Mini races Porsche anyway, obviously loses

While we were up to our ears in Cannes coverage last week, it slipped our attention that Mini went ahead and raced Porsche at Road Atlanta, without the latter's involvement, having unsuccessfully bugged the luxury brand for weeks to take part. In the end, the Porsche 911 Carrera S beat the Mini Cooper S, though only by a few seconds. Porsche's absence makes the whole thing a bit specious, but they had to wrap up the campaign somehow. See the race footage below. The only remaining question is whether Mini will now race Hyundai, which obnoxiously elbowed in with its own challenge in the middle of Mini's campaign.

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Mini/Porsche showdown a lot like 'Rocky IV'

Mini won't let up with its challenge to Porsche. First, it challenged Porsche to a race (the Cooper S against the 911 Carrera S). Porsche said no. So, Mini flew a taunting banner over Porsche's North American headquarters. That didn't get a rise out of Porsche at all. But now, the tension has reached Cold War proportions with the release of the video below—a spoof of Rocky IV, with Mini cast as Rocky and Porsche in the role of Ivan Drago. It's an amusing parody, though it could use an Apollo Creed character. Maybe Mercury? Via Jalopnik.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

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Porsche open to Mini's idea of having a race

Mini is challenging Porsche to a race. It's launched a Facebook campaign to suggest a showdown at the Road Atlanta course, two weeks from now, between its Cooper S model and Porsche's 911 Carrera S. The amusing part, as Jalopnik points out, is that the 172-horsepower Cooper S has all but no chance against the 385-horsepower Porsche 911, unless the Porsche is being driven by an elderly person. (Should the race happen, both brands will select a driver of their choice.) Anyway, Porsche tells Jalopnik it's actually considering the idea. "Porsche has the most racing victories of any manufacturer out there—28,000 and counting—maybe we should go for 28,001," the brand's media relations manager says. "We just need to see what they're up to." Mini, of course, which would be expected to lose, therefore has little to lose—and just comes off as good humored and fun loving. Check out Mini USA president Jim McDowell's formal challenge in the video below, and the brand's full-page print ad from The New York Times after the jump. UPDATE: Porsche says thanks but no thanks.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

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