Prodrive have tested a Rallycross version of their Mini World Rally car with a view to developing a full Rallycross Supercar during the first round of the British Rallycross opener.
No major changes were made to the chassis apart from stripping out weight to meet the requirements of a Supercar.
The Mini has half the raw power of most Supercars who run at around 600 bhp and a turbo restrictor half the size of most Supercars, so it would have been expected that the WRC machine with a 1600cc engine running at 300bhp and a 33mm turbo restrictor would be a long way off the pace. This wasn’t the case as it lapped less than a second behind the purebred Rallycross Supercars. Possibly partly because of the choice of test driver, none other than the British Bomb himself Liam Doran.
Prodrives Paul Eastman, head of rally engineering, said “We need to be prepared to move into Rallycross. The sport is clearly growing. In a few years it could quite possibly be as big or bigger than the WRC and we want to be part of it.”
