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MINI Pacesetter Is an Electric JCW for the Racetrack, Road Version Inbound

The MINI Cooper SE (that’s the official name of the first-ever electric MINI) has been around since 2019, but until now, the British carmaker steered clear of associating it with John Cooper Works (JCW). Not anymore, as the arrival of the Pacesetter signals a shift in this unofficial policy.
MINI Electric Pacesetter 21 photos
Photo: MINI
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This highly-beefed-up electric MINI has been created to become the official pace car of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which is already underway. The first public outing of the machine will take place on April 10 in Rome.

Being designed as a JCW-inspired machine, the SE comes with several visual upgrades meant as a nod to its lineage. We have things like bigger wheel arches, a front apron with front splitters, and larger 18-inch wheels.

The car has been stripped down to the basics inside, and it now holds just the front seats, with six-point seat belts and sitting in front of a minimalist steering wheel and digital instrument cluster.

But the biggest changes are those that impact performance. The Pacesetter is lighter than the stock SE by 130 kg (287 lbs), and faster, despite the fact that the power levels remains about the same, at 181 hp.

The car gets an extra dose of kick thanks to the slightly higher torque (280 Nm vs. 270 on the SE), and that allows it to sprint from a standstill to 62 mph (100 kph) in 6.7 seconds. That is significantly faster than the 7.3 seconds the SE is capable of.

This particular car is not street legal, and it will only be used to pace Formula E races. Still, there’s an interesting comment made by Bernd Körber, the company’s head honcho, who says, “for me, the message is clear: electrification and John Cooper Works are a good fit.”

And that makes us wonder just how long it’ll be before a JCW-tweaked electric MINI hits the roads.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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