January 15, 2009:
MotoringFile says “JCW GP to return?”
Reading the article, if it happens at all, it’s not happening any time soon – but of course, like at the end of the R53 manufacturing run, it would be good for MINI to go out with a special edition “GP-like” version of the R56.
Although if they did it, I hope they fix the rather sad clutch and steering feel …
Of course, there’s an argument that this is a GP, and whatever comes next is something else …
UPDATE:
If it turns out to be this car, it’s very disappointing 
November 15, 2008:
R56 JCW review
Gabe recently posted on MotoringFile a review of the R56 “factory JCW” MINI … this new factory MINI has a very potent engine, with impressive torque curves, but it’s stock design is “stealth” to the point of dull! No special exterior trim, no JCW-only color; in fact no JCW-only anything.
I just worked through MINIUSA.com and, spec’ing the car similar to a GP with metallic paint, aero kit, spoiler, cloth/leather heated seats, and steering wheel controls, I got to a price of $34,000 (compared with $30,600 for the GP). Of course prices go up, and you do get rear seats for that extra money – but it’s still not a “unique” car, and by the way you have to add another $3,000 if you want 18″ wheels!
Gabe’s review is well worth reading, if only for for surprising (to me) comments where he favourably compares the GP to this new “fastest MINI”. It’s also interesting to read his comments about the new car’s brakes, and electronic EDLC (in lew of an LSD). Here’s a few choice quotes:
… It feels every bit as fast as the 2006 JCW GP was with an enormous amount of torque (206 ft lbs of it) available almost instantly in the rev range … while the GP may have had similar numbers, it’s the new JCW’s power delivery that really sets it apart …
.. four-pot Brembo brakes … live up to the hype in that they are better than the single-pot set-up on the stock MCS or the previous JCW GP MCS. However more than one of us who drove the JCW and an R56 MCS back to back felt that the stock braking set-up actually had more feel …
… the EDLC is different enough from the feel of a traditional LSD that some might miss the mechanical quality of the latter. Limited Slip always had a feel of pulling and shooting you out of corners in a satisfying way …
… make no mistake, the new factory JCW MINI goes and stops better than any factory MINI yet … Yet doesn’t offer any of the distinction that an M Car would much less what the GP had …
… is this car equivilent to a GP? In some ways yes. It’s easily as fast, sounds arguably as good and stops better. However for me I wanted to love this car not only for the way it made every drive feel special but also for the sacrifices it demands from the driver – While it does have many of the attributes you’d hope for, it just never really moved me like the GP …
I know which car I prefer 
October 7, 2008:
MINI World Challenge 2008
“Oscar and Salvatore will drive a Mini Cooper GP around the World.Driving this Special Edition Mini Cooper is not going to be an easy drive.Going across the States, Russia and Europe” …
Head over to the MINI World Challenge 2008 website for write-up and loads more pictures
August 25, 2008:
Two years ago … Coast to Coast in a GP
The original and best (!) MINI Takes The States 2006 was in mid-flow two years ago … this weekend I worked through the many more than 2,200 photos I’d taken, and put together an Animoto video/slideshow – a wonderful reminder of a wonderful event, beginning with GP delivery at Monterey and working city-by-city and state-by-state during a two week, 4,500+ mile drive across the USA:
Here is the video, nearly 300 pictures and over 8 minutes of entertainment – and at the beginning, a few never-before-shots of the first GP I ever saw (which MINI USA asked me not to post online back in August 2006!):
If you prefer, click here to download a high resolution version (80MB, MP4 format)
August 20, 2008:
GP launch video
Many thanks to MikeyTheMINI of NewMINIstuff, who posted this video of the first ever GP unveiling during MINI United 2005: