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MG Midget and Sprite General - Help needed with FIA homolagations and engine size

Hi all,
Me and my friend are currently building a 1965 car to FIA spec and the time has come to start thinking about the engine. Now I know the papers say that the car should have a 1098cc which is just not competitive. However I know it is fairly well documented that the works cars such as 6 GRX ran with 1300 engines.

Now my question is. Surely these works cars must have FIA papers and in which case we should be able to run a 1300cc engine just as they did right?!? However I cannot find any information on the subject and therefore have a few unawnserd questions. Are there mkIII sprite/mkII midget papers for these cars? If not how are were they able to get around it and race? Is there anyway I could legitimatly run a 1300cc engine on FIA papers?

Many Thanks
Jonny
J Shears

Afaik there have only been 2 pre 65 midgets that ran 1275 engines and they where run as proto's.
So no general fia homologation.
In my documetation there is no pre 65 homologation for 1275 cars.

But 6grx does run with one and has FIA papers to match.
So if you want to know how you should contact John Palmer who has rebuild and runs 6grx.

If you do fit an 1275 make sure you get hold of an early cooper block with tappet covers as a later solid block will certainly get you in trouble with the history police

Please let me know how you end up doing this and if you get it homologated
Onno Könemann

Hi Jonny,

Good to hear the car is making progress.

I believe that car ran a Cooper A series 1293cc in 65 so thats probably how it has papers

I would only go 100% FIA spec if you intend to do FIA races which will mean more expense and being limited to 1098cc as in period.

I would personally go 1293 or 1380.

This will mean you will have a competitive car and be able to race in the HSCC, Equipe GTS, CSCC, MC, MGCC and the HRDC if you have a fast back.

Cheers

Grant.

G Saunders

Hi Grant,

We are planning on building the car to FIA spec and putting one of our 1098cc engines in to get our papers and then taking it out and running either a 1293 or a 1380.

We want to do 2 driver races mainly so we can share the car. Most 2 driver races are FIA races hence the reason for building it to FIA spec. We are hoping to be able get invitations to fill the grid in the occasional FIA race here and there. Which is why I was wondering if there are papers for a 65' sprite with a 1293cc as we wouldn't have the worry of not getting an entry.

We are looking at doing the swinging 60's, Equipe gts (If its still going) and maybe getting a fast back and doing HRDC races.

Can you recommend any others we could share the car in?
J Shears

There are several events that cater for or have side ra es fitting for a 1275 pre 65 midget.
At the 6hours of spa and several of those events you can race it
Onno Könemann

"We are planning on building the car to FIA spec and putting one of our 1098cc engines in to get our papers and then taking it out and running either a 1293 or a 1380"
I don't understand the rationale of that; an event that requires App K papers will insist on 1098 engine - an event that allows a 1275/1380 will not check papers so why spend £750 on them?
David Smith

I would personally go 1380cc if I was building up a car to race now.

The trouble is if you go FIA with a 1080cc and then change to a 1380 then the papers won't be correct and they do tend to police the FIA stuff ocasionally. This depends if you then want to do FIA races after getting the papers.

GTSCC do two driver races but I don't think you can go wrong with CSCC, HRDC and the HSCC. This would be a good place to start as they ocasionally do two driver races in the Gaurds (FIA) and sometimes roadsports.

As Onno has metioned you should still be able to do the 6 hours of spa with a 1293/1380 at a later stage.

You could even get a race each with the HSCC with roadsports and 70's roadsports if your car is road registered.

If you are thinking of fitting a fastback hard top at a later stage then I would get a safety devices cage as I found out the hard way that they don't fit over all cages and now I'm probably going to have to get one myself if I want to fit my Ashley hardtop.
G Saunders

This thread was discussed between 20/08/2011 and 21/08/2011

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