Final rehearsal in the snow: Dakar rally drivers test the MINI ALL4 Racing.

Munich. A safe and fast run with the intelligent all-wheel drive system MINI ALL4: this applies to eleven-time Dakar Rally winner Stéphane Peterhansel just as it does to winter sports enthusiasts on their way to their preferred skiing area. Three weeks prior to the start of the world's toughest long-distance rally in the MINI ALL4 Racing, the Frenchman joins forces with Spanish team colleague "Nani" Roma in the Tyrolean Alps for a final rehearsal of a different kind. In Kühtai, Austria, the two rally pros from the German X-raid team present their current racing car during a snow testing program. In addition they will demonstrate in the MINI Countryman and the MINI Paceman how MINI’s all-wheel drive system - ALL4 - ensures supreme traction, optimised ride stability and MINI`s trademark driving fun on bends.

With Stéphane Peterhansel at the wheel, the MINI ALL4 Racing has already had two successive wins in the Dakar Rally through South America. The legendary contest will get underway for the 36th time on January 5th 2014 in Rosario, Argentina. For MINI, this will be the start of "Mission Hat-Trick", a third win would allow the MINI ALL4 Racing to secure a success series equalled only by the three overall victories clinched by the classic Mini at the Monte Carlo Rally in the 1960s. Team X-raid will face the challenge of achieving this third consecutive triumph with a record line-up of eleven MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles.

In Kühtai, Stephane Peterhansel and Nani Roma will demonstrate just how well drivers and cars are prepared for the almost 9 400-kilometre route over gravel, sand dunes, rocks and ice. The current MINI ALL4 Racing model is in better shape than ever before, the team has drawn on the experience of previous years to further refine the high-speed and all-round qualities of this compact racer and tackle the fresh challenges posed by an even more exacting route, while at the same time keeping even stronger competitors at bay.

A key factor for success is precisely controlled power distribution to all four wheels. The permanent all-wheel drive system MINI ALL4 responds instantly as required - even anticipating extreme situations - so as to transfer the full engine power to the road or to whatever else happens to be under the wheels at the time. This is why ALL4 guarantees maximum traction and ride stability over all terrain types as well as optimised agility when taking bends at speed - not just in rally racing but also in the serial production MINI Countryman and MINI Paceman models.

The system is based on an electromagnetic centre differential and distributes drive force at continuously variable levels between the front and rear axle. Its electronic management system is integrated directly in the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) control unit, In normal situations on the road, up to 50 per cent of the drive torque is directed to the rear axle - in extreme situations such as when driving on ice or snow this figure can go up to 100 per cent. The driver's intentions and the situation on the road are constantly aligned, with adaptations to altered conditions being made within a few milliseconds. This allows engine power to be channelled to wherever it can be most effectively converted into traction and driving fun.

ALL4 is now available in ten models across the MINI range. The system is optionally available for the MINI Cooper Countryman, MINI Cooper S Countryman, MINI Cooper D Countryman and MINI Cooper SD Countryman as well as the MINI Cooper Paceman, MINI Cooper S Paceman, MINI Cooper D Paceman and MINI Cooper SD Paceman. The top athletes MINI John Cooper Works Countryman and MINI John Cooper Works Paceman transfer their engine power to all four wheels as standard.