Mg Does It Again (1957)

Abingdon on the River Thames the mg car factory from these drawing boards over the years have come one model after another of a world-famous family of sports cars right now the draughtsman are working on a very special job that of designing the fastest one and a half litre car in the world a car tailor-made to fit one of the fastest drivers in the world Stirling Moss it's no new problem for the Abingdon experts for mgs have been breaking international class records for the past 27 years in fact one of the one and a half liter class F records this car is going to tackle the flying mile was set up by an mg in 1939 and has remained unbroken ever since even though the one and a half liter engine was for seven years for standard Grand Prix formula basically the engine of this new mg special is the British Motor corporation's B series power unit as fitted to numerous models of the current BMC range of cars the target is four miles a minute twenty percent above the existing record and to get that out of a one and a half litre engine mean some pretty revolutionary thinking about body design and streamlining from the fact that the driving position has been shifted right forward into the nose of the car in front of the engine you can see that the designers have been very revolutionary indeed all the former mg record breakers had a more or less Orthodox chassis with a streamlined skin wrapped round it to the best advantage this time the approach is reversed the body shape has been determined primarily by aerodynamic requirements and the layout of the machinery not to mention sterling mass has been planned to fit the shell Windtunnel tests favored two possible basic shapes the classic torpedo of circular cross-section and the half torpedo or mobile blister the problem boiled down to one of distorting the ideal torpedo to the minimum extent necessary to enable it to run on four wheels the final answer was a form of flattened torpedo a substantial aerofoil both in plan and inside elevation Stirling Moss arrives for a fitting the overall height of the car to the top of the driver's car is only 38 in the quarter inches and to the top of the main body share only 30 and 1/8 inches so the only way to fit the driver in is to come in a semi reclining position mas climbs into the driving seat to see how it feels everything must be perfect for a fault that would only be a minor discomfort at a mile a minute could be disastrous at four miles a minute is there enough elbow room mas and the designers discuss the layout point by point the steering gear is a B rack and pinion type with a light alloy steering wheel attach direct to the steering pinion shaft the steering wheel folds out of the way to allow mass to enter and leave the car while mas and the experts are discussing the final alterations here are a few more facts apart from the requirements of streamlining another advantage of having the engine towards the back of the car and the driving position in front so far in front actually that the pedals are only an inch or two from the nose is that the weight is shifted out to secure adequate traction from the rear wheels when the single disc brake which is mounted inboard is applied the pedal also operates an air flap which cools the brake the engine is a four cylinder overhead valve type with twin cam shock it is fitted with twin su carburettors and a short eccentric main supercharger the brake horsepower is approximately 280 at an engine speed of about 7000 rpm the body is a 48-hour mininum alloy sheeting mounted on bulkheads of the same material with a small amount of square steel tube framing the hole being welded and riveted integrally with the tubular chassis frame except that the nose of the body hinges forward to admit the driver and the center top is removable to give access to the engine another result of the streamlining is that the rear wheel track is extremely narrow only thirty and three-quarter inches the front wheel track is nearly a foot wider wheel base is eight feet and the overall length just over 15 feet front suspension independent parallel wishbone with coil springs rear suspension quarter elliptic leaf springs with radius rod control all of which adds up to a safe and comfortable a record challenger as anyone could wish for sterling is well pleased he has no major criticisms and those he does make are constructive and welcomed you the 1939 flying mile record set up by liftin and Colonel Goldie Gardner was on the Autobahn at Dessau in Germany but at the new speeds which it is hoped to achieve not even the finest Road in the world is really suitable especially as records up to ten kilometres are to be tackled at the same time so after careful consideration it was decided to make this year's attempt at Bonneville which might have been designed by nature for speed record attempts thousands of miles by Road and sea just to drive a few miles on a dried-up lake but if all the hopes of a team of enthusiastic scientists and craftsmen come to fruition those few miles will make history and for such a thoroughbred as the MG special only one liner will do right now there are a lot of fingernails being bitten to the quick but there's no need to worry the dockworkers know their job too early morning over Salt Lake City and the long journey is nearly done here comes the trailer with the precious load safe and sound those fingernails can start growing again incidentally the choice of an American location for the world record attempt means that if all goes well the mg special will capture the corresponding American records as well national titles may be less important than world ones but all the same they would be a feather in britain's cap in view of the present keen international competition and the importance of the american market to britain's motor industry Bonneville Salt Flats are flat but they have weather in Utah as well and there's no harm in improving on nature and making them even better no man has a better right to be here than captain George Ison on the left it was he who captured mg's first world record 27 years ago he has broken more records and understands the art better than any man alive he has held the world's land speed record three times and each time he won it right here on Bonneville's Salt Flats now the 60-year old captain is an administrative charge of Mg record-breaking activities in America when the special is ready for testing he sends an American driver out in her first to make sure she hasn't suffered in any way from the long journey meanwhile at the official timing stand the electronic timing equipment is being installed and connected up the sturdy but sensitive instruments have to be and are foolproof for at four miles a minute a difference of one mile an hour is only about a sixteenth of a second in the mile and speeds have to be calculated to the nearest hundredth of a mile an hour no snags so far now for a run in the other direction captain Iceland and the other officials watch while the car is cleaned up ready for checking before the actual record attempt everything seems to have gone very smoothly the test driver reports that she handles beautifully and the engine is running just as it should the mechanics make their final adjustments cost an expert eye over the chassis and the big moments almost here sterling Moss is ready record-breaking Zanu departure for him except of course Grand Prix lap records which he breaks with almost monotonous regularity but he's one of the fastest men in the world when he's surrounded by other cars and a twisting circuit so given a car that says near-perfect as research and ingenuity can make it a flat straight track and no one else in sight well it should be a piece of cake the officials are in their places the timing equipment is ready conditions are perfect and mas is away and from the moment the MG special crosses the start line it's obvious the old records are going to be smashed by a handsome marching the only question is by how big a margin record attempts of course have to be made with two runs in opposite directions the official speed being the average of the two this is the first run and sterling Moss's maximum speed is well over the 4 miles a minute mark nearing the end of the first run and now the decisive return run one by one the records pile up one kilometer two hundred and forty five point six four miles an hour one mile two hundred and forty five point one one miles an hour five kilometers 243 point oh eight miles an hour five miles 235 point six nine miles an hour and 10 kilometers 220 4.70 miles an hour 5 World Records all broken by about 20% and 5 American records into the bargain veteran record breaker George Ison applauds the brilliant young man was maintained the fine tradition that Iceland and the mg experts began when Stirling Moss was a year old baby a tradition that has been built up by a blend of creative genius and painstaking labor a tradition which has kept mg cars in the front rank for more than a quarter of a century yes this is a great achievement but the mg people are already thinking about the next it's that refusal to be satisfied which makes the name of mg second to none in the world

Channel: British Pathé

Views: 72,700

Keywords: Morris, Captain, newsreel, motor, Salt, George, City, Shorrock, Car, Queen, Company, MGs, Garages, Reuters, BritishPathe, 2711.02, Ltd, factories, USA, U.S.A., ships, States, Bonneville, Moss, Abingdon-on-Thames, Flats, promotion, America, sunrise, United, of, cars, footage, Lake, British Pathe, advertising, Utah, documentary, Mary, MG, Eyston, DOCS, Stirling

Id: Uxtth9ObN_Q

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 13 2014