In the over-hyped and ridiculous contrived "race" between the Mini Cooper and the Porsche 911, a victor has been crowned, and as you'd expect, the blokes from BMW had their bumpers handed to them.

Despite creating a "track" at the infield of Road Atlanta designed to maximize the Mini's potential and neuter the high-speed prowess of the Porsche, the Cooper still lost the battle by a full two seconds. Naturally, Mini likes to point out that the difference was $38,000 a second, but to anyone paying attention, the additional $76k is money well spent... particularly on a real track. Maybe Mini should've reconsidered Hyundai's offer...

Hit the jump for the race and two introductory videos, including a thoroughly comical explanation about why Mini opted for an autocross track and not the full course at Road Atlanta.

Mr. B

 

I'm assuming it wasn't a Porsche driver behind the wheel... It's funny how even stacking the deck MINI lost. But after all they didn't need to win to get the publicity...

 

What kind of a track is that? Looks like an autox not a road course. The difference would have been much larger had it gone on the actual road race track.

Once again, Porsche there is no substitute!

 

Mini said their car was not stable at speeds above 80 when racing in stock form so a road course was not an option. Plus they would have been crushed had they tried. It was a good PR move for Mini and a poor one for Porsche NA to not accepts.

 

Not stable above 80 mph? Some states have speed limits of 75-80 miles per hour. How could they sell a car that isn't stable at the speed limit?

I think that they knew that they would get seriously kicked in the back side if they tried anything that allowed the Porsche to stretch it's legs. In the lightning lap 2009 Porsche Carrera S hit a 3:05.8, and the Mini Cooper JC Works did a 3:17.1, that is only $6725 per second difference.

 

If your car is not stable above 80 MPH, why would you challenge a 180 MPH car to a race? Just askin'...

 

I think what Mini reps meant was that the auto-X course conveyed a more traditional 'every day' driving experience compared to the real track at Road Atlanta which requires high-speed turns at 80+ mph. I still think their arguement is a stretch - why not compete with the real players in real track events (as PCNA has stated)?

I don't know about you guys, but I certainly didn't buy my Porsche for an 'every day' driving experience...

 

This is 100% why compairing a Mini to a P-car was stupid to begin with.

For 50k with an Ariel Atom 3 both cars would have looked silly on that track. Unless cars are designed to be in the same class anything you do to try and compair them is silly.