Enlarge / The basic Mini Cooper made barely 60 hp by the point it bowed out within the mid-’90s. Gildred Racing will make you one with way more energy, with both a mid-mounted V6 or, like this blue automobile, a Tesla drive unit. (credit score: Gildred Racing)
Monterey Automobile Week all the time brings out the automotive business’s heavy hitters, from world-class classic vehicles to brand-new seven-figure observe toys, basic Vespa scooters, and all the things in between. And but, a stunning duo wound up as my favourite expertise of the week: driving a pair of two tiny “Tremendous Coopers” dropped at Monterey by Gildred Racing to advertise the debut of a brand new Tesla-powered electrical venture.
The corporate’s Tremendous Cooper electrical powertrain conversion might need deserved the lion’s share of headlines as the newest and biggest providing, however the firm’s earlier Tremendous Cooper “S” additionally delivers an absurd 502 hp (375 kW) to the rear wheels from a mid-mounted supercharged V6.
Taking an expansive view, the pair really serves as a microcosm that completely encapsulates the present fanatic business, proper right down to the variations between rear- and front-wheel drive—and even to this present day, I can’t resolve which I favored extra.
Learn 20 remaining paragraphs | Feedback
