Did Mini dump WRC for BMW's DTM assault?

Would you believe that the Mini WRC team did not have enough money to pay for a driver? We are talking about a factory supported works team not having money to sign up a driver here.

Apparently Mini WRC has released Chris Meeke from his three-year contract and the team has failed to meet the sign-up deadline for the 2012 World Rally Championship, simply unbelievable since the outfit is run by the most consummate of rally professionals, Prodrive.
It seems that BMW's decision to take on the DTM championship in Germany has meant they have very little left for the little car.

It is no secret that the DTM series is probably second only to Formula One in terms of the cost of running the season and BMW has been out of the game for a long time, leaving rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi to slug it out.

DTM is so expensive that only two German car companies can afford to field works teams.

It felt like a five foot long, five-inch thick snake

Do Boas go with Minis? Maybe Gok Wan can help us here

And so it was.

MOT technician, Wayne Hunt put his hand under thebonnet to fidn the catch release and felt "something that was rather out of place", something soft but muscular to the touch.

When he opened the bonnet, a Boa Constrictor was happily snoozing in the warm, dark bits of the Mini.
It happened at the Bosch Car Service garage in Carringtons of Oxford, UK.

“We immediately called the RSPCA to collect the snake, since it didn’t belong to the customer and we had no idea who owned it," said Wayne.

“The snake was dealt with properly and luckily it had done no damage to the car. The RSPCA told us that it looked thinner than it normally would, which could meant it had been living under the bonnet for a while. In all the years I have worked as a vehicle technician, I’ve never seen anything like it” the Bosch technician added.