B SPORTS CAR DRIVERS

The best analogue for this monthвЂ™s subject car, the MG PA, would be to imagine a pre-war Bugeye Sprite. A few months back, I wrote a profile of a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza (SCM December 2010), which could usefully be thought of as a pre-war Ferrari Barchetta. Vintage racing, the collector car business as a whole, and SCM all thrive on variety. This car, Lot 164, sold for $124,076 at the RM Automobiles of London auction on October 27, 2010. If, as Sports Car Market magazine publisher Keith Martin says, вЂњThe main job of a collector car is to be admired by friends standing around a garage with glasses of wine, while its history is told,вЂќ then 1711 will give hours of enjoyment to the next owner-on or off the track.ДЎ936-40 Jaguar SS 100, 1936 Frazer-Nash TT Replica, 1955-57 Aston Martin DB2/4 The car is offered with a large file of documentation, including extensive period photography. Its history is thoroughly documented, and it will be welcome at any event for which it is eligible. The present owner bought 1711 from Sir Fredrick Royston in 1981, and it was completely restored in 1995.

Miles Collier buying PA 1667 (and it now resides in the Collier Collection) while the two remaining cars, PA 1661 (now missing) and PA 1711 (offered here) were reborn as works hill-climbers, fitted with Marshall superchargers by the factory. The three cars finished 24th, 25th, and 26th. The women silenced their critics with steady progress, and Simpson brought the number 56 car, the example offered here, home in first place among the team. The MGs proved themselves bulletproof, with only one light bulb being changed on the number 55 car and the only excitement being an argument with officials about whether one car had been refueled before the required time. Nevertheless вЂњLes Girls at Le MansвЂќ was the dismissive tagline.

B SPORTS CAR DRIVERS

The six drivers were hardly chosen for public relations value, as all the women had solid racing records, with Brooklands history, club racing, rallies, and hill climb success. The head was polished and an air scoop was fitted to cool the sump. The engines were blueprinted, with lightened flywheel, Q-Type racing valves and springs. The cars were carefully assembled at the works at Abingdon, fitted with cycle-type aluminum fenders, aluminum louvered hoods, an aero screen for the driver, luggage space modified for spare tires, special door locks, quick filler caps, racing wheels, radiator and headlights fitted with stone guards, double fuel pumps, Q-Type brakes all around, and J-Type gearbox ratios. The press had a field day with AbingdonвЂ™s idea, dubbing the six women вЂњEystonвЂ™s Dancing Daughters.вЂќ The idea was that three identical works cars would be entered in the 1935 Le Mans race, driven by three teams of women, with the whole enterprise to be managed by Captain George Eyston, who had raced at Le Mans in 19. This car is the sole original survivor of a three-car team put together by MG to publicize the new P-Series, which had been introduced in 1934.

B sports car