Hey Larry! Going pretty well here.
Got in the Midget the other day and the brake pedal went straight to
the floor -- it turns out that I cooked the seals in the front calipers
in the Rally Tasmania a couple of months ago. The event is hard on
brakes that is for sure!
When the car sat for a while, the fluid just drained straight out
past the cooked seals... I have to convert the car to dual circuit
brakes... This was post-event, but I have had brake failure once
before on the racetrack...
On the C, I'll have to defer to your experience -- I just haven't
driven one in anger. However, I'll never disagree with John Sprinzel -
especially after he said such nice things about me a few years ago
(http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mikeg/cars/js.htm)
Speaking to Andy McDowell at MG Workshops in Melbourne, he confirms
that in standard trim, the engine is slow to spin up and pretty much
a sluggish truck engine in disguise. However, they can be made to
"go" with some fairly simple and relatively inexpensive mods like cam, some
head work, manifolds etc.
cheers, Mike
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Larry Miller
Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 8:38 AM
To: Mike Gigante; spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: need an automatic?
Hi Mike, how are things down under.
That's about the only thing I don't agree with John on. Mine was about 2
years old and in near perfect condition. You are right about the correct way
to drive it but the relative long stroke makes for a slow winding engine
without much punch off the line. At least in stock form. It also tended to
plow at just about any cornering speed above 5 MPH. But like anything else,
if you throw enough skill and/or money at something you can overcome most
deficiencies. Stick Phil Hill in it and you could probably win Le Mans :-)
Larry Miller
http://www.ado13.com
----- Original Message -----
From "Mike Gigante" <mikeg at vicnet.net.au>
To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 3:08 PM
Subject: RE: need an automatic?
> Check "Spritely Years"
>
> IIRC, John Sprinzel was reasonably complimentary about the MGC and
> commented its reputation was undeserved.
>
> There is one competing in the MG road racing series here as well
> as running in various rallies.
>
> It is probably like spridgets and 4 cylinder B's -- with some fairly
> simply and inexpensive suspension tweaking they can be made to handle
> pretty darn well (OK, the Spridgets are always the best handlers, but
> a tweaked Spridget is still *much* better handling than a stock one.
>
> I suspect that the C's reputation was acquired by a) a driver who
> didn't think about the right way to drive it or b) a car with worn
shocks!!
>
> By driving style, I mean that with that much Iron up front, you don't even
> think about throwing it into a corner and expect it to turn-in like
> a spridget -- go in a little slower and accelerate out, using the torque
of
> the big 6 to give you better turn and higher exit speed.
>
> I nearly bought a really really nice MGC as a daily driver, but the local
> regulations have made it illegal to carry the kids in the back
> and I didn't want to go through the required mods and engineer's report...
>
> Mike
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