The MG that never was?

The MG Gnat

An insight into Club Saloon Racing of 20 years ago and a mystery to be solved.

For years there has been controversy about whether or not there was ever an MG Mini.

Yet over 20 years ago I raced an MG Mini called the MG "Gnat".

This is her history.

The MG Gnat began as a project to build a low-cost racer but the dream of cheap racing is an eternal myth.

I had to build the fastest for the lowest cost and that meant a Mini but not just a "Ditto" Mini. In '68 a sponsor was a vital as today and their support is for the unique, the exciting and the quick.

I bought a Cooper 'S' shell and over the next 7 months I practically lived at BMC Special Tuning at MG in Abingdon and bought or cadged parts from them and the Competitions Department.

Almost everything on the car was from MG and it didn't take me long to decide how to imply that fact. I got the grille of an MG 1100 and cut it to the size of the Riley 'Elf'. A little sheetmetal magic by Shapecraft and the car looked brilliant.

From the history of MG, I knew that the saloons were called 'Magna' and 'Magnette'.

I combined the two to make Gnat - a little creature that's very bothersome to big ones'.

With a 78 bhp 999cc S-engine from a factory team Mini Jem, the Gnat began to take on a seriousness of purpose.

1968
The first time the Gnat ran under her own power was from the trailer to the Scrutineering Bay at the BMRMC Silverstone meeting on 12th July 1968. The engine was run-in in Practice.

We did a 1:18.4 lap and finished 3rd in class in the 60-lap Gargoyle Trophy.

Much development work was done and I raced her at Snetterton, Oulton Park and at the MGCC Silverstone.

Low on power, I tuned the chassis well enough to get up with the leaders but needed a sponsor.

1969
The John Stanton Racing Team advertised their accessory shops on Lavender Hill and inevitably we were dubbed "The Lavender Hill Mob".

In track testing our 'get-away cars' at Brands Hatch, John Blunsden of 'Motor Racing' magazine said of the MG Gnat she " . . . handles like few other Mini's . . . a highly manoeuvrable car, with a useful ability to hold a tight line on the corners, where so often a Mini can be out-fumbled . . ."

Stanton paid Jan Speed for the 78 to 92 bhp power jump to my engine but we were plagued by a chronic misfire for race after race.

Then Jan rebuilt it and it blew up. Another rebuild and a change to NGK plugs and it was a road-rocket.

It showed in the results.

Second place at Silverstone; fastest lap at Oulton Park; 2nd overall by .8; fastest lap and a class win by 12 secs at Snetterton; 2nd overall by 2 hundredths of a second and a class win at Brands Hatch.

But the outright win was elusive. We soldiered on, continually developing handling, braking, power, tatics.

Stanton put other drivers in my car.

Tony Youlton raced in an Osram-GEC Championship round at Crystal Palace and got 2nd in class.

Mike Darrieulat raced the Gnat in the last five rounds of the Redex Saloon Car Championship maintaining his lead to win it overall.

The MG Gnat wore racing number 1.

Richard Hudson-Evans, then Editor of 'Cars & Car Conversions,' tested the Gnat at Silverstone and said of her ". . . . this MG is so completely right . . ."

I had my car to myself the rest of the season.

At last, at Silverstone I won a 1,000cc race. Someone in the Paddock told me that it was the first time an MG Saloon had ever won outright. I don't know if it was true and never checked it out.

We raced eight more times that season, each netting good results.

My book "How to Start Motor Racing" was published that Autumn by Speed Sport Motobooks. I wonder if it ever launched the career of any modern racers?

1970
For 1970, Stanton sponsored Gerry Birrell in F2, So I was a privateer again.

I decided to contest the Triplex Saloon Car Championship at Silverstone.

We were still using a 45DCOE9 Weber on the 999cc S engine, yet most other Minis had Lucas Electronic Fuel Injection (£1,000 for the head alone).

The Gnat and I would have to try harder.

The Triplex was a highly competitive series with such notables as Gerry Marshall in Big Bertha, Mick Hill (3.8 Janlia), David Howes & Roddy Harvey-Bailey (Ford Falcons) and Terry Drury (Mustang).

The 1,000cc class was snarled over by Terry McNally (F2 Ford Anglia), Ray Payne, Nick Birch and Maurice Ford (Coventry Climax-engined Hillman Imps) and Mike Evans, Geoff Stone, Jim Balmer, Ian Blunt et al in EFi Mini-Cooper S.

