Why the new Mini is the real deal
On Monday Mini officially launched its WRC programme, ahead of its debut in the championship next month. David Evans describes the historic date and explains why the real Mini is back
There were people everywhere. And then there was Paddy Hopkirk. Looking dapper as usual, the ever-smiling Belfast boy who won the Monte Carlo Rally against all odds in 1964 couldn't help but grin.
"It's happened," he said, quietly. "It's really happened."
It had indeed. We'd just emerged from the launch of Mini's John Cooper Works World Rally Car. And it had happened in the right neck of the woods, Oxfordshire. Anybody vaguely familiar with the Mini's history will be well acquainted with the importance of the Cowley factory, where the future arrived earlier this week.
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