Countdown on for the Dakar Rally 2013 – Champions perfectly equipped to defend their title with the MINI ALL4 Racing, 2012 winner Stéphane Peterhansel and Original MINI Accessories.

Munich. Preparations are running at full speed as the X-raid Team’s MINI ALL4 Racing cars limber up for the defence of their Dakar Rally crown, beginning on 5 January 2013. And the X-raid Team has also invested its trust in the MINI Countryman and Original MINI Accessories for the rally world’s most exacting challenge. For example, the service vehicles which will accompany the team over the full rally distance of more than 8,000 kilometres (just under 5,000 miles) through Peru, Argentina and Chile will be equipped with the off-road design package. These eye-catching retrofit components from the Original MINI Accessories range ensure that the MINI Countryman cars preparing for their role in the Dakar Rally will be kitted out even more effectively to soak up the constant fluctuations between gravel roads, desert tracks and mountain passes. Back in more “normal” territory, the MINI Countryman with off-road design displays its sporting talent and ambitions more clearly than ever when it comes to leaving the beaten track behind.

(more…)

A team of gym members from East Sussex have today smashed two Guinness World Records™ for the number of people inside both a classic Mini and a 2012 MINI.

28 flexible ladies crammed their way into the MINI Hatch at Potters Fields Park, London as part of the eighth annual Guinness World Records day. The team broke their own previous record of 27 people, which they set in Eastbourne last year.

The ladies made full use of every inch of space available in the MINI, including the dashboard, the footwells and they even managed to squeeze four people in the boot.

As soon as they celebrated their first record the ladies dashed off to the ITV studios to attempt the second record live on This Morning, where by squeezing a staggering 23 ladies into a classic Mini, they managed to beat the previous record by two people.

Today more than 400,000 people around the world are taking part in record-breaking events for the eighth annual Guinness World Records Day, which commemorates the day in 2004 when Guinness World Records became the world’s best-selling copyright book. (more…)