JL: When you take a look at a car like the MINI ALL4 Racing - a car brand that's making headlines today but also steeped in rally history - how do you connect past and present? How much are you thinking about rally wins from the past like Monte Carlo in the 1960s and how much do you look only at the most recent finish line? The thing I like best about it is that it looks like a MINI and it is a MINI. I enjoy race cars when a manufacturer uses their own engine and the car looks like it's supposed to. When I was growing up in the 60s, that was when NASCAR was the most fun for me because Chevys looked like Chevys, Chryslers looked like Chryslers, Fords looked like Fords. Chrysler had the Hemi, Chevy had the porcupine engine, Ford had the big 429, 428, 427, and that was exciting. The rules for this race are that you must use the manufacturer's engine and must be 80% original parts, which keeps the costs down and makes it affordable for people to race. It also makes the fan identify with the car, because, wow, my car looks like that and has that engine in it.
You can only live in the time you live in. In the 1960's MINI competed against the best in the world, and they compete against the best in the world now. The Falcons and those cars were running massive V8s; 5-litre and 6-litre vs 1-litre, and less. So that was pretty impressive, but you can't really compare one era to the other. That's what's impressive. MINI did it 50 years ago and they're doing it now.