A little more than a week ago, MINI organized a track event at Sepang Circuit. All John Cooper Works (JCW) models were lined up, from the 3-door Hatch to the Countryman, which I was in the pilot seat for the evening.

It was actually the first time I’ve ever driven on the track. Having my track cherry popped in a MINI isn’t too shabby I suppose.

Being a first timer, I went all the way to the back of the line and into the 306 PS MINI JCW Countryman. 2 reasons for this – so that I won’t hold up any cars behind me and I have more power to compensate, 75 PS more to be exact.

And boy was I glad for all the additional horses. Setting off in the 306 PS JCW Countryman for the first time, I went predictably slow while getting to grips with the car.

So I was falling behind the pack, but not too far behind as the highly experienced instructor would moderate the pace. As I became more comfortable with the car and the track, the speed crept up. 

Towards the end of the second lap exiting Turn 14, I planted my foot flat on the floor and the ALL4 all-wheel drive just shot the Countryman out the corner, then it blasted through the straight.

A quick glance on the speedo indicated that I was approaching 190 km/h right before braking for the hairpin turn. All the gap pulled from the beginning was closed and I became part of the pack once again.

From then on, I had to lift off the throttle on the straights because the car in front was a 231 PS JCW Countryman and the power discrepancy was obvious.
I could make mistakes in the corners, take the wrong line or go too slow, and the extra power would just make up for all of it by reeling in the 231 PS Countryman on the straights.

3 laps over and we swapped cars. It was my turn to be behind the wheel of the 231 PS JCW Countryman that was in front. Immediately, it felt slower and the steering felt strangely weightier, which could be due to the tyres.

I had my work cut out for me as I was tasting the 306 PS medicine. Everytime I looked in the rearview mirror, the 306 PS Countryman was breathing on my neck. I tried carrying as much speed as I could through the corners and take a good line, and it would still be right on my tail on the straights.

If you’ve played racing games against “AI” players, there is usually a difficulty setting. Driving a 306 PS Countryman behind a 231 PS Countryman feels like the difficulty has been set to ‘easy’.

By the end of the track session, I was impressed by how strong the revised B48 engine is, pushing out 306 PS (should be obvious by now) and 450 Nm of torque. I think BMW should plonk this unit in their rear-wheel drive models, a BMW 335i G20 anyone?