Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: MG F2
Mot Expiry: N/A

An often neglected part of the 1950s MG scene were the special builders that arose for a variety of reasons not least of which was the inability to get hold of new cars, which especially affected some parts of the globe including South Africa. The story of many of the British built cars like the Lester and Cooper MGs are in their own way legendary and in America T-Type's and specials built using MG components were raced extensively by people like Al Coppel, Bud Hand, John Edgar, Jack McCaffee and Ken Miles and were very quick indeed. Ken Miles in particular was very successful with his chassis' made from 3.5" diameter steel tubing, rack and pinion steering, Y-Type front suspension and a TD MK2 engine bored to 1466cc.
The Australians were also enthusiastic importers of MGs, both before and after the war, and many were raced with competitors searching constantly for weight reduction and looking to build specials around the basic MG mechanical parts. One of these, of course, was the TB Special built by Alf Najar, which won the 1946 New South Wales Grand Prix but other exponents included Curly Brydon and Ray Fowler but there were many more who recognised the MG brand was born to race.
In South Africa motor racing was extremely popular and many competition cars found their way out there when their racing career was over in Europe and this included ERAs, Alfa Romeo's and even an R-Type MG, the Doreen Evans car which happens to be in today's sale as well. As with the rest of the world, MG special's were popular and raced in the Fairfield Trophy and the Settler's Race Series driven by drivers like Peirce, Miller and Philip. Of these the most successful exponent was Harry Peirce from Johannesburg who built a number of cars around MG T-Type components.
His early efforts used TC chassis frames with modified suspension and lighter bodywork with the later cars having a bespoke and space frame design but always run as MG Special's due to the use of that marque engines and gearboxes. As well as being a quick and forceful driver he was a gifted engineer and recorded many wins against far more powerful machinery which was proof not only of his undoubted skill at the wheel but also of his ability to combine reduced weight and good road holding characteristics for all his cars.
The Formula 2 MG Special on offer for you today is the last of Peirce's cars, which was inspired by an Autosport cutaway drawing of a then early 1950s Grand Prix car. The space frame chassis was constructed from Renault's tubing and he used Lancia Aprilia all round independent suspension with sliding pillar at the front and torsion bars to the rear. Hydraulic brakes was also courtesy of Lancia Aprilia drums which were in-board to the rear and out-board to the front. Power came from the tuned XPAG which was mated to a TC gearbox and a Lancia Aprilia final drive and Peirce used to fit engines of different capacities depending on which event he was running in and just how strictly the rules were being applied and apparently this car had on a variety of times a 1255cc, a 1340cc and a 1466cc engine.
Dating from 1951 the car appeared in many race reports of the day and one of the first events it took part in was at the Palmietfontein Circuit where Peirce's 'up to the minute MG Special was just beaten by a hard driven supercharged Alfa Romeo. By way of consolation though he followed this by winning the All-comers handicap race at the Roy Hesketh circuit near Pietermaritzburg. It was then on to the Settlers Trophy but this was not Peirce's day as the car retired and to make matters worse his previous MG Special had a good result in the hands of Mr A. Blignaut. In November the car took first place in the major event of the day at the National Grand Central Meeting at the Johannesburg Circuit where it had a long racing battle with the D-Type Jaguar driven by Rhodesian Jimmy De Villier with the matter being settled in the MG's favour when one of the bags of cement placed in the Jaguar to give it more rear end grip burst ensuring the Jaguar span.

Peirce's older car again raced by Mr. A. Blignaut came second and in the scratch race at the same meeting the Peirce was placed second in the 1500cc class behind the Cooper Climax. The Peirce achieved some notable results including third in the Settler's Trophy and fourth in the Rand Winter Trophy but as time passed on through the fifties, car development was going on a pace and the delightfully engineered and constructed car was soon to be superceded.
It was acquired in 1988 and imported into the UK and raced in supercharged, or blown, form by both Martin Stretton and Rae Davis. The basic car was very original when it arrived at Tony Steel's workshops to be fully restored and the engine and TC gearbox was entrusted to the XPAG guru George Edney who rebuilt it in 1466cc form. With a laced all aluminium head, a racing cam shaft and two twin choke weather carburettors the engine now develops at least as much power as it would have done in the car's heyday. When the paint was stripped the original Bellevue Garage shade of blue was revealed and so it was restored in this very attractive colour in which you find it today and it was ready once again to take on much larger opposition.
It was entrusted to Tim Dutton of Ivan Dutton Racing and went to the Silverstone Historic Festival. In the pre-1961 Grand Prix Car Race Rae Davis double headed where it finished 22nd out of a field of 34 finishers beating 250F Maserati's, Cooper Bristol's and a Lister Jaguar and in the final results posted after the second heat it was placed 17th out of 39 finishers. Not bad for a mere special.
Since then the car has appeared practically everywhere including back in South Africa courtesy of the David Piper race series at the early part of 2002, it has been to Goodwood on four separate occasions, it has been accepted for every event it has applied for whilst it has been competed on many occasions with the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association and the Vintage Sports Car Club and others and as it did in period has beaten some much more powerful machinery and will continue to do so.
The car last appeared at Goodwood in 2004 but unfortunately the engine lost its oil and expired so George Edney was once again rebuilding the engine and gearbox. This time he reduced the cubic capacity to a full race 1350cc specification but it has not been used by Simon Hope, H&H's Managing Director since, due to domestic and increased work pressures. It was being prepared then by Adrian Rush and his Legends company and Adrian is the only person to use it since in a 12 lap race at Oulton Park during the summer of 2005. As always it ran faultlessly.
One of the beauties of the car is its ability to handle, and although on power circuits with its engine size it is obviously compromised down the straights, it more than makes up for this round the corners as can be seen in its results on the Grand Prix Circuit at the Historic Festivals. It still beats much more powerful opposition but on tight twisty circuits it leaves multi-million dollar cars languishing.
It is genuinely an extremely pretty car and one that is recognised wherever it goes. It has formed the basis for many articles in the press all over the world and being MG mechanicals it is extremely cost effective to maintain.
The car that is invited everywhere and admired wherever it goes, and as it naturally has a complete set of UK issued FIA papers, it has to be without doubt the cheapest entry into Single Seater historic racing available anywhere in the world.

Please Note: The comments below should be self-explanatory and are given so that the full state of this car is known to any potential buyer.
Dear Simon,
The car is in fine fettle as you know however further to its most recent inspection in the preventative maintenance programme, the brake issues on the Peirce is reasonably serious (like most brake issues are!).
1. Firstly the drums are not running true, need to be re-machined!
2. There are also a few hairline cracks appearing on the drums from this hot spotting!
3. The shoes are not fully bedded in on the fronts due to these two issues , this would of course assist the stopping once rectified.
4. The rear wheel cylinders are burnt and weeping, this would cause long pedal and needs for rebleeds. At this stage its not quite on the shoes, but is never far behind!
5. Most serious is that the rivets are starting to separate from the hub to drum on the brake drums, so this needs to be sorted asap.
Call me to discuss.
Very Best Regards
Adrian Rush
Legends Racing Team