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Mini John Cooper Works 1 To 6 Edition extols the manual transmission

Throughout the final year of this generation of Mini Cooper, the Anglo-German brand has been rolling out limited editions about every 90 days. We got the Mini 20 Years Edition last September, the Mini Convertible Seaside Edition in March, the Mini Clubman Final Edition in April, now we have the fourth to complete the set: The Mini John Cooper Works 1 to 6 Edition. It memorializes Mini racing and the "pure essence of motorsport" as a JCW with a six-speed manual transmission, hence the 1 To 6 name. It copies the formula for the Clubman Final Edition in being almost only special badges, colors, and materials; there's little more to this than a retail Mini JCW with a stick shift and three more horsepower. Outside, there's a Midnight Black body ornamented with Piano Black for the grille surround, side scuttles, and waistline finisher. The 18-inch Circuit Spoke rims come in Jet Black. The gray bonnet stripe is composed of shift pattern line drawings, the same shift pattern showing up on the hatch in black. Red, white, and silver 1 to 6 badges appear on the side scuttles and C-pillars. Mini's making 999 examples for global buyers, so "One of 999" appears in places like the sunroof, steering wheel, and instrument panel. The black and gray interior shows off an antracite-colored headliner, illuminated red bezel for the instrument cluster, red ambient lighting, badged floor mats, and course, the stick shift with special stitching. The special makes its world debut at next month's Nurburgring 24-Hour race. One car will compete as part of the Bulldog Racing team wearing race number #126, driven by Charlie Cooper, a regular competitor who also happens to be the grandson of the John Cooper that Mini's fastest trims honor. It's a pairing that shows how the "essence of motorsport" has progressed; the hardcore Mini JCW that Bulldog Racing runs is fitted with an eight-speed automatic. We'll find out soon how many of the Mini JCW 1 to 6 Editions will come to the U.S. and the premium Mini will charge over the $35,400 of the regular Mini JCW.

Mini Electric Pacesetter will lead Formula E, hints at future JCW cars

Just a few days ago, Mini teased a wild electric hatchback with pace car-style lights. And just as we expected, it's the new safety car for Formula E. It's called the Mini Electric Pacesetter inspired by JCW, which is a mighty long name for such a little car. It looks like a blast, and although it's not exactly a production car or the direct forebear of a car that will be offered, it does hint that there will be high-performance electric Minis. Don't just take it from us, take it from the man in charge of Mini, Bernd Korber: "But it does reveal one of the directions we could take with the electrification of the JCW brand. For me, the message is clear: Electrification and John Cooper Works are a good fit." Mini made some major modifications to the Pacesetter to get it ready to lead race cars. It weighs 287 pounds less than the Mini Cooper SE that it's based on, giving it a total weight of 2,712 pounds. Much of that weight loss comes from the gutted interior, which now has a welded-in roll cage, race seats and six-point harnesses. While not particularly related to weight saving, the seats also have a neat 3D-printed material for the cushions that can be made in different colors and densities. The electric motor and battery are unchanged at 181 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque, but the weight loss means that it hits 62 mph in 6.7 seconds, an improvement of 0.6 over the road car. Handling and braking are upgraded with racing coilovers that have adjustments for compression, rebound, camber and ride height, as well as four-piston brake calipers. Mini John Cooper Works GP forged four-spoke wheels are fitted with 245-mm Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The wider track from the wheels necessitated the unique 3D-printed carbon fiber fender flares. The rear wing, which is similar but not identical to the GP unit, is also made of 3D-printed carbon fiber material. Splitters, side skirts and a large rear diffuser round out the aerodynamic tweaks. The car will make its racing debut at the Formula E event in Rome on April 10. And we hope we won't have to wait too long for an electric John Cooper Works model to reach the public. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.