John Cooper became a legend in the 1950s with his racing cars, and gave the sporty Mini models both their heart and their name. His descendants still have petrol in their veins; and to this day, they continue to turn the Mini into a true sports machine under the JCW label. A visit to Michael and Charlie Cooper in the south of England. Promise: it’s not just the sunshine that puts a smile on your face.
Many Mini fans across Europe know the address of the Cooper Garage, located south of Arundel on Britain’s south coast. Just a few minutes away lives Mike Cooper with his family, while his son Charlie has since moved to west London. Anyone who wants to soak up the spirit of Mini should spend time with these two. The Cooper home is tucked away, but then behind tall hedges, lush green lawns, and winding gravel paths, polished chrome bumpers begin to gleam—and behind them, friendly Mini faces peek through vintage sheet metal. Mike Cooper comes over, evidently in good spirits. He has a few friends visiting from the neighbourhood—and, unsurprisingly, they’ve all come in their classic Mini models. The weathered garage doors are open, and behind the historic machines, the LED eyes of the latest Mini JCW GP and a brand-new John Cooper Works Electric glint under cover. “I just got that one for testing a few days ago,” Mike chatters, “unbelievable how quick it is.”
Mike and his friends aren’t the only ones enjoying the southern English sun and chatting about fine old metal. After a few minutes, not only does son Charlie Cooper arrive, but so does Mike’s wife. She politely yet firmly announces that it’s lunchtime, and sandwiches should provide some sustenance first. Behind the charming cottage, which Mike bought in the mid-1980s, there are large open spaces—ideal for a game of football or cricket. Inside the little wooden house, Mike begins chatting away about the first tuning kits that he and his father developed to give Mini models a boost. “These kits were especially popular in Japan in the 1990s,” he recalls, “when the Mini Cooper was suddenly withdrawn from the market, and people wanted more power than the standard Mini offered. We sold our kits for £600 with a new intake manifold, air filter, and exhaust system. Because of customs issues, I found a local carpenter who built us nice wooden crates to pack the parts in.” Rover, which owned Mini at the time, initially showed no interest in distributing the kits, so the Coopers reached out via personal contacts to Jaguar importers to get them into Japan. “When Rover heard that the first order was for 1,000 kits, they changed their mind—and even agreed to honour the factory warranty.”
In the 1960s, John Cooper gave the Mini serious legs and brought Alec Issigonis’ compact rocket to the podiums of rally events like Monte Carlo. Over the decades, more and more Mini fans wanted a taste of that motorsport magic in their own cars—and that hasn’t changed today. The Cooper Garage still rebuilds historic Mini models from new parts—offering up to 140 PS and costing up to €100,000. The tuning company John Cooper Works was acquired by BMW in 2007 as the performance arm for the most sporting Mini models. Charlie Cooper, grandson of John, is just as Mini-mad as his father and grandfather. In one of the garages sits a black Classic Mini in which he holds the Goodwood class speed record—around 200 km/h.
The new Mini John Cooper Works Electric, also parked in one of the garages, isn’t the only EV on site. A dark green Mini van bearing the “The Cooper Car Company Ltd” logo and a white roof looks unassuming, but it’s powered by an 81 kW / 110 PS electric motor that burns rubber in a full-throttle sprint and reaches 160 km/h. The battery pack is tucked into a red workshop box behind the stiff vinyl seats, and only two small digital gauges in the instrument cluster—along with the lack of engine noise—give away its electric propulsion. “You can easily get 120 miles on a charge,” Mike smiles. Weighing in at just 600 kg, the tiny van is immaculate and dates back to 1962. On the wall of the private garage hangs a dusty soapbox car that the Cooper Garage used to embarrass OEMs and Formula 1 teams at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed—featuring a body modelled on a vintage John Cooper racing car. In the late 1950s, John Cooper was the first to place Formula 1 engines in the rear of his cars—a layout that remains the standard to this day.
Charlie Cooper is Mini through and through. Last year, he won his class at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and frequently races Minis himself—though currently sidelined by a knee operation that’s likely to keep him out of this year’s Eifel endurance classic. His frustration is visible—even behind dark sunglasses. Charlie likes electric cars like the new Mini—especially the sharp 258 PS JCW version—but he can’t imagine giving up combustion engines. “Certainly not under the John Cooper Works name,” he smiles. “That could very well be the last combustion engine ever built under the Mini or BMW brand.”
Mike Cooper also sharpened the first generation of the “New Mini” in the early 2000s, a relic of BMW’s takeover of Rover. First, the lacklustre Mini Cooper got a power boost—then came the sportier Cooper S. The 125 kW / 170 PS supercharged four-cylinder, with its distinctive whine, was perfect for a tuning upgrade. “We sold our kits in huge numbers. They didn’t just increase power to 207 PS—they also added much more exhaust sound.” The Cooper Garage quickly became to Mini what M GmbH is to BMW or AMG to Mercedes—a home-grown performance division with a long leash, uniquely British and more innovative than ever.
At the time, M GmbH had no plans for the Mini, so BMW brought Mike Cooper on board and launched the first Mini Cooper S by John Cooper Works. Mike still remembers how the name of the hottest Mini of all, the John Cooper Works GP, came about. “There was a two-hour meeting, including Jochen Goller, who was responsible for Mini back then,” Mike recalls. “All the usual sporty names came up. I suggested GP for Grand Prix, assuming it wouldn’t be heavily trademarked. The lawyers checked—and within 15 minutes, the name John Cooper Works GP was set.”
The Coopers have long continued their tinkering tradition in southern England with each new generation—just as John Cooper once did. He nearly beat Audi to the punch with his own quattro-tech, fitting a Classic Mini in the late 1960s with two engines, one at the front and one at the rear. “It was a difficult car to drive, with two clutch pedals and dual gear levers,” Mike recalls. “It was too slow and unwieldy on the track—but on a rally stage, the extra traction was phenomenal.” But after John Cooper suffered serious injuries in a rollover caused by a broken rear axle during a test run, the project was abandoned—and the rest is history.
For all their Mini obsession, the Coopers’ private collections aren’t exclusively Mini-based. “For me, the perfect everyday combo is a Porsche 992 Carrera and a Mini John Cooper Works,” Mike laughs, pointing out of the window to his new VW ID. Buzz. He loves the electric van, especially as a transporter—though towing it to regional races requires a recharge stop. As for where Mini and the John Cooper Works label are headed with the new electric era—neither Mike nor Charlie know. But one thing is certain: “John Cooper Works is racing—just as my father and grandfather would have seen it. Even electric.”
