix driver Stirling Moss, piloted it to wins in the Tulip Rally and Baden-Baden Rally in 1962. And by the following year, the diminutive British car was ready to burst into the public consciousness at the Monte Carlo Rally. Preceding years had been a tough learning experience for the works team, but now they would make people sit up and take notice. Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk drove the 55 hp Mini Cooper to a 1-2 finish in their class, which was good enough for third and sixth places overall.

It was clear that the classic Mini was better equipped than any other car to pull off the classic David vs Goliath act. John Cooper had long suspected that the car had what it took. Back in 1959 he instructed Roy Salvadori to drive a prototype to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The journey itself turned into a race between Salvadori and fellow racing driver Reg Parnell at the wheel of an Aston Martin DB4. The result confirmed what Cooper had foreseen in his mind’s eye: the Cooper-prepared classic Mini arrived around an hour earlier than the much more powerful Aston.

Identifiable from a distance with their tartan red bodywork and white roofs, the six small racers dispatched by the BMC works team for the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 were – at least on paper – fighting against the tide once more. The Mini Cooper S lined up at the start for the first time. Its new four-cylinder engine now had an increased 1071cc capacity and output had also been boosted to around 90 hp. This was a lot more than in previous years but still modest in the face of competition from the likes of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SE and Ford Falcon, whose six-cylinder and V8 units had three or four times more power at their disposal.

The 33rd edition of the Monte Carlo Rally began – as was traditional at the time – with a nod to the origins of the event, the cars starting from nine European cities before converging on the French city of Reims. The Hopkirk/Liddon partnership got their journey with the Mini Cooper S under way in Minsk, while for Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose the Monte adventure started in Oslo, and Timo Mäkinen and Patrick Vanson set off from Paris. The classic Mini successfully negotiated all these journeys and all six works cars were able to take their place in the 277-strong field in Reims. The first stage of the rally to Saint-Claude brought together the two cars which were to define the 1964 Monte from start to finish. Bo Ljungfeldt roared to the top of the time sheets in his Ford Falcon, but Paddy Hopkirk remained hot on his heels in his Mini Cooper S.

The next leg of the rally was made up largely of mile-long flat-out sections, but Hopkirk refused to let his big-engined rivals build up a decisive advantage. The “Night of the Long Knives” would become the day of reckoning; this was the classic Mini’s chance to demonstrate its talents to the full. “It was quite snowy that year, so we had done a lot of practising and preparing,” explains Hopkirk. “The Mini was particularly good downhill, and all the tests were up and downhill, so what we lost going up, I think we made up for going downhill.”

Irresistible handling, correct tyre choice, Hopkirk’s gifts at the wheel and the snow – which slowed the bigger cars down – all came together and ensured that Hopkirk was able to take over the lead on the 1,607-metre (5,270 ft) Col de Turini. However, it remained a tight contest all the way to the finish, with Bo Ljungfeldt, as expected, again posting the fastest time on the final stage through Monte Carlo. However, Hopkirk was also squeezing everything from his Mini Cooper S once again and hung onto his advantage to wrap up the win. “It’s not like rallying today when you know where you are. I had to do the final circuit, then the journalists told me I had won and I couldn’t believe it. It surprised the world and us, so it was very nice,” recalls Hopkirk.

The following year Timo Mäkinen and co-driver Paul Easter ensured the classic Mini would retain its title. They were helped by a new engine with capacity increased to 1275cc, but it was the Scandinavian’s driving skill that landed the decisive blow. Mäkinen was the only driver to remain penalty-point-free throughout the rally distance, despite the fact that the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally was providing one of the most exacting tests in the history of the event. Epic levels of snow and ice made the going seriously tough, but that didn’t stop the organisers including a second night stage through the Maritime Alps in the programme. Mäkinen and his Mini Cooper S appeared impervious to the deteriorating conditions. The Finn won five of the six special stages on the final leg of the rally and finished the event with a handsome margin over the second-placed car.

The most impressive and also most dramatic Monte Carlo Rally for the “Three Musketeers” was to follow in 1966. Mäkinen, Aaltonen and Hopkirk dominated the event from the start, and it was in this order that they completed a clean sweep of the top three positions overall at the finish. Public enthusiasm for the quicksilver classic Minis appeared to be boundless – as was the disappointment when the French race commissioners revealed their decision to disqualify the trio on account of lights that allegedly did not conform with official regulations. This was also the reason given for removing the fourth-placed Lotus Cortina from the classification, which meant that the Finnish Citroën driver Pauli Toivonen was crowned the winner.

