Is This The 300 HP MINI Clubman JCW? Prototype Gets Hooned on Nurburgring

The sweetest answer of them all has to do with rumors dating back to October 2015, when we discussed the possibility of the JCW Clubman getting an uber-spicy 300 hp version.

To be more precise, Auto Express reported that insiders had mentioned a new top-spec incarnation of the not-so-mini MINI.

“There’s room for expansion in the hot hatch market,” the source said. “I think there is potential. Britain is the home of MINI, and Britain is a strong market for the hot hatch,”

As vague as that might sound, the presence of the prototype seen in the piece of Ring footage at the bottom of the page seems to confirm the rumor.

Truth be told, the Clubman does deserve such a trip to the gym. For one thing, the wagon is around 300 kg heavier than the hatchback model, while its 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbo mill delivers the same 231 hp, albeit with the torque jumping 20 Nm to 350 Nm (258 lb-ft).

Since the thing already packs's MINI's ALL4 all-wheel-drive system, handling the extra firepower wouldn't be an issue. And such a performance offering would obviously have to spend quite some time performing handling tweaking duties, which is why the go-fast stars seem to align when talking about the prototype we have here.

Who knows? Perhaps the British automotive producer will bring back the GP moniker to mark the noticeable performance difference between the standard Clubman John Cooper Works, if we may call it so, and the one we're talking about.

Of course, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves here, so we have to wait for new details to land before jumping for joy at the thought of such an appealing wagon.