Buy This Mini JCW Challenge, The Best Hot Hatch You’ve Forgotten About

There’s been no shortage of special editions of the modern-day Mini. Some, you’ll be very familiar with, like the three iterations (so far) of the ultra-hardcore, two-seater JCW GP. Others, like the Checkmate or the leather-stuffed Inspired by Goodwood might have passed you by. There’s one, though, that doesn’t get nearly the love it deserves, and that’s 2016’s Mini JCW Challenge.

That might be because of its rarity – just 53 were produced, all for the UK market. It might also be because, to look at at least, it doesn’t look all that special – pretty much just like a regular F56 JCW Mini that someone’s stuck some aftermarket wheels on. Certainly, park one next to the F56 GP that would appear four years later and it’s obvious which will get more attention – the one with the massive wing, huge carbon arch extensions, and no back seats.

With its automatic gearbox, though, that last iteration of the GP was a bit all mouth, no trousers. Anyone after a third-gen Mini that would be as satisfying as possible to drive would be better served seeking out a Challenge.

Its engine was unaltered from the standard F56 JCW – a 2.0-litre turbo four-pot making 228bhp and 236lb ft of torque. Official performance numbers were the same as the regular car, too – 62mph in 6.3 seconds, and a 153mph top end. Instead, it was the chassis hardware where Mini’s UK division went to town.

The list of kit reads like a who’s who of respected names in the British motorsport industry: adjustable coilovers and dampers from Nitron, a mechanical limited-slip diff from Quaife, high-performance brake pads from Mintex, and lightweight 17-inch alloys from Team Dynamics wrapped in Michelin PS Cup 2 rubber (yeah, we know they’re French).

Topping everything off were some subtle visual changes, like the enlarged front air intakes, and a valved JCW Pro exhaust with Bluetooth-switchable sound levels, including an extra-loud one that was only for track use. Yeah, right.

This was all thrown onto the JCW with the aim of making it as effective as possible both on track and the kind of wiggly roads that lace the British countryside, and if contemporary reviews are anything to go by, it was a huge success. It won praise for its firm but composed damping, ultra-quick turn-in and seemingly boundless grip.

It should, by all accounts, have become an icon, but it feels largely forgotten these days. When it was revealed, Mini said it planned to build 100 Challenges, but for whatever reason, only 53 ended up being made. Any attempts to Google it bring up results about the one-make race series it’s named after before the car itself.

That does mean that it doesn't quite command the silly prices you might fear for a limited-run, hardcore hot hatch. Right now, remarkably, there are three Challenges on Auto Trader, all with prices hovering around £25k.

That might give us a benchmark for this one, chassis number 43, which has popped up for auction on Collecting Cars. It’s covered 24,700 miles, although a quick glance at the MOT history and its various tyre-related advisories suggests that quite a lot of these might have been as aggressive as you’d expect from a car like this.

Nevertheless, the sort of person that buys a car like this is likely to know what they’re doing in terms of maintenance, especially as it’s had a full PPF film applied. Opportunities to own one of these forgotten hardcore hatches don’t come up very often, and whoever buys this next will have the smug satisfaction of owning one of the ultimate ‘if you know, you know’ cars.

The auction’s only recently started as we write this, with bidding up to £1200. We imagine that’ll be up in the mid-20s by the time the auction ends in six days, but if you’ve been thinking about a new weekend toy or track hack, why not take a chance?