MG TA, TB, TC, QT for Sale | Steve Baker MGs 1936-1955

Angouleme. It's always a hectic trip, pleasure you inflict upon yourself I suppose, and this year was no different. 

As I previously mentioned, I took Freddie Yhap's old MG TA down for the race this year. It had been standing some time and so it was necessary to replace the old copper head gasket and install a new set of brake shoes (safety fast and all that). I do wonder, though, whether the typically ridiculous amounts of oil leaking from the differential might have somewhat hampered the brakes' effectiveness (how's that for a racing driver excuse). Whilst I'm on the topic of excuses, I will also say that my tyres left a little to be desired and must have been approaching their late teens (I'll forget to mention that they did, in their defence, begin life as 15" Dunlop race rubbers which are in no way in keeping). 

I opted to take the citroen, whilst my son Luke went with Peter Greenaway in the van taking mine and Peter's cars. I did have to wonder whether leaving my car relatively unattended with Peter (who is always a favourite for the podium) was a wise move but it seemed to arrive in one piece and as far as I could tell the rotor arm and half shafts remained in place (see; car pranks 101) and my charriot was running well.

It was a weekend of mixed weather and qualifying saw a heavy bout of showers to compound the cruelty of it taking place at 8.30am on the Sunday morning. This left my aged tyres utterly out at sea (you have no idea how literally) and despite the car feeling like it had plenty of grunt I struggled to translate this to a result and would line up on the grid in sixth place.

Thankfully things improved through the day and by the time of the race the clouds had subsided and it was time for those Dunlops to shine. Rather than do my best Murray Walker impression, I will let the video below speak for itself. 

Although I'll understand if you have better ways to spend half an hour.. I finished third despite a couple of minor blips, one being a disagreement with a barrier another a racing incident (sure that's how Lewis Hamilton would see it) with my old MG TB (of all the cars). I had a great time despite the prolonged periods behind the safety car, in truth I'm sure I wasn't the only one grateful for the enforced mechanical sympathy and relative relaxation as there were a few smoking brakes, exhausts, even drivers after the race.

My congratulations of course go to Charles Reynolds in his Morgan super sport and Stuart Dean in the well known Dick Jacobs MG YB special who both pipped me to the post finishing first and second respectively. If the organisers will have me back I'm sure I'll be there again, to have another go and am already looking forward to Angouleme 2012. 

It's been an extremely hectic couple of months here and I can scarcely believe that it is already time to be thinking about the Bealieu autojumble and Angouleme's circuit-des-Remparts race. I will have a stand at Beaulieu with one of my Q-Type bodies, some superchargers & seats for sale so please feel free to come over, have a nose and say hello. It would be nice to know who I'm writing to. A happy customer sent me this photograph of a body tub loosely fitted, I'm very happy with the way they're evolving and I'm always looking for feedback and ideas. 

In car sales news. The black MG TC, blue MG TA/Q and burgundy TA/Q have all found loving homes and I am sure they will continue to bring joy to their respective owners for many years to come. The only new arrival of note has been sold before hitting the page! I bought this MG TA for sentimental reasons as it was owned by a good friend of mine, the late Freddie Yhap, it's impressive history and fierce 1500c+ engine have already persuaded another friend of mine to buy the car and I'm very happy I'll be able to keep tabs on her!

I'm sure you'll have seen that I've uploaded several photographs from my weekend at Angouleme. What a weekend it was. My car ran very well, managing a fifth place finish in what was a very competitive grid and without major incident. That said Dougal from Longstone tyres did give a practical demonstration of his stopping power, during first lap, by parking infront of me on the second to last corner!

Interestingly there were two historic races this year, which meant that my friends', Mick Heywood and Peter Greenaway, MGs featured separately. This gave me a rare opportunity to watch MGs on the track at Angouleme, including Jean-Lucs TA / Q type. It was an interesting grid and very entertaining to watch the three wheeled Morgan's battling at the front. Unfortunately Pete lost his supercharger belt towards the end of the race and dropped off the pace, he did however record his second finish and is already talking of next year. The results were as follows:

I've now  added footage of the race to the Videos section above including a video taken from my car. I must apologise that it's off centre, I was offered the camera moments before going on track and without any proper fixing brackets gaffa tape had to suffice. I hope you enjoying watching the videos and seeing the photographs, I have the originals so if your car features then please get in touch. Here's a short clip to get you going. 

