Top 10 giant-killing MINI motorsport achievements

Among the most unlikely heroes in motorsport, the MINI has to be crowned the champion of them all.

In fits and spurts over the last 60 years, it has slayed giants in almost all forms of competition -- from rallying to touring cars, grueling desert races and even spectacular ice racing.

Here are our 10 greatest achievements for MINI in motorsport.

The original Mini burst onto the motor racing landscape with a thrilling victory in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally, with Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon using the Cooper S’ agile handling to head more powerful V8-powered Ford Falcons on the tight turns above the Mediterranean principality.

Timo Makinen won again in 1965 and crossed the line first in 1966, with Rauno Altonen and Hopkirk also on the podium, only for the first six cars to be disqualified in controversial circumstances for alleged headlight infringements. Altonen returned for revenge and the Cooper S won its third Monte in 1967.

Undeniably, the Mini’s most dominant performance was in the 1966 Gallaher 500 at Bathurst, the precursor to today’s iconic Bathurst 1000 endurance race.

Not only did Rauno Altonen and Bob Holden win the event by a one-lap margin, but Mini Cooper S racers filled the first nine positions.

The Mini is one of the most successful touring cars in the British Saloon Car Championship, with John Whitmore driving a Morris 850 to score the first title in 1961 by beating Formula 1 drivers like Roy Salvador and Graham Hill in the hugely more powerful Jaguar MkII.

With the introduction of the more powerful Cooper S, the Mini would win again in 1962, 1969 and back-to-back championships in 1978 and 1979.

Timo Makinen scored an unlikely victory in the 1963 Finnish Grand Prix at the Elaintarha parkland circuit in Helsinki when the supporting touring car race inherited GP status following a tragic first lap accident in the premier Formula Junior race.

Not surprisingly, the Mini Cooper S had numerous successes on some of the most famous racetracks on The Continent as well, with Warwick Banks claiming the 1964 European Touring Championship while John Rhodes and John Handley scored respective Division 2 and Division 3 titles in 1968.

If none of its previous successes proved the original Mini’s legendary reliability, the X Raid team scored four consecutive victories in the modern MINI on the gruelling Dakar endurance rally between 2012 and 2015, including a podium lock-out in 2014.

The purpose-built MINI ALL4 Racing buggy also won the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies between 2012 and 2014.

Highlighting its versatility, the MINI Countryman has been a two-time winner of the quirky Andros Ice Trophy, a spectacular ice racing series held in French ski resorts that has attracted the likes of Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Oliver Panis and Yvan Muller.

The Countryman was driven by five-times champion Jean-Phillipe Dayraut to the title in 2013-2014 as well as 2014-2015.

The Macau GP has been one of the world’s premier touring car races since its inception in 1963, and it shouldn’t be a shock to know that Mini has also claimed numerous victories around the daunting 6.2km Guia street circuit.

The first was in 1962 when American Grant Wolfkill led home a Cooper S podium lock-out in 1962. Hong Kong’s Anne Wong won again for MINI in 1970, as did fellow countryman John MacDonald in 1972.

The Mini’s domination of the 1966 Galloper 500 at Bathurst wasn’t its only success in Australia.

It won six class titles in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1963 and 1968, and took out the inaugural Sun-7 series in 1971, which was held exclusively at Sydney’s Amaroo Park.

Even though the three victories of the Mini Cooper S in the Monte Carlo Rally are held up as its greatest achievements, the little British brick scored more than 30 wins in high-profile events.

These included five wins at the Circuit of Ireland, three wins in the Finnish 1000 Lakes and three on the Isle of Man. MINI drivers also won the British Rally Championship three times and the European and Finnish titles twice in the 1960s.