The Mini Challenge UK, for sponsorship reasons the Power Maxed Mini Challenge UK, is a one-make race series began in 2002 and since 2020 the JCW and JCW Sport championships have run as a support package to the British Touring Car Championship.
The series umbrella includes multiple classes: JCW Class, based on Gen 3 F56 MINI Hatch, target power 255bhp, circa 1170kg with driver JCW Sport Class (added 2024), chassis as above but with 225bhp Cooper Class (added 2021), with less aggressive chassis modifications and 130bhp
Competition is organised into JCW Championship, JCW Sport Championship, and Cooper Trophy championships. For 2024 the first two will support BTCC for 7 weekends of the calendar and the Cooper Trophy will feature at three of those, with the other four weekends at Truck or BARC events.
There are various Cup competitions within this structure such as Rookie Cup and Graduate Cup.
Throughout the championship's history it established itself as one of the main routes into topline Touring Car racing, and drivers went on to do well in the Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom, British Touring Car Championship and British GT Championship. Past and current drivers such as Jeff Smith, Charlie Butler-Henderson, Harry Vaulkhard, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Brett Smith, Paul O'Neill, Nick Foster, Arthur Forster, Stewart Lines, Martin Depper, Chris Smiley, Ant Whorton-Eales and Tom Ovenden.
The cars
Mini F56 (since 2015) Introduced in 2015, the F56 is the first purpose-built race car to race in the championship, a 2-litre turbocharged BMW engine and a 6-speed sequential gearbox means that it is also the most powerful car in the championship with 275bhp.
Mini R56 (since 2010) Introduced in 2010 as the new JCW, it has a 1.6-litre turbocharged BMW engine along with slick tyres and a 6-speed gearbox to produce 220bhp.
Mini R53 (2004–2010, since 2016) Introduced in the third season, the R53 has a 1.6-litre supercharged BMW engine producing 195bhp along with slick tyres and a 6-speed gearbox.
Mini R50 (since 2013) Introduced in 2013 as a replacement for the Cooper's, with slick tyres, a 6-speed gearbox and a 1.6-litre BMW engine producing 135bhp.
Mini Cooper (2002–2012, since 2017) Introduced in the first season, the Cooper is the basic entry-level car with treaded tyres and a 5-speed road gearbox along with an ordinary engine producing 120bhp.
The classes
ClassesCar200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019 Mini Cooper Cooper Cooper Am Mini R53 Cooper S Open Cooper S Mini R56 JCW JCW Open Cooper S Mini R50 Cooper Cooper Pro Mini F56 F56 JCWCar200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Champions Cooper Cooper S/ Open (2015–2019) JCW Open (2016)/ Cooper Am (2017-2019) Season Driver Team Driver Team Driver Team Driver Team 2002 Steve Meli Mark Fish MotorsportNot contestedNot contestedNot contested 2003 Mark Speller Mark Fish Motorsport 2004 Gary Robertshaw Robertshaw Racing Martin Wallbank Mark Fish Motorsport 2005 Barney Craggs Sussex Road and Race Arthur Forster Forster Motorsport 2006 Gareth Nixon Nixon Motorsport Freddy Nordström Advent Motorsport 2007 Jenny Ryan Mark Fish Motorsport Oly Mortimer Tynecastle Racing 2008 Graham Parsons Advent Motorsport Martin Depper Forster Motorsport 2009 Luke Caudle Mark Fish Motorsport Oly Mortimer Team Formula Racing 2010 David Ogden Mark Fish Motorsport Lee Allen Truck Align Luke Caudle Excelr8 Motorsport 2011 Ant Whorton-Eales Excelr8 MotorsportNot contested Chris Knox Excelr8 Motorsport 2012 Henry Gilbert Excelr8 Motorsport Lee Allen Truck Align 2013 Shane Stoney Coastal Racing Chris Smiley IN:MINI 2014 Shane Stoney Coastal Racing Chris Knox Excelr8 Motorsport 2015 Nathan Harrison Coastal Racing Neil Newstead Oakfield Motorsport Charlie Butler-Henderson Oakfield Motorsport 2016 Max Bladon Excelr8 Motorsport Scott Jeffs Privateer David Grady Unitec Motorsport Keith Issatt Lawrence Davey Racing 2017 Matt Hammond Excelr8 Motorsport Ben Dimmack Sussex Road and Race Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Stuart McLaren Hybrid Tune Motorsport 2018 Kyle Reid Privateer Will Fairclough AReeve Motorsport Ant Whorton-Eales JamSport Racing Alex Nevill Privateer 2019 Robert Dalgliesh Privateer Dan Butcher-Lloyd Privateer James Gornall Privateer Lee Pearce Privateer 2020 Harry NunnAReeve Motorsport Nathan HarrisonEXCELR8 Motorsport2021 Dominic WheatleyPerformanceTek Racing Dan ZelosEXCELR8 Motorsport2022 Nelson KingGraves Motorsport Sam WellerHybrid Tune2023 Tom OvendenEXCELR8 Motorsport Dan ZelosEXCELR8 Motorsport2024 Harry HicktonWestbourne Motorsport Dan ZelosEXCELR8 Motorsport2025 Alex KeensGraves Motorsport Tom OvendenEXCELR8 Motorsport
References
External links