Nichola Beckford/Contributor

The MINI brand has had a momentous motorsports history.

It’s every inch the little car that could. From its modest commuter origins, as developed by Sir Alec Issigonis, it became a performance powerhouse, humbling even more storied rivals across the circuit and rally stages of the world.

The names behind the steering wheel of fast MINIs are as iconic as the car itself. Brits Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, and Jim Clarke are joined by the Irish Paddy Hopkirk and Finn Timo Mäkinen in the pantheon of names that have competed in a MINI Cooper. Of course, it’s John Cooper who is the most important, the high performance models still bearing his name and speed ethos to this day.

However, as the saying goes, behind every man there is a good woman, and while Hopkirk is credited for proving the MINI on the world stage with his 1964 win of the Monte Carlo, the car’s penchant for the top step of the podium began with one name, Patricia Ann Moss.

And for 2022, MINI will not only recognise its racing legacy, but honour a ground-breaking female driver with their MINI Cooper Works Hardtop Pat Moss Edition. Why? Because Pat, as she was so fondly called, brought MINI its first international rally win in 1962 at the Tulip Rally in The Netherlands. This year marks the 60th anniversary of her important victory.

The astute motorsports head will already make out the last name, Moss. Pat was the sister of the F1 great, Sir Stirling Moss. It is reported that, at age 11, he began to teach her how to drive. Her sportsmanship was such that she mastered her first love, horse riding, to the Olympic level, then took her earnings to motorsports and never looked back. Pat had a successful motorsports career, racing for the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in the 1950s, something unthinkable for a woman at the time. Not only was she the first woman to win an international rally, she won three over her career, took the European Ladies’ Rally Championship five times, and in 1960 she received the Driver of the Year Award from the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), which had to suspend their banquet hall’s ‘no women allowed’ rule to allow her to collect the honour.

In 1962 she headed to Holland with co-driver Ann Wisdom – who was pregnant at the time, to contest the Tulip Rally. The pair covered the 2,500 kilometres route which took them from the Dutch municipality of Noordwijk to the French Riviera and back. They posted the best time, beating all the 143 male driving teams and much bigger and more powerful cars. Moss did this at the young age of 27. She would retire at 42 in 1974. She passed away in 2008.

The Pat Moss Edition is based on the MINI Cooper three-door John Cooper Works (JCW) trim with just over 800 scheduled for worldwide production.

The major touches are visual, starting with the most obvious, the roof. The typical single colour roof, or red in the case of a JCW, is now multi-toned, shifting from Jet Black in the rear, to Melting Silver, to Chilli Red at the front – a first for the brand. Other exterior elements are a white horizontally aligned bonnet stripe with raised three-dimensional lettering indicating 737 ABL, the registration of Moss’ MINI when it won in 1962. Pat’s name can be found around the vehicle in various forms, including text showing her starting number, the route, the slogan – born to compete, and a stylised tulip graphic that continues on the interior.

The normal premium MINI interior is, like the exterior, graced with small touches celebrating her achievement. Her name sits on the passenger side of the dashboard while the door rocker panels continue the tulip theme with the rally information text as well.

The racy theme goes well with the racy nature of the MINI 3-door JCW. Its lower, stiffer suspension, grippier tyres and 231bhp from the two-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine under its bonnet, feeding power rapidly to the front wheels via an eight-speed transmission will allow owners to enjoy the same thrills Moss did.

Want one? Sorry. ATL Autobahn, local dealers for the MINI brand, has already sold the one they had.