Here's another shot of my old race TB, I felt it should go on as I actually won this race! It's from Angouleme, 2002 I believe. Rest assured that I am no Michael Schumacher, but I'd been thrown in with the Bugattis (proof if proof was needed that you don't need to spend a fortune to have a good time). That said my win didn't go down too well and I still haven't received the prize, maybe it's in the post..

What a weekend it's been. I set off last Thursday with my son Luke, friend Martin and MG folk Andy King & Peter Greenaway to Angouleme. The race there has become extremely popular and is always well attended by the locals - well worth the extra push to be ready in time and my thanks go to Martin for his help. The car was near-finished and I'd had her set up for reliability with 85 hp at the wheels. The photo below shows us all but ready and raring to go.

We travelled from Portsmouth to St Malo and then a leisurely drive down to arrive mid-afternoon on Friday. This gave us plenty of time to take in the sights and enjoy the local cuisine. Having been before we knew just where to stay and were lucky to have plenty of space to store the cars. The town itself is picturesque and the cars only serve to add to it all.  

The atmosphere in and around the pits wasn't damaged by the rain, although the qualifying times definately suffered for it. This was also the first time I'd pushed the car, which had only 300 miles on the clock before going on the trailer! Enough excuses, I ended up a respectable 10th (of 16) but with a poor time of 1 minute 18 seconds. Pete managed the quickest of the group, 1 minute 12.5 seconds, though this was poor compared to his 1 minute 5 the previous year it still put him third on the grid. Here we are rolling out of the pits:

The rain continued through the weekend and a mere two hours before the race it looked likely to be called off, though thankfully the Gods smiled on us and we were granted a reprieve. As we lined up on the grid the track had recovered nicely and Pete's chances of finally finishing at Angouleme were looking up! You can see some highlights of the race below (there's also a film on the Videos section).

1. You can see me below having just snuck past Barry Foster's C-type, I'm sure it was luck!

2. Pete below with Bjarne Berner driving Paddy Wilmer's old car, dubbed "the Blue Nail". It's funny these two cars should meet again - they used to see a lot of each other when Paul Smeeth had Pete's car! Pete was doing Smeeth proud, still driving like a lunatic despite a damaged clutch & clinging on to third place - which he claimed just a few laps later.

3. Andy below in his special K, a 170 hp breakfast cereal running on pure methanol (you can imagine how worried he was when it looked to be a cold day!) He can be seen closing in on our good friend Mick in the car Andy built for him.  

I hope this gives you a taste of the fun we had, you can also find more photos via the link above and a nice race video below:

She's ALIVE!!! Delighted to say the car's running and has been on the rolling road at Peter Burgess', I'll let the video do the talking:

Well with weeks to go until she's at Angouleme it's no surprise that the TC is now taking up all of my time. I previously posted a photo of the engine, I've now got around to putting it in and it's sitting beautifully. It has also been primed and the timings are set. Those of you with a good eye will also spot the racing seats & newly added mirrors. The front's also taking shape with the rad in place and complete with my hood mascot - the pig! The supercharger is at the machine shop currently with the roll cage also absent being powder coated. The chrome work is done and will be fitted shortly. It'll be a close call but I'm confident she'll be finished in time to impress the crowds in France.

As you'll see the engine build's progressed nicely since I last updated you. So far it's all gone to plan, including a balanced EN40 crankshaft, Peter Burgess cylinder head, H section con-rods with ARB bolts and a set of JE forged pistons .080 oversize. I'll be adding a more content this week and will keep you posted!

My friend's car, a.k.a. the competition at Angouleme! I'm modelling my TC on this one and I hope it'll be every bit as mean! She has a 1300cc engine coupled with an Eaton m62 supercharger (extended nose piece). It's a standard TC gearbox with new bearings and a reinforced backplate. For a little extra in the corners my friend's added a Ford LSD with race halfshafts and a new bearing seal conversion. The radiator has an extra wide core and thus no fan. Nothing has been left to chance with this awesome machine, which showed over 135 BHP at the wheels at Peter Baldwin's the other week. 

At last the engine block has returned from the machine shop! It seems like an age since I first posted the component photos online. The engine has been acid cleaned and then put in a sonic bath - no skimping. If you are going to get all that power out of your XPAG you will need the timing wheel, dial gauage and an adjustable gear. It can take hours to get that little extra out of the camshaft, it's a dark art and one that I'm proud to say I've mastered - few people go this far but it's worth every second if you've got the know how.