Word on the street is that WSpohn4@aol.com said:
> <<In that respect, I am somewhat envious of Triumph, Austin-Healy, and other
> marques for the rich racing heritage. It seems most of the MG's victories
> were from the pre-war cars and thats where they really made their name. >>
>
> Skye - MG's history wasn't much less distinguished than the other marques.
> EX 181 held land speed records in class, accomplished with a 300 bhp Twincam
> motor, until a few years ago when a GM car surpassed the times set in the
> fifties.
Like I said, these were just my impressions, and the archival footage I
based some of my knowlege on was recorded by a Triumph camera crew ;)
I've received some very good book recommendations from my original post:
Bmc-BL Competitions Department - 25 Years in Motorsport
Works Rally Mechanic - Tales of the Bmc/BL-Works Rally Department, 1955-1979
John Sprinzel's Spritely Years: Race & Rally Memories from the Classic Era
Works Wonders: Rallying & Racing with Bmc, Rootes & Chrysler
Which I will no doubt be picking up as soon as finances allow.
> The Healeys concentrated on rallies and did very well there, being rugged and
> a bit heavy for road racing. With the exception of a Mk 2 Deluxe, 151 ABL,
> which did fairly well, the MGA stuck to road racing, where it did quite well.
> The Twincam coupe handily beat the Triumph TRS cars at Le Mans, for example.
There were some famous brothers that rallied in the AH 3000 but I can't
quite remember their name.
> I think that you are correct in stating that more attention could have been
> paid to the later MGB factory cars, though.
Yeah, its a shame. I remember a story by John Thornley about their
experiment with dropping the 4-cyl O-class (I believe) into the later B
around 78, it would have made it the quickest B ever.
The most painful part of it has GOT to be that the B was dropped for the
freakin' TR7 :)
I'll be creating a motorsport section on my web site when I feel I know a
bit more on the subject. Hopefully next year, I will have the suspension
rebuilt and some decent tires and I can do some Solo II as well!
Skye
PS: by popular request, no more PGP signatures. Its too bad there are so
many poorly written mail clients out there - what a nice world it would be
if software writers (I won't say "engineers") read a few more RFC's ;)
--
1966 MGB GHN3L-70307 __,__\__ Finger for
The MGB Experience http://www.mgb.bc.ca/ (_o____o_) PGP key
|