2023-05-27 00:18:04
Thus, the start-up of the octagon firm in 1924, goes hand in hand with the manufacture of a racing two-seater destined to participate in the Land’s End Trial. Although strictly speaking it is not the first MG built, it will earn the nickname “Old Number One” thanks to being the one that provided the first laurels of triumph to the brand, winning its category in 1925.
Starting in 1929, each season MG will get a significant number of wins that will contribute to the prestige of the octagon brand, both on British circuits, in Brooklands in particular, and in tests abroad.
Classic racing image from the 1930s, featuring an MG R-type with a Zoller compressor
Among those triumphs, one cannot forget the obtained in such diverse competitions like the Tourist Trophy in Northern Ireland, with none other than the legendary Tazio Nuvolari in 1933; at the Australian Grand Prix; the Bol d’Or or the Paris-Saint-Raphaël, in France; the Grand Prix des Frontieres, in Belgium; or the RAC Rally, in England. Add to that class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring; at the Rallye Monte-Carlo or in countless hill races.
Another chapter in the history of the «Morris Garages» competition would be written in the World Rally Championship, in the 80s, with the MG 6R4. We are in the midst of the spectacular Group B era. Rover, owner of MG, decides to participate with a car that, unlike its rivals and almost against its own history, closely linked to different types of supercharging, did not have a turbo, but rather a naturally aspirated engine designed by David Wood.
The MG 6R4, with which MG entered the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986
Developed by the engineers of the Williams Formula 1 team (among others, no less than Patrick Head and John Piper), the 6R4 was based on the MG Metro (the silhouette…) but equipped with a 3-liter V6 mid-engine, which passed to the asphalt its 400 CV through a four-wheel drive transmission. The best position would be achieved by Tony Pond and Rob Arthur in the 1985 Great Britain RAC. But the lack of financing prevented an adequate development of that Mg which, however, would allow Didier Auriol to be French rally champion in 1986. At the end of that season, the sports authorities banned Group B for being dangerous (after the fatal accidents of Attilio Betega’s Lancia in Córcega 85 and, above all, of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto in Córcega 86), and the MG would leave , like other Group B, to live a second life in national competitions and, above all, in rallycross, where it would prove to be very competitive, winning on many occasions.
In Le Mans
The EX 182, prototypes of the future MGA, ready for Le Mans in 1955
And MG did not miss the appointment of the 24 Hours of Le Mans either. Its first participation in the French test dates back to 1930, in which two Midget Type Ms (850 cc and overhead camshaft) were entered by private pilots, although they did not finish the test. The best result of an MG at Le Mans dates back to 1934, with a compressor Magnette K3, which crossed the finish line after twenty-four hours in fourth position overall, after an Alfa Romeo and two Rileys, and in first place. in its class (750 to 1100 cc). In the dramatic 1955 edition, two of the three EX 182 (the prototype of which was MG A) entered by the firm, qualified brilliantly. MGs will be seen regularly taking part in the legendary French event until the late 1960s.
In 2001, Lola builds the EX 257 for MG, which will win the LMP2 class in 2005.
And already in the SXXI, Lola manufactured the EX 257 for MG, to run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001, in the LMP675 category and then LMP1. The lack of results and financial problems led the brand to abandon the project, but the cars remained active in the hands of a private team, they won the Le Mans Series, and an EX 257 won the LMP2 class in 2005, in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
the records
In addition to track and road events, another field where Oxford cars have written a long history is speed records.
First of all, we must mention captain George Eyston, who would beat himself several times on the Parisian circuit of Montlhéry, with a compressor MG 750 cc. He would culminate reaching 194.02 in December 1932 on an EX 127. With this same car, four years later, the German driver Boby Kohlrausch would reach 226.27 on the Frankfurt motorway.
Goldie Gardner with her record-breaking MG
And also in Germany, in Dessau, the British ‘Goldie’ Gardner would achieve 328.62 km/h, with a car in which the aerodynamics had been worked on a lot, and already with a 1500 cc engine. After World War II, on the famous Belgian Jabbeke highway, the scene of many records, Gardner himself exceeded 256 km/h with a 750 cc.
Moss, Hill y el EX 181
But without a doubt the most famous record-breaking MG is the EX 181 from the fifties. To know the roots of this project, you have to go back to before World War II. At the initiative of Georges Eyston, at MG the decision was made to try to beat the extraordinary record of ‘Goldie Gardner’ from 1939, which, eighteen years later and a world war in between, was still standing.
With this objective, the engineer Terry Mitchell conceived the MG EX 181. Unlike the previous prototypes, the engine was placed behind the driver, thus mounting a very aerodynamic body in the shape of a drop of water, studied in the wind tunnel of Armstrong Whitworth aircraft company. Tuned to run on a mixture of methanol with nitrobenzene, acetone and sulfuric ether, the supercharged 1.5-litre twin-cam engine produced a whopping 290bhp at 7,300rpm, with peak torque of 699Nm at 5,600rpm. .
Stirling Moss was chosen to pilot it. The Briton, the “champion without a crown” as he is remembered, looked for a gap in his busy schedule between Formula 1, sports, touring cars (the famous Saloon Cars) and rallies. You can see that the life of the pilots of that time was almost nothing like that of the current ones, who rarely leave their disciplines.
Stirling Moss next to the EX 181 with which he would break Gardner’s record
And the setting of the attempt, Bonneville, the famous Salt Lake in Utah (United States), a setting chosen from the fifties of the last century by those who sought the glory of being the fastest. There, on August 23, 1957, Stirling Moss broke his class record at 395.32 km/h. Two years later, with an improved version of its engine already with 300 CV, the MG EX 181 with the American Phil Hill (who would become Formula 1 world champion with Ferrari in 1961) reached a new speed record by reaching the 410.23 km/h.
Some legendary data that made the MG EX 181 a historic vehicle for the brand and for all motorsport lovers. In 1977, the car was completely restored, but during a show, with Jimmy Cox at the wheel, it would roll over. Fortunately, it was able to be rebuilt in just two months and can now be seen in the British Motor Industry Heritage museum, alongside its illustrious EX 135 and EX 179 predecessors.
This is nothing more than a brief review of the history of a brand that was born in competition and in which racing flows through its veins.
#history #racing #records