Japanese renaissance

Japanese renaissance

The Japanese were not to be defeated and the editor of a major Japanese car magazine suggested to John Cooper that if they couldn't get the car, they could at least have a tuning kit. John Cooper obliged and was soon exporting a Janspeed-designed kit comprising a modified cylinder head, twin carburettors, performance air filters and exhaust system.This boosted the 998cc Mini from 40bhp to a more impressive 64bhp. Incidentally, Janspeed was founded by Hungarian refugee Jan Odor after he left Downton Engineering in 1962.

In 1986 John Cooper Garages (JCG) switched from being an Austin Rover dealership to a Honda one. Officially it was because of ARG dealer rationalisation, but its also possible that ARG thought they were ridding themselves of a troublesome pest...

Also in 1986 Harold Musgrove was ousted, to be replaced by Graham Day who was out to sell all the cars he could. If people wanted to pay good money to drive around in a 1959 design then he would satisfy the demand. In 1989 the newly renamed Rover Group and John Cooper Garages began talking to each other and soon the JCG conversion kits were available for fitment to 998cc Minis from Rover dealers with full factory warranty. While this was happening Rover gave semi-approval to the ERA Mini, a conversion using the 93bhp MG Metro turbo engine. John Cooper and his son Michael met with Rover management to discuss the next step. John Cooper suggested putting the 1275cc engine in the Mini. There were again mutterings about type approval, but these problems were soon resolved.Rover Special Projects (RSP) handled the development of the new car with input from the Coopers. The new-generation Mini Cooper RSP was launched in July 1990 to mixed reviews. One staunch defender of the car was veteran scribe LJK Setright who praised "the staunch independence that makes the Mini as refreshing as it always was,and makes it impossible for the others to bear comparison with it".

The engine of the RSP Mini Cooper was a detuned MG Metro engine. In 1989 the A-series engine had been converted to run on unleaded petrol, and all the 1275cc engines now used the same sized inlet valves, which in the MG Metro probably cost around 4-5 bhp. When this engine was fitted to the Mini it used a catalytic converter. Whereas the factory quoted the 1982 MG Metro as having 72bhp, the Mini Cooper RSP now only had 61bhp, but it was still good for 90mph. The RSP Cooper was a limited edition and soon sold out. Of course one could be cynical and suggest that perhaps it started as a marketing exercise to offload 1650 surplus MG Metro engines now that the Metro was powered by the K-series engine. But from September 1990 the Mini Cooper became a mainstream production car and soon around a third of all Minis were Coopers. Who was buying them? The standard Mini had been aimed at female drivers; perhaps the Cooper was bought by men who would otherwise have bought motorcycles to relive their youth?