In 1957 the MG Car Company arrived at the Bonneville Salt Flats with an unusually shaped vehicle and legendary racing driver Stirling Moss. The car was called the MG EX 181 and it was entered into the Class F land-speed series for cars with engines between 1.1 and 1.5 litres.
The EX 181’s unique body was hiding a 1.5 litre twin-cam, supercharged MGA engine that had been tuned to run on 86% methanol laced with nitrobenzene, acetone and sulphuric ether. The engine produced a whopping 290hp at 7,000rpm and on the 23rd of August 1957 Stirling Moss took it up to a top speed of 245.64mph (395.31 kmh), taking the land-speed record easily over the previous record holder who held it at 203mph.
MG wasn’t quite finished with the EX 181 and took the car back to Bonneville in 1959 with racing driver Phil Hill, the engine had been tuned slightly higher and now produced 300hp. Phil Hill took the car to a top speed of 254.91 mph (410.23 kmh), easily breaking MG’s own record from 2 years previously.
Information via MGA Guru
Related Posts
1942 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Spider
A Brief Early History of Alfa Romeo Despite its reputation for being quintessentially Italian, Alfa Romeo was actually founded by a Frenchman named Alexandre Darracq. At one point just after the turn of the 20th century, Darracq’s companies were building 10% of all cars being manufactured in the world – not bad for a guy…
Read More
1951 Triumph 6T Thunderbird – Salt Flat Racer
The Triumph 6T Thunderbird was a British built motorcycle specifically intended for the Americans, who had been asking for more power both for racing, and for sidecar applications. The Brits were the muscle bike kings in the 1940s and 1950s, and the 6T Thunderbird was built to keep that crown firmly in British hands.
Read More
The Triumph Bonneville TT Special – A Rare Factory Dirt Racer
The Triumph Bonneville TT Special was designed specifically for American desert racing, as well as TT Steeplechase, and Hare and Hound competition – interestingly the final specification of the model was developed not in England, but on the West Coast of the USA by Johnson Motors, commonly known as “JoMo”. The Triumph Bonneville TT Special…
Read More
The $70 Million Dollar Ferrari 250 GTO In The Vault
The Vault of the Petersen Automotive Museum The overwhelming majority of people driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles have no idea that the unusual red and silver building they’re passing has a vault below ground level that contains well over $150 million USD worth of cars. Remarkably, the vault at the Petersen is more…
Read More
The Rambo Lambo: 1991 Lamborghini LM002 4×4
The Lamborghini LM002 was quickly dubbed the “Rambo Lambo” when it was unveiled to the public in 1986. Although very few realized it at the time, the LM002 wasn’t just an ostentatious flash in the pan. Luxury SUVs would quickly become one of the fastest growing sectors in the global automotive marketplace – and Lamborghini…
Read More
The Original American Dune Buggy – 1965 Meyers Manxter 2+2
The Meyers Manxter 2+2 is the slightly longer wheelbase version of the Meyers Manx – a dune buggy with a form so iconic that it’s been studied in design schools from California to Copenhagen. Unlike the Manx, the Manxter uses a full-length VW Beetle floorpan, without requiring the cutting/shortening/welding of the original. This means that it…
Read More