The dream of a Monte hat-trick lay in tatters, but the “Three Musketeers” resolved to return at the earliest opportunity. In the winter of 1967 Hopkirk, Mäkinen and Aaltonen lined up alongside two other BMC works teams for the Monte Carlo Rally. And this time neither the rules nor the other cars could stand between the Mini Cooper S and victory. Rauno Aaltonen was joined by Henry Liddon – Paddy Hopkirk’s co-driver from the successful 1964 Monte – for his latest assault on the rally. The Finnish-British team clicked straight into gear. Aaltonen guided the classic Mini to what was this time an undisputed victory with 12 seconds to spare. And nobody was more pleased for the duo than Hopkirk: “Henry Liddon was really an outstanding co-driver. But the co-drivers never got enough credit, you know. They did a fantastic job in reading the notes and they were the office manager of the car.”

Hopkirk finished the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally in sixth place and also drove the classic Mini to fifth overall the following year. Aaltonen was third in 1968. However, the era of the small car that stormed to the summit of rally racing was clearly approaching an end. Its rivals had grown just too powerful and the sporting zenith of the classic Mini was now behind it. Memories of that famous triumph in the winter of 1964 will forever burn bright and the “Three Musketeers” have written an indelible chapter into the history of motor sport. As for distinctive headlight solutions, such as incurred the wrath of the powers-that-be back in 1966, they also live on as some of the most popular Original MINI Accessories – from black headlight housing and the evocative spotlights fronting the radiator grille to retrofit xenon headlights.

On a snowy ramp in Tignes, France, aptly-described daredevil Guerlain Chicherit successfully backflipped a MINI Countryman racing car. MINI teased this stunt back in January, but neglected to show us how the landing went in that port-side attempt. Call me skeptical, but I imagine that if the landing had gone as planned, we’d have seen it. Forgetting the earlier attempts, now MINI is showing us the whole stunt gone well. Video after the jump.

What makes the stunt remarkable is not that it’s a backflip, but that it’s an unassisted backflip. There was no stunt “kick” built into the bottom of the car to get it rotated all the way around. The car did it all on its own, or at least, fully on the shape of the ramp. It’s one hell of a stunt no matter how you do it, so kudos to MINI and Guerlain Chicherit for pulling it off.

By fielding a factory racing team for two years and competing in the entire WRC series, MINI has accomplished what it set out to do: get MINIs officially back into rally racing.

By the end of the season WRC Team MINI Portugal will have competed in every rally in 2012. As such, in accordance with FIA regulations, we will have achieved the WRC homologation for the MINI John Cooper Works.

Now it’s up to BMW Motorsports, Prodrive and privateer teams to keep MINIs competitive. Obviously, we’re sad to see the official MINI team go, but the car has been proven competitive with several podium finishes — including a second place podium finish at Monte Carlo. Now it’s time for the right team to come along and push their MINIs through to the championship. Full press release after the break.

[Official Release] MINI will terminate its works involvement in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2012 season. The company has made this decision after careful consideration.

Dr. Kay Segler, Senior Vice President MINI Business Coordination and Brand Management: “MINI will abandon its works involvement in the WRC at the end of the 2012 season. By the end of the season WRC Team MINI Portugal will have competed in every rally in 2012. As such, in accordance with FIA regulations, we will have achieved the WRC homologation for the MINI John Cooper Works. In doing so, we would have achieved the prerequisites to allow those interested to continue to run the car in the WRC on a customer rallying basis. BMW Motorsport will continue to further develop the 1.6-litre turbo engine in conjunction with Prodrive. In a very difficult commercial environment, MINI has played an active role in ensuring that friends of the MINI brand can continue to participate in motorsport. As such, the MINI family is retaining its presence on various international platforms and getting even closer to its customers. We would like to see the MINI John Cooper Works WRC continue to run competitively in WRC and other championships. We would like to thank Prodrive, WRC Team MINI Portugal and our partners for the good cooperation, and wish all drivers, teams and customers a successful future in rallying.”

MINI Motorsport has secured the future of its customer teams, while Prodrive will still be able to run, optimise and sell vehicles in the future. BMW Motorsport will continue to develop the 1.6-litre turbo engine and provide Prodrive with parts.

From its rallying debut early in 2011, the MINI John Cooper Works WRC turned out to be a successful model: MINI drivers collected three podiums and many top-ten finishes at the wheel of this car. Arguably the biggest success was achieved by Dani Sordo (ES) in January 2012, when he finished second at the comeback of MINI at the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. With three wins in the Principality – back in 1964, 1965 and 1967 – the Mini laid the foundation for the unique reputation of the brand in rallying.

[Source: MINI]

“A great result. I am very happy,” beamed an overjoyed Abdulaziz after the end of the season’s sixth WRC round, an event in which Sébastien Loeb again went unbeaten. Not even a punctured tyre two stages from the end could stop the world champion. His two-minute cushion over Mikko Hirvonen had served as relaxant for Loeb, although his lead was to shrink to 40 seconds. Still, over the final two stages it was business as usual for Loeb, who sailed to victory over Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala in second and third places overall respectively.

