Don't envy you, as my heart would be saying the same in your shoes, get the
JCW conversion, keep it all original, but then my head would say well you'll be out of warranty soon, so why not go with someone else?
Maybe a halfway house would be to go here:
MINI Motorsport Centre
They used to work at John Cooper Garages, might be able to do the
JCW conversion for less, or offer something else to you
