MINI Electric Pacesetter inside and out

Autoblog

The Mini Electric Pacesetter inspired by JCW, which is a mighty long name for such a little car. It looks like a blast, and although it's not exactly a production car or the direct forebear of a car that will be offered, it does hint that there will be high-performance electric Minis. Mini made some major modifications to the Pacesetter to get it ready to lead race cars. It weighs 287 pounds less than the Mini Cooper SE that it's based on, giving it a total weight of 2,712 pounds. Much of that weight loss comes from the gutted interior, which now has a welded-in roll cage, race seats and six-point harnesses. While not particularly related to weight saving, the seats also have a neat 3D-printed material for the cushions that can be made in different colors and densities. The electric motor and battery are unchanged at 181 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque, but the weight loss means that it hits 62 mph in 6.7 seconds, an improvement of 0.6 over the road car.

Video Transcript

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OLIVER HEIMER: Hi, everybody. My name is Oliver Heimer. I'm head of Mini Design . And what you see here behind me is the Mini Electric Pacesetter inspired by John Cooper Works.

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From a design perspective, it is the first of its kind. And we are combining the world of John Cooper Works with the world of Mini Electric. Today, I would like to give you three insights regarding our Mini Electric Pacesetter.

First, the bumper face in the front as well as in the rear are coming directly from our current Mini John Cooper Works models. So the first area where you see this combination of Mini Electric and Mini John Cooper Works. Secondly, wheel design. For the racetrack this car needs wider wheels, a different track, more traction.

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For this purpose we found the perfect wheel. It's the Mini GP wheel. It's the perfect combination between performance and lightweight. But we decided to go for a different color coding so at a first glance, you might not be able to see the GP wheel. But coming closer, you see that it's exactly that geometry.

And third, the color of our Mini Electric Pacesetter. You see it's the first time ever where we are showing a matte finish on the Mini. And what I like a lot is this contrast between our high glossy bonnet stripes and the rest of the hood.

For now I'm really excited to see this little baby on the racetrack. Thank you. Bye, bye.