THE John Cooper Works badge is to Mini fans what the M badge is to BMW aficionados or the Type R moniker is to Honda’s most hardcore followers.

While the heritage of racing driver and engineer John Cooper himself goes back almost to the creation of the original Mini, the JCW badge is a more recent arrival, applied to BMW-designed Minis since the early-2000s.

Invoking the spirit of John Cooper and his inventions in the racecar technology as well as the race preparation of road cars, JCW is Mini’s connection from the circuit to the road.

Since the introduction of the JCW kit for the first BMW-owned Mini, the badge has proliferated the range, including the three-door and five-door hatch, Clubman and this, the Mini Convertible JCW.

Each of the feistier models offers the same tuned 2.0-litre turbo performance, aesthetic modifications and sharpened chassis coupled with its own unique selling proposition – in this case, a dose of wind-in-the-hair fun and shameless look-at-me conspicuousness.

Click here for the full review...