Built in celebration of the Mini’s 50^th anniversary, the Mini John Cooper Works World Championship 50 also marks 50 years since John Cooper won his first Formula One World Championship title with Jack Brabham at the wheel. Based on the standard Mini JCW with its 155 kW 1.6-litre, turbocharged, direct injection four-cylinder engine, the WC50 doesn’t offer any performance or fuel consumption advantages, instead you get a cosmetic upgrade. Mini calls the paint colour ‘Connaught Green’, which we suppose is just another way of saying British racing green. Roof and bonnet stripes in contrasting ‘Pepper White’ help to provide a tenuous link to the famous green and white livery of the Cooper F1 cars. Other visual tweaks include bi-xenon headlights with black interior surfaces, additional rally-style driving lights, smatterings of carbon fibre and JCW Cross Spoke Challenge light-alloy wheels in Jet Black.

Production of the Mini JCW WC50 will be limited to 250 units, each one numbered and signed by John Cooper’s son Mike.

Future classic or marketing mush?