Top five MINI world records

It’s no surprise that, considering the MINI has been so popular for 60 years, it has been used for all sorts of crazy things. So here’s a small selection of the world records it has helped claim.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, 28 people -- a gymnastic troupe called Dani and the Mini Skirts -- clambered into a classic Mini on May 18, 2014, as part of the annual London to Brighton Mini Run.

Nurburgring lap records are like opinions -- everyone has one -- but MINI can lay claim to the slowest, and most precarious, of them all.

In November 2016, Chinese stunt driver, Han Yue, completed a lap of the torturous Green Hell in a specially-modified MINI Cooper in just over 45 minutes -- on two wheels!

Finding a car parking space big enough is a daunting exercise for most, but British stunt driver Alastair Moffat managed to set a new world record in 2015 by squeezing a classic Mini Cooper into a space just 34cm larger than his car.

Even though the Mini Cooper S was a giant killer in motor racing, its success was never due to its outright top speed. But that didn’t stop a team of New Zealanders from pushing its boundaries at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.

Dubbed Project 64, and featuring a turbo charged 970cc engine with a DOHC cylinder head from a BMW K1200 motorcycle, the 1964 Cooper S first broke the land speed record for cars under 1000cc in 2012 and the eclipsed that in 2016, recording an average speed over two runs of 267km/h.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest convoy of MINIs was set in 2009 when 1450 vehicles drove from Crystal Palace for the annual London to Brighton Mini Run.