LITTLE REMIXED

The limited-edition Cooper S '75' combines the best of old and new in the ultimate road and trackday Mini package

IT'S AKIN TO RED BULL RACING TAKING A HUMBLE hatchback, instructing the genius of Adrian Newey to make suitable modifications, painting it satin dark blue with yellow and red graphics, then destroying the opposition in the BTCC and beyond. Not a marketing exercise but a road-going homologation special, designed in the same workshops at Milton Keynes that build Max's cars, that becomes an unstoppable force on the track. As impossibly cute and cuddly as the little green Mini sitting expectantly in front of me is, I'm reminded that's exactly what happened all those years ago, when the then F1 world champions really did take our national car maker's people's car and forge it into a formidable competition machine.

All of which must make this 1965 Mini Cooper S more authentic and evo-appropriate than almost any other, for it carries the Cooper family's stamp of approval in its bloodline: this is the Cooper Car Company 75, designed and built to celebrate both the 75th anniversary of the Cooper Car Company and the 60th anniversary of the original Cooper S.

The Coopers of the rallying world were red because they were run by the BMC factory competition department; the lesserknown cars that won the British Touring Car Championship and various overseas series throughout the '60s were Connaught Green with Old English White stripes and roof because they were run by John Cooper's Cooper Car Company, F1 champions in 1959 and 1960, and those were the team's racing colours. The 75 is a homage to those works cars, and also John's son Mike Cooper's idea of what an ultimate fast-road Mk1 Cooper S should be, useable on both road and trackdays.