I've heard some rumors of a rally car based on the MINI, unfortunately I think the plan was to pull out the engine and putting the m3 engine in. Since the MINI is made by BMW, they can put in any BMW engine in. I believe that most companies do this and the cost of making a rally car far exceeds that of what most people would be willing to shell out to make their cars faster.
The engine should be able to take most modifications. Some that you need to be wary of is Nitros and boring the engine out. Both of which will void your warantee. A new chip, something that is a very common modification, should be ok. If your dealership finds it, it can void your warantee if it is found to be at fault but most mechanics won't see it unless they need to access it to either replace it or change the programming on it.
-Chris |