MINI John Cooper Works Returns to Nürburgring 24-hour Race
MINI John Cooper Works unites with Bulldog Racing to contest this year's 53rd Nürburgring 24-hour race after securing last season’s SP-3T class victory in the near-production #317 MINI John Cooper Works Pro. The team now targets fresh glory in 2025 at the legendary “Green Hell”, whose rapid straights, demanding corners and dramatic elevation changes stretch every driver and machine to the limit.
On the grid, the MINI John Cooper Works sports a bespoke black-and-white livery from DEUS Ex Machina, offering a first glimpse of a wider MINI x DEUS collaboration. “The combination of design and dynamics has always characterised our models. Our MINI John Cooper Works, which will compete in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, takes this combination to the next level: Thanks to this collaboration with Deus Ex Machina, we are setting new, exciting impulses for MINI fans and motorsport enthusiasts. Both brands are characterised by creativity and attention to detail, which allows the creation of exclusive designs with a distinctly individual style," explains Stefan Richmann, Head of MINI.
The design team blends passion, performance and craftsmanship, emblazoning the body with a bold “DEUS” graphic. DEUS’s playful approach endows the 24-hour challenger with an unmistakable identity. The pared-back palette allows starting numbers and team badges to integrate seamlessly. At the same time, hand-drawn logos across the glazing and panels transform the car into a moving sketchbook—an early milestone for the MINI x DEUS partnership.
MINI Design and the BMW Group's subsidiary, Designworks, refined the concept in detail. “Successful brand collaborations arise when partners inspire and drive each other forward. With DEUS, MINI and Designworks, we were able to unleash a remarkable design dynamic. The DEUS livery of the MINI John Cooper Works at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring is just the first proof of this," says Holger Hampf, Head of MINI Design.
By lining up again, MINI extends a racing heritage that has confounded expectations since the brand’s earliest days. The 1964 Monte Carlo Rally crowned the compact British outsider, whose transverse front-mounted engine and front-wheel drive turned an everyday small car into a formidable competitor engineered by John Cooper. Meticulous development delivered further victories in 1965 and 1967, and today the same spirit energises every MINI John Cooper Works model, which couples aerodynamic precision with a performance-oriented four-cylinder TwinPower Turbo petrol engine ready for both road and track.
