Taking a step back in time here is a small snippet offrom Wheels August 2001 issue with some spy shots of the R53 MINI Cooper S testing at the Nürburgring (click on the image for a larger version). At the time the then all-new MINI Cooper under BMW’s stewardship had just been launched and there was still some speculation as to the supercharged MINI’s final details. The Wheels article suggests the addition of the supercharger to the MINI should be good for taking 25 seconds a lap of the regular Cooper model. It was believed the Cooper S was lapping in sub 9 minute times during testing. Of course, these days high 8 minute laps don’t sound so fast, but, trust me, that’s quick in a 1250-ish kilogram car with just 12okW! Check out this great YouTube clip of a modded R53 Cooper S lapping the Ring in 8 minutes 39 seconds.

(Thanks to Bryan for sending this in.)