Mini Minis to appear at Games

Three Mini Minis will be zooming around the Olympics athletics field this week.

The radio-controlled (RC) electric Minis will be used to fetch and carry field athletics apparatus of up to 8 kg, including one hammer, a discus, a shot or two javelins at a range of up to 100 metres from the people controlling them.

Officials have sanctioned the use of BMW’s smallest electric vehicle to save time during events, where in the past marshals have sometimes had to run back and forward carrying the heavy equipment.

But don’t think it’s all fun and Games. The trio of Mini Minis ‘will be operated by Games Makers assigned and trained for this duty,’ according to a press release. Very serious indeed.

At roughly a quarter-scale of the full-size Minis and Mini Es being used at the Games, the RC minis can carry the field apparatus inside its shell, in a space accessible through its specially-adapted sunroof.

If you’re wondering whether this is a late April fool’s day joke, it isn’t.

The RC cars were designed and built to a specification agreed with Games’ organisational committee, LOCOG. Each of the three Mini Minis will cover around 6,000 metres per day in four-hour shifts across nine days of Olympic and nine days of Paralympic competition.

Removable and rechargeable batteries can sustain 35 minutes of continuous Olympic butler-work and be fully replenished in 80 minutes.

According to Mini’s press release, “After the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, the three Mini Minis will return to base for well-earned rest and relaxation before their next athletic adventure.”