Fun in a topless MINI.

Byline: BY VAL JESSOP Motoring Correspondent

WHY on earth would you want to calculate the time you spent motoring topless?

Do the British need or even want to know such trivia? I suspect they might, if they had the chance. Well, now they have.

The Openometer is available in the new MINI Convertible, and records precisely how many hours you're hardy enough to brave the British weather.

BMW say it's a bit of fun, and as a pounds 115 option, it could be just the tonic we need in the current financial doldrums: a funometer - it could start a new craze.

Imagine thousands of MINI ragtop owners, roof off, smiling if not singing in the rain . . . purely for the chance to become the 2009 Openometer Champion. The mind boggles, stranger things have happened.

Actually, the speed with which the new MINI Convertible roof can be raised and retracted is just 15 seconds - so this rapid operation makes the Openometer, a much more useable device, particularly in inclement Britain.

The procedure can be carried out at up to 20mph, should the unthinkable happen and the heavens open. The new MINI ragtop is a fitting tribute to help mark the half-century of the first Mini. It was 50 years ago, come August, that Alec Issigonis launched this amazing classic.

Celebrations will take place all year, but a highlight will be Mini United at Silverstone, on May 22-24, when Minis in all shapes and sizes and their owners gather from the far corners of the globe.

Today's second generation MINI Convertible, on sale at MINI dealers this Saturday, is a far cry from the original Mini, introduced in 1959, but the ethos and personality is fiercely preserved - but with a more masculine and dynamic stance.

The drop-top is a completely new version of the British-built MINI Convertible in Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works guises.

It results in a 10% increase in body structure strength, improved chassis technology, including Dynamic Stability Control and huge improvements in fuel consumption and reductions in COdeg emissions - varying between 19% and 24%, depending on model.

The improved roof design has enhanced rear visibility which is also improved with the new popup roll-over bar that replaces the more intrusive fixed assembly on previous models: it will extend within milliseconds should the car register it is about to turn over.

Air conditioning is now standard and there are new wheel and paintwork options as well as canvas roof colours, including Hot Chocolate.

The MINI Convertible models are powered by 1.6-litre engines but with outputs of 120bhp, 175bhp and 211bhp for Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works, respectively, while 0-62mph is 9.8 seconds, 7.4 seconds and 6.9 seconds. All have six-speed gearboxes.

The models range in price from pounds 15,995 to pounds 23,470.

First generation MINI Convertibles enjoyed huge sales success in the UK, and 164,000 were sold worldwide between 2004 and 2008. Demand for its successor is expected to be equally strong.

CAPTION(S):

How much topless MINI motoring will the weather allow this year? Only time will tell . . .