MG Midget Racecar Preparation Details

[BritishV8]

I'm very curious to hear what Ten-Tenths members have to say about this, one of the most reliably quick MG vintage racecars in North America:

Harry Gentry's MG Midget Mk1 Racecar (article includes 55 close-up photos!)

How does this car differ from how Midgets are prepared where you race?

[Peter Mallett]

What are you looking for? The mod-sport Midgets that run with the MG Car Club are probably around 1400cc. Does the car in your pic run an A Series engine? If so what size?

Have a look here to see the regs for the Midget Challenge. http://www.mgmidgetchallenge.co.uk/

[Tim Falce]

1275 A series Peter

[midgetman]

Most popular racing size is 1380cc. Rumour has it even Appx K stuff....

This car is being discussed in somewhat er...."intensive"....depth on a specialist forum.

[Peter Mallett]

Ooh do tell.

[midgetman]

Actually it's all a bit anal, regarding front cross members, different height sidelights, roll cage design and stuff. And that's only my contribution!

Oh and the fact that the pipework and couplings cost probably more than my entire racing budget, ever!

[SAMD]

Whats wrong with the rear arches? they dont look right.

[midgetman]

They've been "eased" to get wider wheels under the square arches of the early cars. Always done in period with a jack!

[BritishV8]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Does the car in your pic run an A Series engine?

Vintage racing classes here mirror old SCCA classes... In the photo above, the letters "FP" on the side of the car indicate this car meets the main "F Production" specification - i.e. 1275cc engine. (FP is the top class for Spridgets here. "GP" Spridgets have 1098cc engines. "HP" Spridgets have 948cc engines.)

Incidentally, in North America pretty much all vintage racing clubs require Spridgets run steel fenders.

The article I linked to includes 55 photos with captions and a full list of specs as well as background info.

Sportscar Vintage Racing Association is probably the largest vintage club east of the Mississippi. THIS CAR is a two time SVRA champion. Harry Gentry towed his Midget to Sears Point (Infineon) raceway in California earlier this year - 2513 miles! - to participate in the MG Vintage Racers' annual west coast focus event. There, he won the all-MG (all model) feature race by beating out some very tough competition on their home track!

[ken clarke]

Pictures show 2 different cylinder heads. Looks like an awful lot of unnecessary pipework to run a Midget!!!

[gilduffy]

Hi Mr. V8!

The Midget looks great and shares many of the mods we use in the UK

For 2012 the 36th year of the MG Midget Challenge has joined forces with the Austin Healey Sprite Championship as the Lackford Engineering Midget & Sprite Championship. The class structure has been enlarged to cover cars built to both the Midget and Sprite Championships. This will allow existing drivers to enter without the need to alter their cars.

Your car would fit right into our Class E and you could increase the size of the brakes and fit a Weber if you wished!

We hope to have bumper grids this year and have a great set of circuits including Silverstone GP lined up.

It would be great to hear from any 'lapsed' Midget Racers (this includes you Max!) who should not fight the urge to dust down the old car (and the old self?) and join us.

Special welcome to an US cars - or is that a bit too optomistic?

Gil