JustBritish

The much talked-about HRDC MGB50 Series got underway at Goodwood on 1 November, with an auspicious reunion between four original works MGB competition cars and some of the luminary figures who were instrumental in the success of these fabulous racers.

Long-term MGB stalwart Barry Sidery-Smith and Julius Thurgood, founder and race director of the HRDC, hosted this special gathering at Goodwood, with the support of long-term HRDC sponsor CCK Historic. Guests included: works driver Alec Poole, BMC Competition Department guru Bill Price, BMC Competition Department Manager Peter Browning, BMC ‘Comps Shop’ Manager Basil Wales, BMC ‘Comps Shop’ mechanics Den Green and Brian Moylan, MG guru Malcolm Beer, veteran MGB racer Paul Campfield and MG historian John Baggott.

The Works MGB cars were not just on static display, but were put through their paces on the Goodwood circuit by Barry Sidery-Smith, Tony Dron and Paul Campfield, to the amazement of the many MG aficionados present, who all agreed that this was probably the first time that the four works cars had ever run together.

WORKS MGB COMPETITION CARS AT GOODWOOD:
  DRX255C – Le Mans car – Owner: Barry Sidery-Smith
  GRX307D – ‘Old Faithful’ Marathon de la Route car – Owner: Malcolm Beer
  BRX854B – Spa-Sophia-Liege rally car – Owner: Paul Campfield
  1964 #47 – Sebring car – Owner: Anthony Binnington

The HRDC MGB50 Series will consist of six rounds, each a 30-minute, single-driver race for pre-’66, FIA-specification MGB race cars, with an invitation class for historically important MGBs which do not comply to FIA Appendix ‘K’.

The first round of the series takes place at Castle Combe on 9 April 2012.

Further details and driver registrations can be obtained from either website:

www.hrdc.eu or www.mgb50.eu

Media & competition enquiries to:

JULIUS THURGOOD direct@juliusthurgood.co.uk

The MG Motor Company is using images of the past to stir desire for its new models. In a new advertising campaigned titled “It’s Time To Fall”, the company uses romantic images of the classic MGA extensively, but also the MGB, MGBGT, and MG T Series. While obviously playing to the nostalgic feelings for one of Britain’s most beloved brands, the ad makes it clear that the new MG6 can stand on its own to capture the driver’s heart.

You can view the shorter TV advertisement or the full “extended brand film” on the MG Motor site.

This in from the TopGear site…  To be honest, the presenters weren’t that impressed with the new MG6 during the show on Sunday. Or its recycled-racing-horse badge adhesive.

However, this latest old-car-new-tech offering from Frontline Developments seems like a valiant use of the brand. And a rather more affordable alternative to the Eagle Speedster.

Each car uses a new British Motor Heritage MGB shell, into which Frontline shoves a 2012 2-litre VVC MX-5 engine. It’s got billeted con-rods and crankshaft, forged fully-skirted and Teflon-coated pistons and it’s been hopped up with a 45mm direct injection throttle body and closed-loop Lamda set up.

That equates to 215bhp and 170lb ft at 4000rpm. That means 240bhp per ton (it only weighs 900kg). 240bhp. IN AN MGB!

But don’t worry, the sixties shell’s been uprated to cope with the 130bhp power boost (the B was just 85bhp when it launched in ’62). Each one gets strengthened sills, floors and rear quarters to cope with its re-jigged suspension systems.

Read the rest of the story, and drool a bit, over at TopGear.

On a recent Saturday, Blaine Benson sifted through a folder of documents, the remains of a road trip taken 40 years ago. Among the ephemera were Pan Am airline tickets, ferry receipts, invoices for car repairs and a mileage log, handwritten on white notepad pages.

“It’s the family story,” Mr. Benson, a computer systems engineer, said of the archive. It is the chronicle of a continent-crossing journey, stretching nearly equator to pole, that his parents once made in a 1962 MGB roadster.

“My dad had a thing for sports cars,” Mr. Benson, 41, said. “He had a Triumph TR3. He was a bit of a car freak.”

Mr. Benson’s father, Skip, bought the MGB
in 1967 for about $1,000 in Puerto Rico, where he and his wife, Barbara, were training Peace Corps volunteers. When their work contract expired later that year, the family — Joel, Blaine’s older brother, was born during that time — travelled to Nome, Alaska, where Skip was going to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Read the full story of Mr. Benson and the 1962 MGB over at The New York Times. But before you go, tell us something about your companion and automotive member of the family. What cars have transcended transportation for you and become integral to the story of your travel itself?

The last genuine MG works rally car is up for auction, 35 years after it was retired from action competitive farewell, and is expected to fetch £90,000-£130,000 (R1-1.5-million) – more than 100 times the price of the road-going MGB in 1964.

BRX 854B was one of two MGB rally cars built by BMC’s competition department in 1964, when the road car was priced at £850 (the equivalent of R1700 at the time).

It made its racing debut in the Spa-Sofia-Liege rally in August 1964 and went on to compete a further five times as a works entry, in the Tulip, Acropolis, Geneva, Danube and RAC rallies, all in 1965.

It was retired in 1975 and has since then had a meticulous restoration, overseen by MG historian John Baggott and legendary MG racer Barry Sidery-Smith with meticulous attention to detail. Existing parts have been painstakingly restored or replaced and some non-standard period competition parts have been sourced with no expense spared.

Its first public appearance after restoration was at the Le Mans Classic in 2008 and it has the historical technical passport, meaning it’s eligible for other such prestigious events, including the Goodwood Revival, Monaco Classic GP and other pre-65 invitation races.

The MGB will be offered up on June 2, complete with documentation – including letters from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the BMC competition department – original handbooks, racing instructions, receipts, restoration archive photographs, magazine articles and newspaper clippings from 1964 and 1965.