The excursion to the Rally Greece by the Seashore Qatar Rally Team certainly paid off. In January Abdulaziz won the Qatar International Rally – still in a MINI John Cooper Works S2000. For the Rally Greece he switched to the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, and was able to feel immediately comfortable with his newfound friend, enabling Abdulaziz to complete all three rally days without problems worth mentioning. With two successful events in the bag, the Seashore Qatar Rally Team is currently planning the rest of its season.

Next stop: Rally New Zealand.

Armindo Araujo and Paulo Nobre already have their next event booked, namely the Rally New Zealand, which the two MINI WRC drivers will contest between 22 and 24 June. In Greece Armindo narrowly missed a points placing. Retirement on Saturday, when difficult stages followed by heavy rain took their toll on cars and teams, had thrown Armindo down the order. To that point he had been the lead MINI WRC driver. On Sunday Armindo stuck to his resolution of bringing his MINI WRC safely to the finish.

Following a mighty comeback, Kris Meeke missed out on a podium finish at the Rally GB by a whisker. However, a small mistake on the Power Stage meant Kris had to settle for fourth place.

Special Stage 23: It was never going to be an easy task to make up 45 seconds on Henning Solberg in just six special stages. However, thanks to a sensational performance over the first five stages, Kris came within a whisker of achieving this incredible feat. Stage after stage he ate into Solberg’s lead – ultimately just 1.8 seconds. Ultimately, a slight drop in concentration on the Power Stage was responsible for him coming up just short of his dream of a podium finish.

Despite this, Kris’s charge on the final day of the Rally GB certainly made things extremely exciting again, and ensured that the MINI WRC Team and MINI fans around the world were treated to a thrilling finale to the WRC season.

Let’s not forget that the first season in the top echelon of rallying was only intended as a learning year for the MINI WRC Team. And yet, after six outings, the team has two podium finishes, seven stage wins (five for Dani Sordo and two for Kris), including the Power Stage in Spain, and 59 and 25 points in the Drivers’ Championship for Dani and Kris respectively to its name.

It goes without saying that Kris benefitted from the retirement of World Champion Sébastien Loeb, following his crash. However, that is all part of rallying and should in no way detract from Kris’s performance as he fought his way back through the field.

Dani can also be more than happy with the way his season ended. He finished on the podium in Germany and France, and only a mistake on the second day of the Rally GB prevented him from mixing it with the leading drivers again at the finale of the WRC season. “I am very happy,” says Dani. “It has been a good first year for us.”

MINI fans can already start looking forward to the 2012 WRC Season, which gets underway in just eight weeks …

Total excitement in the MINI WRC Team about Dani Sordo’s second place at the Rallye France.

David Richards, Team Principal: “Yesterday we could have so easily have settled for a secure second place but that’s not our style and I’m so proud that Dani was able to challenge for victory right to the end. On this occasion we will therefore celebrate a second place and give the entire team a big pat on the back, particularly Dani Sordo. He managed to keep the pressure on Sébastien Ogier throughout the entire rally, and he’s certainly laid down a marker for his home event in Spain.”

Dave Wilcock, Technical Director: “Second is an absolutely stunning result for the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. Being just 6.3secs behind Sébastien Ogier clearly shows we were on the pace and, after our fourth rally, being in this position has made us all delighted. It’s been a stunning effort from the team, and especially the crew. Dani drove a faultless rally. He had no punctures, the Michelin tyres were absolutely perfect throughout and never once did we ever have any issues with tyre degradation. This morning we made a tactical decision to take the soft tyre option due to the damp and moist conditions, and knowing that the first stage, which was repeated, had two kilometres of gravel. It was completely the right choice. Then in the power stage to take two wrc drivers’ points and finish in front of Ogier was fantastic for MINI. This is a great position to be in going to Dani’s home event in Spain. We have a lot of work to do before them, but we shall be trying everything we can to repeat this performance there, if not make it a step higher on the podium!”

Dani Sordo: “As you can imagine I am really, really happy to finish in second position. It is an incredible result for the team so thank you to them and also to Carlos who has been great all rally. I think no-one here expected this before the rally, but we were fighting for the victory and at the end were just 6.3 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier. When you set good stage times as we have here in France, you always enjoy it. Before our first event we did not expect to be doing so well so soon. I am very pleased to be going to my home event in Spain in this position. The car was set-up well here, so I am confident it will be the same in Spain.”

“This is a very exciting new motorsport program. During the 1960s MINI captured the imagination of the world when the tiny car took on the might of V8 powered Fords and won what was then one of the toughest motorsport events, the 4000km Monte Carlo rally. I believe our new MINI will become a firm favourite of the latest generation of rally fans, just as it is adored by its millions of owners across the world,” said Prodrive chairman David Richards.

From BMW’s press release its seems that the Countryman WRC car will be available for customer orders as well and there have already been some bookings