MINI is close to fulfilling the required power demands in its market segment with the ‘Stage II’ John Cooper Works (JCW) MINI Cooper S which is due for release later this year. Power is expected to be close to 220bhp which is a healthy increase from the 192bhp gained from the ‘Stage I’ bolt on kit. The new car was recently spotted in testing on the Ring with photos published on the WorldCarFans website (follow link for more images). The ‘Stage II’ JCW car will be launched as a separate model line and the kit will not be available for retro fitting as per the JCW kit for the R53 model.

New details also emerged today as to the likely modifications to be incorporated on the ‘Stage II’ cars when being built at Plant Oxford. Changes are expected to include:

• Upgraded/Optimized Turbo
• Upgraded/Optimized Pistons
• Upgraded Air Intake (same as dealer installed kit)
• Revised 6 speed Manual Transmission
• Upgraded Clutch
• Four Piston Front Brakes / Upgraded rear pads
• Upgraded Full Cat-back JCW Exhaust
• Fully Optimized ECU
• JCW Logos and door sills
• LSD (Limited Slip Differential) and DSC
• JCW “Challenge Spoke” light weight alloy wheels (seen in the photo above)
• 260 km/h speedometer limit (as opposed to the normal speedometer on the Cooper S with a limit of 240 km/h)

Read more about this emerging story in this detailed exclusive MotoringFile report.