Australian Mini Challenge
Category | One make racing |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Inaugural season | 2008 |
Folded | 2010 |
Tyre suppliers | Dunlop |
Last Drivers' champion | Chris Alajajian |
Official website | MINI Challenge - Planet MINI - www.mini.com.au |
The Australian Mini Challenge was a
The Australian Mini Challenge was launched by MINI Australia, being the department of BMW Group Australia responsible for the MINI brand. The National MINI Manager (General Manager of MINI brand in Australia) Justin Hocevar developed the business case, negotiated partnerships & launched the series.
The first and only order of 25 vehicles from BMW Group were imported ADR and duty exempt, for the explicit use of motorsport activities. The vehicles were rushed into production & arrived in Australia with little spare time for the first round, arriving via airfreight into Sydney. During their initial 'shakedown' event at Eastern Creek. The vehicles developed a technical problem with a turbo component (wastegate) which would cause the vehicles to go into 'limp-home' mode. Working through the night, local technicians liaised with technical support in Munich before a software patch was issued, a resulting modest power reduction meant the vehicles stayed below a certain heat range whereby the turbocharger wastegate component would fail.
The series was intended to support the development of the MINI brand in Australia. The purpose was to improve the masculinity / masculine appeal of the brand, to demonstrate the robustness of the vehicles and to develop the brand's performance credentials, particularly through the sub-brand JCW (John Cooper Works). As a result, the MINI brand in Australia enjoyed a high skew towards the more profitable JCW products. JCW sales in Australia ranked amongst the best-performing markets in the word.
In 2011 the series competitors were thrown a lifeline and invited to compete in the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, in a series called the AMC Mini Cup. The only changes to the rules were the requirement to run on radial tyres and the addition of a dry break fuel system to the cars for long-distance events. The 2011 class pointscore was won by the only series regular Beric Lynton. Only three teams competed all season, the other two being the Sherrins Rentals team and Brendan Cook's team. All three cars never attended the same round however, with only one attending some rounds.
The car
The
Series Champions
Year | Driver | Team |
---|---|---|
2008 | Neil McFadyen | Doulman Automotive |
2009 | Paul Stokell | DecoRug Racing |
2010 | Chris Alajajian | Jack Hillerman Racing |
Mini Cup
Year | Driver | Team |
---|---|---|
2011 | Beric Lynton | Bruce Lynton Mini Garage |
References
- ^ a b 2008 V8 Supercars Eastern Creek round official event programme
- ^ AUSmotive.com Australian Mini Challenge under new management
- ^ "BMW pulls the plug on MINI Challenge « Speedcafe - Get Your Racing Fix". Archived from the original on 2011-04-03. Retrieved 2010-11-27.