A modified yet street-legal MINI John Cooper Works has set a new front-wheel drive lap record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Prepared by German aftermarket specialists Schirra Motoring , who tweaked the 1.6-liter turbocharged engine to produce 290hp, the 1005kg MINI lapped the Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 44 seconds, which is 10 seconds faster than the fastest front-wheel drive production car, the Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R.
The MINI’s laptime puts it on par with the multi-hundred thousand dollar Pagani Zonda S supercar, and it makes it quicker than the Audi R8 V10 Plus (7 min 45 sec), the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera (7 min 46 sec) and the current BMW M4 (7 min 52 sec).
Watch the full onboard footage in the video below.