A buddie of mine at work just brought a Mini Cooper S (200hp). He hasn't asked to race yet but I know he will. I'm think I'll get him by at least 6 lengths but....... who knows. It's a cute little car, when he gets out I keep looking at it and he asks me what I'm looking at. I tell him I'm waiting for the rest of the clowns to come plying out .

 

I owned an '03 Cooper S prior to buying my Mustang. If he's dumb enough to run you in a straight line you'll pull away from him easily. However, if he has any kind of driving skill and you run on a tight curvy road or on/off ramps you're going to have problems staying with him - the tighter the road the more advantage he has.

I ran my Cooper S through route 129 at the Deals Gap, NC area (roughly 300 curves in 11 miles) a few years back and the MINI handled amazingly well. Without any exaggeration it steers exactly where you aim it to the limit of the tires. The one I had was supercharged but the '07's have a different engine with a turbo rated at 172 HP.

Your clown comments will apply if he accepts a straight-line race but if he picks the right road you're going to need some face paint and a rubber nose!

 

The Cooper is in the same class as a Miata. You've already won.

 

my better half just picked herself a 2007 silver cooper cabrio yesterday..
this thing only makes 105hp, and the supercharged cooper s, around 175 only..
and at around 1300KG or 2900 pounds, it's not that light either!

everything aside, the cabrio s 0-60 time is 7.4 to 7.9 seconds... in other words, nothing to be worried about at ALL.. i bet you can take off in 2nd gear and still beat it

now cornering in that little thing is something else.
it's so much fun to drive, pretty responsive and very capable around tight turns and corners.. so he could in theory drive circles around you if you guys ditch the straight line and go on a track

 

I thought the Mini Cooper S was only 160 hp?

In any case, it won't even be close if you race, until you hit the first corner.

 

Raced a mini one time light to light and I flew away from him WHILE spinning through two gears.

 

Be careful though. My Saleen Clone uses the same turn signals as the mini! His lights may turn on faster than yours! LOL