Interesting story of an early R53 MINI Cooper S on the 02 S Register.
Hunting down the Top Gear Press Car RE02VRK:-
https://02sregister....armagazine2002/
How Richard Hill 'accidentally' removed the engine from RE02VRK:-
https://02sregister....kengineremoval/
"Following the success of the MINI Y REGister and mirroring the success of the MINI R50 launch back in 2001 and then the R53 launch in 2002 the 02S Register was setup by Tanya Field as a club for enthusiasts of the early MINI Cooper S R53s built in there first year of production. Tanya started the 02S Register Facebook Group following her purchase of one of the earliest R53s produced. With the MINI Y REGister (for early Y Reg R50) already having quite a following it didn't take long for other early Cooper S members to find out about the group and equally people without an R53 already to start dreaming about finding an early example!"
https://02sregister.co.uk/
https://www.facebook...ups/02SRegister