The MINI has a firm place in the pantheon of car history. A people’s car that transformed into a cult figure in motor sport, not to mention one of the most enduring objects of Britishness anywhere in the world. This, despite the fact that for the last 15-odd years this much-loved Brit has been under the rule of German masters; although, despite conventional wisdom about the straight-laced seriousness of Germans, this takeover hasn’t tarnished the MINI’s capricious leanings. It’s quite the opposite, in fact.