1962 Classic Mini Cooper Project on 2040-cars

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Mini to offer a double-clutch transmission, but not in U.S.

Mini has padded next year's option sheet with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, so long as you're not buying in America. Available for the three-door, five-door, and convertible Mini models using "selected engine types," the DCT will provide a third transmission option after the standard six-speed manual and six-speed Steptronic automatic. Minis fitted the twin-clutch will be known by the meaty new gearshift lever that, BMW style, returns to its central position after the car's put into gear. A button at the top of the lever activates Park. Sensibly, you push the lever forward to downshift, and pull it back to upshift. When a buyer springs for navigation and the DCT, the transmission taps into map routing data and camera images to hone shift programming; the gearbox will downshift early when approaching a turn, or read a series of bends to know when to shift and when to hold steady. Fitted with a crawl function for ease of use in stop-and-go traffic, the DCT additionally supports stop/start, and coasting in Mid and Green driving modes for those times the driver takes his foot off the accelerator. For the time being, though, we're not invited to the party. Mini USA Communications Manager Mariella Kapsaskis told Motor1 that manufacturing the wet-clutch, dual-mass flywheel DCT "takes up lots of capacity." Which is the automaker equivalent of being told, "We're just not that into you right now." We expect that would change at some point; however, some of Mini's most sporting U.S. competitors also don't offer DCTs, so who knows. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Mini Double-Clutch Transmission View 17 Photos Image Credit: Mini MINI Hatchback

BMW's DTM champ swaps rides with Mini's Dakar winner

BMW may not race in F1 any longer, and it doesn't compete with Audi and Porsche in the LMP1 class at Le Mans. It even shut down Mini's short-lived effort on the World Rally Championship. But that doesn't mean it doesn't race at all. In fact it's the current reigning champion both in DTM and at Dakar. So to highlight its varied motorsport programs, the German automaker had two of its top drivers swap rides. German driver Martin Tomczyk, who won the DTM title in 2011 and now drives for BMW, took to Nasser Al-Attiyah's Mini All4Racing Countryman on the sand dunes of Dubai. Meanwhile the Qatari driver, who has won the Dakar Rally two times now, took to the wheel of Tomczyk's BMW M4 DTM around Oschersleben in Germany. They even repeated the game of musical chairs at Hockenheim over the weekend. If anything, the promo clip shot by Red Bull just goes to show how different the varied racing machinery can be, and the challenges posed to racing drivers switching between disciplines. But lessons aside, it's a cool clip, so check it out above. Two champions swap cockpits: Martin Tomczyk drives the MINI ALL4 Racing, Nasser Al-Attiyah the BMW M4 DTM. Munich (DE), 1st May 2015. From asphalt to sand and back again: BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) and MINI ALL4 Racing ace Nasser Al-Attiyah (QA) both entered unfamiliar territory and took each other's cars for a test drive. As part of a video shoot for BMW Motorsport Premium Partner Red Bull in Dubai (AE), Tomczyk, a proven master of his trade on asphalt as the 2011 DTM Champion, took the wheel of the MINI ALL4 Racing, with which X-raid has won the famous Rally Dakar the last four years. During DTM testing in Oschersleben (DE), Al-Attiyah was given the opportunity to drive Tomczyk's BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. Two wins at the Rally Dakar are just some of the successes the rally driver from Qatar has had to date. He followed up his first victory in 2011 by winning in the MINI ALL4 Racing in January 2015. "Driving the MINI ALL4 Racing through the sand and over the dunes in Dubai was a fascinating experience and was so much fun," said Tomczyk. "The car has an incredible amount of torwue – and the test in the dunes was an amazing adrenalin rush even for an experienced race driver such as myself. It's totally different to driving on a circuit.

2022 Mini Hardtop spied with bigger grille

The current generation of Mini Hardtop and Convertible has been around since 2014, so it doesn't come as a big surprise that one of our spy photographers spotted a group of test cars sporting refreshed styling. These cars were all Mini Cooper S or Mini John Cooper Works models, and the mild styling tweaks make us believe these updates will be applied to the 2022 Mini Hardtop and Convertible lines, with small changes for different trims. One shot of a few Minis shows one of them wearing no camouflage at all. While the angle isn't ideal, there's still plenty we can make out. It appears to be a John Cooper Works based on the particularly large lower and outboard grilles. It seems to have a John Cooper Works badge in the side of the grille with black tape over it, too. The main grille is noticeably larger than that of the current model. It also adopts a mesh pattern over the whole surface. There's still a bar dividing the grille, but the division is less distinct than on the current car. We can also see this version gets a pronounced front splitter. The other cars in these shots have more thoroughly disguised front and rear ends. The larger main grille does seem to show through, as well as more lower grille area. At the back, the updated Mini has a wider diffuser area, and immediately above it is a set of vents that span the same width. This seems to be a John Cooper Works since it looks fairly aggressive with large center exhaust tips. The regular Hardtop and Convertible models will probably have more toned down versions of this bumper without the center exhaust. Since these are relatively minor styling updates, we expect them to show up on the 2022 Hardtop and Convertible variants. They could be accompanied by powertrain and feature changes, too. In fact, reports have said that there could be a smaller Hardtop model that's electric-only coming around 2022, with this refreshed version sticking around for a few years during the transition. Related Video: