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Anybody Race their MG?

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M

MGA Racer

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I don't have an MG yet, but my dad has a 1961 MGA Roadster. Some friends of mine are into the import racing thing, and Hondas are not for me. So i was thinking of building some other kind of "import" to race. i though an MG would be great, lightweight, classic style, and possible could break 14 sec. in the 1/4 mile.
My dads MGA has the 1800cc from an MGB, is that motor able to be built up? How hard is that?
Am i just crazy, or has anyone done this before?
Thanks.
 
I have a '58 and 62 MGA. I do the local club autocrosses and endurance rallies. It's a blast. Sometime we compete against Miatas but mostly MGs. You can check out your local MG club or SCCA for more info and classes.

A few guys in the club race vintage wheel-to-wheel tracks. I don't have the budget for that...
shocked.gif


Steve
 
I think it depends on what you call "racing". I "road race" and "autocross" my MG regularly.

But I think *you* mean "drag racing". For what it's worth, I think drag racing an MG is a complete waste of time. Taking a British sports car drag racing is like taking a low-rider off-roading....doesn't make sense....you could spend $10K souping up an MGA motor and your Mom's mini-van would probably still beat it in the 1/4 mile.

As Scott has said above, these old Brit car engines simply can't compete with a modern FI 16-V tuner-motor....and they're not supposed to.

If you're interested in small bore (import tuner class) drag racing, there are lots of better choices. The Civic is the obvious choice, but the hot tip (I think) is a Kia with all the Miata go-fast parts (Miatas and Kias use the same Mazda block...there are lots of speed parts for Miatas). For about $5K you could buy a nice used Kia and for about $5K in engine mods you could have a car with about 240 HP at the wheels. For the same money ($10K) you could barely buy a nice 65HP MGA.

Now that I've said that, let me say that I'd rather have the MGA.....but I'd run it in events it was *meant* for, such as autocross and time trails. No offense to the import/tuner-folks (they do some neat stuff with motors), but frankly, drag racing is sort of, well.....boring. Autocross is tons more fun (IMO)....really challenging! Look at the SCCA schedule for Solo II (autocross) near you....even if you run your family sedan (and you can) you'll have blast. Info at:

https://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/regional_sch.html

Either way, G'luck.
 
If you are looking to take out some Civics in the Stoplight Grand Prix, look elsewhere, unless your budget stretches to a Cobra with a 427 Cammer in it. You will also most likely be made fun of by the Civic and Eclipse boys because they only seem to like Civics and Eclipses (and their budgets can't stretch to a Skyline GTR or a Supra Turbo). I am making this judgement based on the types of guys around here-the types who think it's funny to roll up in their bodykitted Civic (when I'm out in the MGB), pull up, rev the motor, and peel out, giving me the finger and calling me names.
On the other paw, a pretty cool sleeper can be made from an MGA with a B mill, for autocrossing, say, and while not as fast as a decked out Japanese grocery getter with the pedal to the metal, they're still plenty quick enough for road use. Dad's B is pretty punchy, with a mildly uprated engine. Plus, if you go the autocross route, nothing shuts the street racing posers up than a rollbar with scrutineering stickers on it.
-William
 
Racer,

In todays world you probably will never be competitive with the Hondas et al in a stock MGA. They are fifty years up on technology. I know I never could equal my stock VW Golf times with my Austin Healey. You can prerare an MGA to be competitive in a higher class but it will cost you big time. Racing doesn't always have to be about winning but it helps. You can enjoy trying to improve yours times and get great satisfaction from your efforts. Racing an old british sports car is a great deal of fun and worth the price of addmission. By the way, wouldn't that be 14 seconds to 60 mph. The Austin Healey 100 with a Hunter head delivered 214 HP out of 2660 cc and ran 14.6 seconds in the 1/4. An MGB will be 1900-2000 cc at the most.

Safety fast
SB
 
o.k. thanks everybody for the replies. So these old MG's are not that quick? i though since they were so small and light that with a little engine work and maybe that supercharger they would be really quick. Is there a way to swap out a different engine maybe a inline six or V-6 or even a V-8?
 
If you wanna take on the rice kids, get a Mini with a vTech in it. Supposedly goes 0-60 in 5 sec. flat. I'd love to see the look on their faces. 'course, the above mentioned car sells for $20,000 if I remember right from one of the online mini places.
 
The old motors in most of the four cylinder British roadsters are stone aged technology compared to engines of even ten years ago. My 1989 Honda CRX-1600cc twin cam 16-valver-was much more powerful than the MGB, which was 200cc bigger. Yeah, big V-8s can be squeezed into these cars (Rover V-8s are popular MGB conversions), and I've seen an A with one in a magazine. Problem is, that old technology of the engines is matched by most of these cars suspensions. That MGA with the Rover V-8 had mucho bucks spent on the suspension to make it even remotely capable of handling the horsepower. Light weight can only take you so far. And bigger mills weigh more, which means that to get that weight advantage back you need to spend more money stripping things out of the car. Its a vicious cycle, and if you are just looking to show off on the street, a ten year old Civic will be much more cost effective.
-Wm.
 
Alternatively you could go the european route if you want to be different from the rice boys. A VW Golf or Jetta with a breathed-on engine, or even a VR-6 from a wrecked later model car would be a good way to go. That VR-6 can really scoot in stock form, and if you add a few readily-available performance parts then you will be much more "competitive".

[ 09-25-2002: Message edited by: Steve ]</p>
 
VW Rabbit/Golf GTi's are quite fast if tuned. They can be picked up for cheap if you can find them and there is large aftermarket support for them.
 
Here is another nice place to whine about the new MGs not making the pondhop. I would love to see a nice tuned MG hatch upside one of these kitted out freaks.

I did note a Ford RS200 kit from Bonham. With a nicely tuned Vtech it could stand a chance of being quite outragous. Or there are the Chaterham 7s similarly powered. Or what would it take to put a Vtech in an A? I don't think the weight gains would be too high, but you might want to be sure you can stop the thing at the end of the track.

Or just don't worry about them. They are only wishing they were sporting half the heritage. Jag is not the only cache to be had in British cars. At least around here, they all seem to claim some mystique that the Civics and Camrys can never claim to.

MattP

'97 Escort and proud of the rallye heritage behind it. Now if I could just talk business with the company in Cali importing the Cosworths, I'd be in trouble.
 
what about putting a Chevy 4.3 V-6 with a carb set-up? if you change the cam and put headers on it, you can get about 250 hp.
 
i'm not really a Honda kind of guy, both of my cars are GM(a 2000 Impala and a 2001 S-10 Xtreme)
would the engine from a Honda S2000 fit in an MGA?
that would definatly make this car fly.
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by William:
<snip> (Rover V-8s are popular MGB conversions)<snip><hr></blockquote>

A guy who recently joined our local club has the Rover V8 in his B. That thing is faaaaast!

Basil
 
There is really only one option if you want 1/4 times in the 14s in an MGA.

Modern Engine swap. In the UK they use the Rover K series out of the MGF. There isnt really a suitable US equivalant and it would not be cheap.

Anyway most civics wont be running 14s. USDM civics are all show, alot of them struggle to get into the 16s.

I wouldnt worry about trying to get fast 1/4 times thats not what MGs are about
 
You've received loads of good advice, most of it suggesting that you forget making a racer out of the MGA and try something else. I agree. Besides, why screw up a perfectly good MGA? They are slowly disappearing into rust piles anyway. Suggestion: Sell the MGA as is thru the North American MGA Register (NAMGAR) or thru Hemmings and get another car that that you can race more successfully. I think moding the "A" will be expensive and disappointing. MGAs are fast around corners, not in straight lines.

If you want contact info for NAMGAR, let me know.
 
I wouldn't bother drag racing an MG. You can fit a 2.8-3.4L Chev V6 or a Buick 3.8L V6 in a B but push it over 200hp you'll real problems with the diff. I have seen some tubbed LBC with big V8s but these not much left of the origional car. For drag racing nothing beats a Datsun 240Z with Chevy small block V8 in it. If you insist on fwd then the turbo DSMs are quite tunable.
 
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