AC Schnitzer RAPTOR MINI Coupé
German tuner AC Schnitzer claims to have the fastest MINI with their AC Schnitzer RAPTOR, built from a MINI John Cooper Works Coupé.  They managed to increase the horsepower from 211 PS (208 hp) to 300 PS (296 hp) while reducing weight by 220 lbs.  From the AC Schnitzer RAPTOR webpage:

With the sensational time of 1:10.87 mins, the new concept vehicle “AC Schnitzer RAPTOR” (based on the MINI John Cooper Works Coupé) completed the Hockenheimring lap and put the competition in its place in a direct comparison.

One basis of evaluation in vehicle tests, time and time again, is lap times on the world famous Grand Prix circuit in Hockenheim. The 300 HP/221 kW powerful AC Schnitzer RAPTOR has catapulted itself into the premier league of real sports cars with its lap time of 1:10.87 mins.

Once again in 2012, the “Tuner Grand Prix” hosted by “sport auto” magazine on the Hockenheimring played a major role in AC Schnitzer’s schedule. The time had finally arrived on the Pentecost weekend: 25 tuners battled for the best lap times in 16 classes.

The new RAPTOR (based on the MINI John Cooper Works Coupé) concept vehicle impressively put the competition in its place and circuited the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim in a sensational time. The RAPTOR was an astonishing 1.11 seconds quicker than the fastest MINI from the previous year: the AC Schnitzer EAGLE (based on the MINI John Cooper Works)

Not only the competition paid respect to the “little Aachener”: the “sport auto” editorial team gave the RAPTOR an individual test there and then and was able to improve the lap time by another 0.32 seconds to a fabulous time of 1:10.87.

So what does a lap time of 1:10.87 mean?  It means that the AC Schnitzer RAPTOR MINI JCW Coupé posted a faster time than some very expensive and fast exotics and sports cars.  See the amazing list of cars beaten by the RAPTOR.

AC Schnitzer RAPTOR (on sports tyres) 1:10.87 min.
Mercedes SLS AMG 1:10.8 min.
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera 1:10.9 min.
Porsche 911 Turbo S 1:10.9 min.
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (on sports tyres) 1:12.0 min.
BMW M3 GTS (on sports tyres) 1:12.5 min.
BMW M5 1:12.9 min.
Porsche 911 GTS 1:12.9 min.
Ferrari Challenge Stradale (on sports tyres) 1:13.0 min.
Ford GT 1:14.1 min.
BMW 1 series M Coupé 1:14.1 min.
Porsche 911 Carrera S 1:14.3 min.
Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:14.7 min.

[Source: AC Schnitzer press release (PDF).]

You can see the AC Schnitzer RAPTOR in action in their video from the Hockenheimring:

 

Ride along with this in-car video:

 

See more photos and read more about the RAPTOR in the SPORTcars article And again the fastest MINI comes from Aachen [Google translation from the original German version].