MG Sports Cars

Here's a post by Ian Osborne (see his "UNCOBRA" here: [www.britishv8.org]) from the British Austin-Healey forum:

"Perry Stephenson, an all-round good egg (even though he drives an MG) and friend to the Healey drag racing community (all 5 of us) had an (in hindsight) amusing incident today.



About 33 seconds in on the video.

After a 450 shot of nitrous he had a backfire through the carb which blew his bonnet off its hinges which obscured the windscreen. Driving blind he applied the brakes tentatively and brought the speed low enough that the bonnet could drop back down. Large sigh of relief, gingerly unclench bottom, return to pits able to fight another day."

Rick

Rick!!

It was a bit of a Butt clenching moment I must say :) But I have practiced for this sort of thing. And my practice kicked in. As soon as my vision was blocked i backed off the pedal and very gently eased on the brakes while looking right to make sure I was running straight with the wall.. As soon as I saw I was still straight I came off the brakes and coasted. She slowed to about 50mph after the line before the bonnet dropped enough for me to peer over the top. I was met by the fire crew but all was well. The engine was idling nicely and I drove back to the pits just fine.

The incident has been very useful to be honest?
Firstly:
It has made me realise that I need a rear facing scoop as it was air pressure holding the bonnet up until I got to a slow speed. So if I have a nice big rear facing scoop this will reduce air pressure building under the bonnet, reduce drag and give a nice flow of air to the engine.

Secondly:
Dont rely on bonded hinges on a glass fibre bonnet. I fitted bolts today.

Thirdly:
Dont add 150hp of nitrous on top of the normal 300hp shot you normally run. I was being a bit of a devil as the block is damaged and I was going to see if hitting the button at the 1/8th mile marker would trash the engine as I already have a fresh 4.6 block ready to take my internals.
But the old girl held up just fine. I had a slight weep on the head gasket by no6 cylinder. A new gasket is now fitted and she is on the trailer ready for more fun tomorrow.

And finally!!
Even though I backed off and braked just after the 1/8th mile markers. I still coasted over the line with a flat 12 second pass at 70+ mph.
Which was over 1 second quicker than the other fastest car of the day. A GTR Skyline :)

Tomorrow I will be doing normal 300hp nitrous passes for a while. And then i will add only another 50hp of nitrous for 3rd gear to see if I can get those times a bit better..

All in all a good result I think...

Regards to all

Perry