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Re: Racing

To: WSpohn4@aol.com
Subject: Re: Racing
From: Skye Poier <skye@ffwd.bc.ca>
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 21:20:33 -0800
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

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