2002 Mini Cooper S Hatchback 2-door 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Cool Shunnings: Mini helps the Jamaican bobsled team train in lockdown

Need to train for an upcoming outdoor Olympic competition, but COVID restrictions are forcing you to shelter in place? Well, if your sport happens to be bobsled and your place happens to be an indoor ski slope, that just might be doable.  Perhaps you remember Jamaica's national bobsled team for pushing a Mini Cooper convertible around earlier this year as a conditioning exercise. If that sounds like a stunt straight out of "Cool Runnings," well, that's pretty much the idea. Now, they're doing it in isolation, within the safe confines of an indoor skiing facility in the UK.  Evidently, they're still at it, only now they appear to have better corporate sponsorship (note the Jamaican flag livery on their spankin' new 'vert) and a pandemic-friendly training venue as they undergo conditioning at the UK’s largest indoor slope at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, ahead of the World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, in February.  "This second lockdown has been even harder on our training," said team pilot Shanwayne Stephens. "Matt [Wilson] and DyÂ’Neal [FeÂ’ssal] are new to the team so weÂ’re focusing on gelling together as a team and getting them up to speed – they have never been in a bobsled or even seen one yet!" "Pushing the MINI here may seem like a bit of fun but this has been an important exercise, just being on ice is completely different to training in the summer – the toll on your body is entirely different and you use energy in different ways," Stephens said. "The Snow Centre is only -3 degrees [27 degrees Farenheit], thatÂ’s pretty mild compared to what weÂ’re normally in, and theyÂ’re already complaining about the cold!" Lake Placid is just the next step toward qualification for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

Next-gen Mini interior ditching familiar center speedo

A Reddit user has posted images of the 2015 F56 Mini Cooper, one each of the exterior and interior. As has been the case since the launch of the new Mini in 2001, the overall exterior shape underneath camouflage screams Mini, but insiders are still calling the coming F56 model "the most aggressively different new Mini yet." Inside, though, the two-door that defined premium hatchbacks has, according to its most devoted buyers, gone mainstream.
The giant ring atop the center console is there, but there's no longer a speedometer inside of it. Instead, in an integration that brings to mind words like "shoehorned," Mini designers have placed radio and telephone controls inside the bezel. According to the Mini experts at MotoringFile, the picture above is the base trim and one of four possible treatments - in the upper trims a larger screen for navigation takes up most of the space. The bezel itself is marked with mood lighting that supposedly "swirls around" when you start the car with the red toggle switch.
The speedo rests atop the steering column with a tachometer placed to its left. The BMW wheel pictured is just for the prototype - you can expect a familiar three-spoke Mini wheel when the car is revealed, and latest rumor is that the event will take place at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

Chinese ministry uploads Mini Aceman pictures and info

Next up for photo day at the China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Mini Aceman. The Aceman can be seen as a replacement for the Mini Clubman, the four-door version of the two-door Cooper (or five-door depending on your nationality) sized below the Countryman that Mini killed after its third generation. The Chinese data declares the Aceman either 160.5 or 161.2 inches long depending on base or S trim, 69.1 inches wide and 59.6 inches high on a 102.6-inch wheelbase. The Clubman of yore was 168.5 inches long, 70.9 inches wide, and 56.7 inches high on a 105.1-inch wheelbase. Before a debut that we've been told isn't far off, we'll guess much of the difference between the two length has been cut from the hood and cargo areas, not the passenger compartment.  In China, the four-door will only be offered with electric powertrains, sidestepping Mini's "Power of Choice" mantra applied to other models with their hybrid and diesel options. The Aceman for other international markets will be produced in the UK; it's not clear yet if they'll be restricted to EV power as well. This means a base version (the darker car in the gallery above) powered by a 40.7-kilowatt-hour battery turning a motor on the front axle making 181 horsepower and 213 pound-feet of torque, or a 54.2-kWh pack turning a motor with 214 hp and 243 lb-ft in Aceman S guise. These are the same outputs we'll get in the U.S.-spec Cooper E and Cooper SE. Put through China's CLTC fuel economy test, the base Aceman is estimated to go 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a charge, the more powerful Aceman S about 400 km (249 miles). As for the looks, they're the chunkiest we've seen on the new, modern range of Minis. The photo cars also suggest the merest hint of clunky, too, but we're going to put that down to the drab paint schemes and lighting. The form should perk up dressed in Mini standards like Blazing Blue, Legend Grey, Melting Silver III, Nanuq White and Smokey Green under a color-contrasted roof and the numerous chances to brighten up various bits inside and outside the car. Different to other Mini models, headlights and size aren't the only tells, the Aceman fitting some unmissable, squared-off wheel arch cladding. Beyond that, the polygonal DRL shape surrounding round projectors gives the Aceman more anthropomorphic character than its siblings. The S is distinguished by yellow trim and a yellow "S" placed around the body, plus LED headlights and a silver skid plate up front.