1936 MG PB Supercharged

Lot details
Registration No: HS 8860
Chassis No: PB0528
Mot Expiry: Exempt

- Specially ordered for competition usage by J. Scott-Hepburn and later raced by E.C. Harewood (nee Haesendonck)

- Campaigned at Brooklands, Crystal Palace, Goodwood and the British Empire Trophy

- Refurbished by Fiennes Restoration at a cost of over £77,000 in 2013-2014

Specially ordered for competition usage, chassis PB0528 was supplied new by Andersons Ltd of Newton Mearns, Scotland to trials driver J. Scott-Hepburn who had it fitted with a bespoke, lightweight body. Road registered as 'HS 8660' on February 1st 1936, the two-seater accompanied Scott-Hepburn south when he became an MG Car Company employ some three months later. Acquired by E.C. Haesendonck (whose brother John campaigned one of the MG PB 'Cream Cracker' Team Cars) in June 1937, copy factory invoices show that it was 'tuned specially for Brooklands'. Not content with outings at the famous Weybridge circuit, Haesendonck also ran chassis PB0528 at Crystal Palace. Embracing supercharging for the 1938 season, he drove against Cyril Hawley's Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, George Abecassis' blown Alta 2-litre, Peter Aitken's Frazer Nash-BMW, D.A. Loader's SS Jaguar and Arthur Dobson's Riley Six to finish 10th overall in the Crystal Palace Plate Handicap Race on August 13th 1938. Faring considerably better during the Crystal Palace Imperial Plate Race on October 8th 1938, Haesendonck crossed the line 3rd behind A.F.P. Lane's Frazer Nash-BMW and George Abecassis' blown Alta 2-litre. Increasingly familiar with the South London track, Harewood steered 'HS 8660' to 4th place (2nd in class) in the Crystal Palace Plate Handicap Race on July 1st 1939 and 5th place during the Crystal Palace Imperial Plate Race on August 26th 1939.

Thought to have changed his surname in order to join the RAF, E.C. Harewood (nee E.C. Haesendonck) and his age-defying PB were soon 'back in action' post-WW2 competing at anything from 'Club' to 'International' level. A formidable combination their exploits at the 1949 West Hants & Dorset Car Club Blandford Camp Meeting were later documented by Works MG driver Dick Jacobs in his book 'An MG Experience'. Reputedly part of a three-car MG team that contested the AMOC's David Brown Challenge Cup Relay Race at Silverstone on July 28th 1951, 'HS 8660' is then thought to have won the West Essex Car Club's Boreham Meeting before picking up two 3rd places during the BARC Members' Meeting at Goodwood on August 18th 1951. Returning to the West Sussex circuit for another BARC Members' Meeting on March 22nd 1952, Harewood claimed 1st and 2nd places in the First and Fifth 5-lap Handicap races respectively. Refusing to grow old gracefully - or slowly - 'HS 8660' gave what was arguably its greatest performance during the BRDC's British Empire Trophy Race on June 18th 1953. Held over the Isle of Man's challenging Douglas Circuit, the event was spilt up into three heats and a handicap staggered final. With an entry list that included the likes of Reg Parnell (Aston Martin DB3S), Stirling Moss (Jaguar C-type), Hans Ruesch (Ferrari 340), Desmond Titterington (Allard), Ken Wharton (Frazer-Nash Le Mans Rep.), Alan Brown (Cooper-Bristol) and Cliff Davis (Cooper-MG), the seventeen-year old PB seemed hopelessly out of place.

Yet when the flag fell for Heat 1 (up to 1500cc), it shrugged aside a half-litre capacity deficit, inferior aerodynamics and comparatively crude suspension to finish 4th out of fourteen. Lining up third on the grid come the final (thanks to Jim Mayers' withdrawal), Harewood got a tremendous start. Running second by the end of lap one, he inherited the overall and class leads from Cliff Davis on lap four (a scenario that stunned the spectators and commentators alike). Christened the 'Beam Axle Bombshell' by Autosport magazine, 'HS 8660' sadly succumbed to transmission failure at just over half race distance. Seemingly retired from competition not long afterwards, it fell into obscurity. Surmising that his newly acquired PB had once been a racer, Hampshire-resident Peter Vane wrote to the MG Car Company in March 1963. As well as confirming his suspicions - 'this vehicle has in its initial stages received considerable attention at these Works and at one time was raced at Brooklands' - the factory also identified that the car had undergone an engine change (unit 740 APB being supplanted by 2223A 165P). Taken off the road during 1966, 'HS 8660' was purchased as a partially dismantled project by renowned pre-WW2 MG collector and restorer Peter Gregory some seven years later.

'HS 8860' was sold by Peter Gregory to Kenneth Hawes in 2001 and in May 2003 was acquired from the latter by the current vendor. Since then the PB has been raced extensively in historic events throughout Europe and the UK at venues including Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring, Porto, Cadwell Park, Donington Park, Silverstone, etc. Following a racing accident at Silverstone where the car was barrel-rolled, the body had to be scrapped. The car was then stripped, the chassis crack-tested, the axles refurbished and a complete new body made, with inspiration from the Scott-Hepburn creation. Completed in January 2014, this work was carried out by the renowned Fiennes Restorations at a cost of £77,671 and is to an excellent standard. The interior though, is still spartan and stripped for racing.

Full and continuous since the car was built, the racing career of this historically very important MG, which includes pre-war competition at Brooklands and Crystal Palace, is documented by the contents of several lever-arch files. Offered for sale with old-style logbook, (copy) MG factory correspondence, Crystal Palace and Goodwood programmes, modern race results, sundry bills, assorted magazines, a copy of 'An MG Experience', V5C registration document and VSCC 'buff form' (to be updated by the new owner). A race-ready ticket of admission to a wide variety of the most prestigious international historic events.

PLEASE NOTE: The above account of HS 8660's history is by no means definitive and we would ask potential purchasers to satisfy themselves as to its provenance (for example the race results listed above have been drawn from a variety of different sources some of which may prove more accurate than others).