John Cooper Works Clubsport

The John Cooper works / Motorsport Clubsport kit was put together for the John Cooper challenge race series. The series originally targeted as a one-make race series using the R50 as the base platform using kits for the car developed by John Cooper Garages, allowing no other modifications the series was developed to keep all drivers on a level playing field.

The R50 Clubsport cars were built in house by John Cooper Garages as racecars, all of which at the time of build were registered and able to be driven to the track, they were the only cars available to be driven in the John Cooper challenge throughout the 2002 and 2003 championships before a JCM 200 HP kit was to be implemented in 2004 with the cooper S’ at which time the Clubsports moved into their own separate class called the “Mini Club Class Championship” while the JCM 200 Cooper S’ were running for outright honours.

 John Cooper Motorsport 200 and 210

In 2004 with the introduction of the cooper S to the John Cooper Challenge, the initial specification for the race-cars was a varient upon the BMW warranted JCW 200 kit, with additional extras added for motorsport applications, the cars were initially built in house by John Cooper Garages for competition, with it said to be up to 15 for the initial 2004 series with cars in high demand. In 2005 they updated to the JCW 210 Kit from the JCW 200 kit.

 JCM HPD225

John Cooper Garages developed the John Cooper Motorsport HPD225 kit just prior to their closure after BMW purchased the company/brand, the HPD225 kit was not approved by BMW warranty, but was said to increase HP to 225hp over the JCW 210 kit.

The JCM 225 kit was available as its own complete kit, or also available as an upgrade over the JCW 200 and 210 Kit, with kits specific depending on the upgrade required to the car, the components already installed during the JCW kit installation were retained, except the exhaust systems which were changed over and the extra parts added such as the 14% reduction pulley.

After John Cooper Garages closed, the JCM HPD225 kit was available through Mini Motorsport Centre with Tony Franks.

Over the last few months there have been a number of HPD225 equipped cars reaching the open market- from these cars we have recently learnt some new details on how these kits were done as there are some strange outliers kit numbering wise.

If the car being converted was a Cooper S only and it was being done at JCG- it received a full HPD 225 kit, which included a John Cooper Motorsports Plaque.

If the car being converted was already a JCW 200 or 210 and was being done at JCG, the original JCW S plaque remained (S3748 etc.) rather than receiving a JCM plaque as it was an upgrade only- not a full HPD kit fitment from scratch. A John Cooper Challenge car already equipped with a JCM plaque from the 200 or 210 conversion would also retain its John Cooper Motorsports Plaque.

After the closure of John Cooper Garages, Tony Franks continued fitting JCW Kits and HPD225 kits, and from the cars seen on the register thus far from this era- it appears they were equipped with John Cooper works C Kit numbers commencing from C70- (Ie C70, C71, C72) - The car may have previously had an S plaque, but that S plaque was replaced with the C plaque as a signification it was done by Mini Motorsport.

Identifying a HPD225

If you are looking into a HPD 225 converted car there are several things to take into account upon determination of a HPD225.

Most HPD225 conversions were done on race cars, they are extremely uncommon on road-going vehicles, and most of the race prepared cars have since changed specifications for class specifications over time.

Of the currently known HPD225 converted road-cars the things to identify it will be:

380cc Injectors (Blue in colour)

JCW Airbox (Except with a rear flap delete from JCM)

JCW Intercooler Cover

14% reduction supercharger pulley - This is Anodized Red in Colour and is quite obvious when glanced at its different from the 11% on the JCWs.

Tuning Sticker on the ECU- Like a JCW there should still be a tuning sticker on the ECU specifying where the kit was fitted and the date.

John Cooper Motorsports 4-2-1 Headers- they are a completely different design to the Cooper S Headers seen on JCWs and S’ alike- look at the image above to match them.

John Cooper Motorsports exhaust- this has smaller back boxes than a JCW, and is significantly louder than a JCW exhaust. Like a JCW Exhaust it is marked on the underside however it is engraved John Cooper Motorsports. (This may not be on all HPD Conversions due to noise restrictions for roadcars)

JCW Head- The head should be identical to a JCW head- so some have the Red/black dots on them, and an RA number, others simply have the exhaust porting with no outward signs of being a JCW head.

Rocker cover Plaque- If it is a car converted straight to HPD225 from a standard Cooper S, the car will have received a John Cooper motorsports Plaque on the rocker cover. If the car was already a John Cooper Works, the car will have its original JCW plaque as it was an upgrade kit hence no JCM plaque. If the car was later converted by Tony Franks at Mini Motorsport- some cars have been issued with C plaques starting from C70. It is currently unclear whether Mini Motorsport also used K plaques or JCM plaques.

 JCM HPD 265

It is said that John Cooper Motorsport also offered a HPD 265 kit, however I have been unable to locate any verifiable information surrounding this, however what i can say for certain is that John Cooper Motorsport offered additional upgrades outside of the engine tuning kits, with items such as Single Mass FlyWheel with a race-clutch and the flywheel being lighter than standard, as well as in some cases offered bespoke tuning changes, with one car receiving additional head porting work, and other minor tweaks to reach a higher horsepower output prior to the later HPD kits were available.

-After discussing the HPD 265 kit with several sources, it was said the 265 kit was discussed at the time but never actually became available, however prototype cylinder heads were tested on various race-cars and test cars, but no HPD 265 kit was ever released to the general public as a specifically available kit.