All their stars lined up at once, as the previous two generations had 1.6-liter engines, and BMW didn't show a willingness to have such a wild MINI spawn. The test prototype shows massive fender flares, which have been compared to everything from the DTM race cars to tuning projects.
On the JCW GP preview concept, these elements were made from carbon fiber, and considering how affordable the technology has become, that should be the case here as well. Only a few thousand people will get to sample this beast, but there are already other carbon-clad hatchbacks out there.
In the power department, the GT is being teased as the most powerful MINI of all time, but we don't want to get too excited. They said the same thing about the 330i, but gave us only 6 HP more. Rumors talk about as much as 300 HP, which is only natural when there's so much potential in the 2.0-liter turbo. What we can say for sure is that certain thresholds will be hit, like 245 HP (180 kW), 258 HP (190kW), 272 HP (200 kW) and so on up to the already-built 306 HP (225 kW) setup of the X2 M35i.
The real number we should be concerned with is the Nurburgring lap time, with the previous GP doing 8 minutes and 23 seconds.
