MG: The Iconic British Sports Car

The company also began to produce more specialised racing models, apart from the Mark III there was the Double Twelve version of the Midget, which gained the team prize in the 1930 Double Twelve race at Brooklands. This was the most important award gained by MG yet but was only a foretaste of things to come.

The EX120 led directly to the supercharged racing C type of 1931, while later that year the first small six cylinder MG was introduced, the F type Magna with a 1.3-litre engine derived from the engine of the contemporary Wolseley Hornet.

There was also the D type, a four seater Midget, but both this and the M type were replaced in 1932 by the new J type Midgets, in two or four seater forms, with additional supercharged racing models. With the J type, Kimber established what became the typical MG look: the double humped scuttle and the fold-flat windscreen, the deep elbow cut-outs in the doors, and the petrol tank and spare wheel strapped to the back of the car. The J types originally had cycle type wings but later versions had the long flowing wings, which also became part of the MG look.

In early 1933 came a further new model, the K type Magnette with an even smaller 1.1-litre six-cylinder engine. Long-wheelbase touring models could be fitted with four door saloon bodies, but a short chassis supercharged racing model, the K3, became the most famous Magnette, taking a class win and the team prize in the Italian Mille Miglia road race on its debut outing, while in 1934 a K3 was 4th overall in the Le Mans 24 hour race. MGs also won the Tourist Trophy race twice, in 1933 with Tazio Nuvolari in a K3, and in 1934 with the NE model. Meanwhile, a new record car, the EX127 or Magic Midget had been built for George Eyston to take further records in the 750cc class. This car was later sold to the German driver Kohlrausch and ended up in the experimental department of Mercedes-Benz.

Further developments of the Midget, Magna and Magnette models followed – the L type Magna of 1933, the P type Midget and N type Magnette of 1934, while the Q type and R type Midgets were racing models. The R type of 1935 was MG’s first single seater racing car and broke new ground with its all-independent suspension with torsion bars. However, in 1935 the MG Company passed from the private ownership of Lord Nuffield to that of the Morris Motors company. Almost immediately afterwards, MG announced that it was going to stop building racing cars, and effectively withdrew from the sport.

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