THIS WAS A CLASSIC SEASON OF MOTOR RACING

Round 1 on the 30th March was wet. The Gnat was third fastest at 1:15,4 just .8 slower than the Hartwell Imp of Ray Payne and .4 slower than Doug Griffiths (F2 Ford engined Mini). Doug broke down on .Lap 6 and I stroked to 2nd, got 3 points and £12 prize money. That was useful, I spent every spare penny on the racer.

Round 2 on 25th May my times were down to 1:12.2 next to Payne and Mike Evans' Patrick Motors Group EFi Cooper S. Evans retired on Lap 2 and I had a great dice for 2nd with three Hillman Imps and the Cosworth Anglia of McNally.

Ray Payne won and the results read Imp, Imp, MG Gnat, Imp, Ford, Ford, Mini, etc. We were the fastest privateer and had beaten all the EFi Cooper S's, hollow.

Round 3 and I had problems but managed to finish 5th. The same result in Round 4, this time I finished with no clutch.

The "Autosport" headline reporting the 5th round said it all "Lap Records fall at BARC Silverstone" it was a shake y'booties right old ding-dong of a race.

We managed a 1:11.7 in practice - good enough for pole in previous rounds but only 4th fastest on the front row with McNally, Evans and Birch. In the race the leading pair dropped the Lap Record to 1:10 dead. I did a 1:10.8 in the slipstreamer and almost got Nick Birch for 3rd at the finish line.

Nick congratulated me on beating him, but the results showed he'd led me by a Gnat's whisker.

In the 6th Round I was again on the front row with Evans on Pole, then McNally, the Gnat and Griffiths.

The first half of the race was fabulous and I grabbed the lead three times but my crankshaft damper loosened and I fell to finish 4th.

It was at that meeting that Gerry Marshall recommended Les Ryder as an engine tuner.

Les worked with Bill Richardson a great MG man and they reworked my old Gnat engine 'til it revved to 11,000 rpm and gave 115 bhp.

We raced at the MGCC Silverstone on 19th September. The MG Gnat finished 3rd, winning the 1,000cc class by over half a minute and wiped some smirks from a few faces.

On the 26th I rolled a Go-Kart at Rye House. I broke five ribs and hurt my wrists which slowed me down a bit for the rest of the season, finishing 4th and lower in the other rounds.

I missed the last round as I wore a body cast that weighed more than the MG.

From what I've heard, a little old lady with a shopping cart won - any truth in that lads?

1971
The MG languished in my garage until I got a request to run at the MGCC Silverstone on 26th June.

So the Gnat and I raced for the last time.

The day was bright and sunny until just before the first event, I had a strange feeling and asked Roger Harvey my pit manager to change to wet tyres.

The paddock Tannoy was calling for cars to go to the Collecting area.

"You're daft, mate" my mechanic said, "Look at the sky - it's cloudless!"

As he torqued on the last wheelnut, the first drops of rain fell.

I was on Pole, the only car on wets and we strode away to win by a lap.

In the 2nd race I won the 1,000cc class, finishing 6th overall behind such items as an AC Cobra and a Lotus 47.

In the third race I finished 6th from push-start after the pack had left.

Not a bad day really. An outright win lapping the whole field. A class victory and a 6th from a push start.

Though not knowing it at the time, not a bad way to stop motor racing either.

Full-tilt Boogie at Woodcote, 1970

Drifting at Becketts

I went overseas shortly afterwards, leaving the Gnat with a South London Racing Team complete with an agreement (which I still have) to race the car and return it in good condition.

When I got home, they and the Gnat had disappeared. I haven't seen her since.

In 1977, I found out that a fellow from Beeston, Notts. Had her and was going to race her, but he sold her to a Speed Shop in Nuneaton. I heard that they'd butchered her and sold her parts. I mourned my old warhouse.

After 10 years in aircraft in the USA, I returned home.

One day recently I was talking cars with a publican who wore an MGOC tie. Suddenly, he said to me "D'you know? - there's some fool story going around that there was once an MG MINI! and they're trying to say it's a classic - The MG That Never Was - did you ever hear of such a foolish rumour?"

Oh, boy, HAVE I?

My old friend may not be dead after all.

Well, was she MG?

Certainly she carried the spirit of the badge - you are my peers on that.

What happened to the MG Gnat - anybody know?

Now? I'm rebuilding a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 which I'd like to dodder around Silverstone in.

What price the 1992 St. John Horsfall?

Hey, Gerry Marshall - wanna race?