<< Prev Page 2 of 2 The interior of the MINI John Cooper Works GP Concept is pared back to its core elements, its roll cage joined on board by little more than a pair of low-mounted bucket seats with five-point belts and a cleanly-designed instrument panel. Gearshift is by paddles on the steering wheel.
All the elements of the interior are trained squarely on the driver. The display and control concept with digital instrument cluster and Head-Up Display places the relevant information for the situation at hand directly in the driver's eye-line, allowing absolute focus on the road to be maintained. Interaction between driver and car is otherwise digital, notably touch-control adjustment of suspension settings in MINI's familiar central instrument. As digitalisation dictates, the display here is now in large-screen format. It is left to the large emergency cut-off button and the traditional MINI toggle switches with start/stop button to provide a bridge between the digital and analogue worlds.
A rear seat bench, headliner and conventional door trim panels are conspicuous by their absence, sacrificed in the interests of weight minimisation. Instead, the surfaces between the elements of the roll cage and the rear compartment are trimmed in lightweight panels with textured details and a hexagonal pattern. This creates a transition between the unadorned rear and more design-rich front cabin. The doors are opened using recessed grips with fabric straps, leaving the driver and passenger to clamber out through the roll cage in the usual racing car style.
The interior combines its pared-back sporting forms with eye-catching elements and bold colour accents. The result is a face-off between the less familiar aesthetic of a racing-car bodyshell and the exclusivity of high-quality production-car appointments. Against the backdrop of the white basic space, black, patinated smooth leather on the head restraints and bolsters provides a neat contrast with the back-and-white knitted textile in the central section of the seats. A new 3D knitting technique gives a classy and modern feel, while red accents send out a visual statement. The bright, aluminium roll cage also stands apart clearly from the black 3D-printed parts in the doors and instrument panel, and a lightly-structured trim element with hexagonal graphic reinforces the sporty, modern look. Curbside Red metallic adds a colour accent to selected functional components, while the Highspeed Orange shade in details like the belt straps, inscriptions and the stitching of the steering wheel and seats acts as a second accent colour to complement the red. With 3D printing and 3D knitting techniques, MINI is bringing technologies to the interior of the concept car which will enable both tool-free production and simple personalisation in the future.
The character of the MINI John Cooper Works GP Concept is defined by a motor sport heritage which stretches back over more than five decades. Indeed, the classic Mini was transformed by legendary sports car designer John Cooper into a byword for driving fun on the road and an extraordinarily successful competitor in the race and rally scene. A motor sport career which began exactly 50 years ago reached its zenith with three overall victories in the Monte Carlo Rally. Today, the John Cooper Works name is synonymous with products and models whose quality is rooted in established motor sport know-how and an association with the British premium small car which dates back all those years. The result: the motor sport experience comes roaring into everyday life. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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John Cooper Works GP Concept
The interior of the MINI John Cooper Works GP Concept is pared back to its core elements, its roll cage joined on board by little more than a pair of low-mounted bucket seats with five-point belts and a cleanly-designed instrument panel. Gearshift is by paddles on the steering wheel.