Like Chaz Bono, MINI has taken a while to become truly manly. But now that the Coupé is confirmed for production the company has made an early move to rubberstamp its machismo in the form of this backwards cap wearing slice of testosterone: the MINI Coupé John Cooper Works Endurance.
The car will debut as a competitor in Saturday's (25 June 2011) Nürburgring 24-hour race - the first time the race has hosted a world premiere, so says MINI.
For all its little man posturing, coming by way of an enormous carbon rear diffuser, adjustable rear wing, front splitter and other aerodynamic addenda, the Endurance does actually pack a great deal of punch.
MINI claims there's around 250hp from its ubiquitous 1.6-litre turbo engine, as found in other Cooper S and JCW stuff, including the Countryman WRC car.
A sequential six-speed gearbox feeds power to the front wheels only, all 17-inches of them, attached to adjustable racing shocks by KW. The tyres are Dunlop slicks.
Much of the interior has been stripped out, including the door cards, leaving only the basic dashboard architecture - some of which has been fashioned from carbon fibre.
At the rear of the Recaro racing bucket seats, complete with an F1-style head and neck protection system, is an integrated welded roll cage. Sparco provides the racing steering wheel. Weight is shaved to 1,100kg.
MINI puts the baseball cap wearing production Coupé on sale in October. It'll be built in Oxford and priced from €24,010.