Merlin

Lancaster at Scampton, BBMF Spitfire and Hurricane, heated debate in The Telegraph about which was greatest. Yet they all relied on the Rolls-Royce Merlin. It is 70 years since the dambusters and 80 since drawings for the Merlin were completed the very day Sir Henry Royce died.

WO Bentley was instrumental in getting Rolls-Royce into aero engines. Working under Commander Wilfrid Briggs, head of the Admiralty Air Engine Section, he was sent to Derby, where Rolls-Royce made air-cooled Renault aero engines. WO recalled, “…a friend of mine tipped me off that one of the 1914 Mercédès racing cars, which had won the French Grand Prix, had got stuck in England at the beginning of the war and still rested at the Mercédès showroom in Long Acre. I told Briggs about it and together we went along, representing the British Crown so to speak, with a ‘search warrant’. The place was in a fine old mess, but in the basement lay a 4½ litre Grand Prix Mercédès. We dug it out, and soon it was being taken to pieces by Rolls-Royce at Derby.”

Ernest Hives (later Lord Hives) studied the Mercédès cylinder design and WO persuaded him that the resulting 200hp water-cooled Rolls-Royce Eagle engine should have aluminium pistons. In 1919 two Eagles with Bentley’s pistons were used in the Vickers Vimy that made the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic.
Merlin in a Spitfire, Duxford
Henry Royce set up drawing offices with teams of technicians at St Margaret's Bay Kent, and later West Wittering, creating a dynasty of aero engines of the 1920s and 1930s that culminated in winning the Schneider Trophy races outright. In 1931 Royce accepted a baronetcy in recognition of his design but it was soon apparent that the RAF needed something that could be made in large numbers.

In 1932 the ailing mechanic (Royce preferred “mechanic” to designer or even engineer) persevered with a new V12 in the face of Air Ministry indifference and prevarication. Rolls-Royce could see the need for it, calling it PV for Private Venture because the government wouldn’t pay for it. Developed from the Kestrel, and the R-type that had been successful in the Schneider Trophy Supermarine S6 seaplanes, the Merlin was not named after King Arthur’s wizard, but was one of a series designated by birds of prey. A merlin is a small falcon but as an engine it was straightforward, upright, of a sort with which the Derby firm was already familiar.
Merlin in a Hurricane, Brooklands
Later ones were developed to produce substantial power increases at high altitude, and by the end of the war specialist versions produced 2640bhp (1969kW). Rolls-Royce did not have capacity in its factories at Derby, Crewe, and Hillington Glasgow to meet the demand. Four times as many Merlins were needed to equip bombers like the Lancaster, so Packard made them in America and Ford set up a plant at Urmston, Manchester, not far from Trafford Park.

Rowland Smith of Ford guessed it would cost £7million, telling chairman Lord Hives that Ford could not possibly build engines from the drawings Rolls-Royce supplied. The tolerances were much too wide. Ford production machinery would work to much closer limits than Rolls-Royce, whose hand-finished engines were often widely different in power and reliability.

Drawings for the Merlin were completed on 22 April 1933, as Royce breathed his last. Yet weak and frail as he had been, the engine (after teething troubles had been fixed) was a masterpiece. The first ran on 15 October 1933 and Royce’s vision resulted in one of the most significant aircraft power units of the Second World War. Besides Spitfire, Hurricane and Avro Lancaster, Lincoln, Manchester II, Tudor and York, the Merlin powered de Havilland Mosquito, Handley Page Halifax and North American Mustang X as a replacement for its Allison. The Mustang continued to use Merlins in the Korean War of the 1950s.

SPEC: 12-cylinders, 60deg V; front; 5.4in (137.16mm) x 6in (152.4mm), 1,648.8cu in (27,021cc); compr 6.0:1; 1030bhp (768kW) @ 3000rpm @ 16,250ft (4940m) Merlin I to 1480bhp (1104kW) @ 3000rpm @6000ft (91830m) to 12,250ft (3740m) from Merlin XX; weight from 1385lb (629kg) Merlin I to 1450lb (647kg) from Merlin XX; 1640lbs (744kg) for 1565bhp (1167kW) Merlin 61 on.
STRUCTURE 4 inclined 45deg KE965steel valves per cylinder (4 valves parallel from Merlin G); sodium-cooled exhaust valves; Stellited ends to inlet valves; double valve springs; Silchrome valve seats screwed into heads; one shaft and bevel gear-driven 7-bearing overhead camshaft per bank; two two-piece cylinder blocks cast in RR50 aluminium alloy; detachable cylinder heads; wet high carbon steel cylinder liners; aluminium crankcase split horizontally; twin choke updraught R-R/SU carburettor with anti-ice heating; gear-driven centrifugal supercharger, 2-speed from Mark X; liquid-cooled intercooler; two mechanical fuel pumps on quill shafts; two magnetos; one-piece six-throw chrome molybdenum steel 7-bearing crankshaft; dry sump lubrication; 70 per cent water 30 per cent ethylene glycol cooling; centrifugal pump; electric starter; air compressor take-off for aircraft services
TRANSMISSION single plain spur 0.477:1 or 0.42:1 reduction gears to propeller from front of crankshaft.
PRODUCTION over 30,000

Jim Clark: Tribute to a Champion - New Edition

Refreshed text and a new selection of photographs complete this new edition of Eric Dymock's universally acclaimed and award-winning biography of double world champion racing driver Jim Clark. Its release celebrates 50 years since the modest Border farmer won his first World Drivers’ Championship. The original hardback edition, published in 1997, was recognised by motoring writers as well as friends and acquaintances of Jim Clark as the best account of the racing driver's life.


Download from Amazon UK
Download from Amazon.com
And now, in an exclusive offer for 24 hours only, you can download Jim Clark: Tribute to a Champion in its entirety, completely free, for review purposes.

How to download
Go to the book page on Amazon UK or Amazon.com

Amazon can deliver the book directly to your Kindle via wireless network connection.

No Kindle? No problem! You can download a free Kindle reading app for your Windows or Mac computer, smartphone (iPhone or Android) or tablet device.

Select the appropriate wireless delivery option (e.g. "Mike's Kindle for PC") and Amazon will deliver the book automatically to the Kindle app.

Honda

Returning to Formula 1 in 2015 will be different from Honda's first shot in the 1960s. A splendid record in motorcycle racing prompted Denis Jenkinson of Motor Sport : “The 4-cylinder Honda motorcycle made a big impression and its production sports and mopeds continued its good name in racing. But we must not forget that Honda racing motorcycles started inconspicuously and progressed as the seasons went by. They did not appear on the scene and win immediately.” Above: Celebrating Honda in Formula 1 at Goodwood, below CDX 6 cylinder 1047cc

Jenkinson noted that Honda began on bikes by contesting classes where the opposition was weak, but this was not an option in Formula 1. Lotus, BRM, Brabham, Ferrari, and Coventry-Climax were well established. There was no weakness here and grand prix racing was full of team with recent world championships, such as Cooper. Even Porsche found it difficult to keep up, winning only once before pulling out at the end of 1965. Soichiro Honda radiated confidence in an interview with Günther Molter in 1962: “It is too early to talk of horsepower as the project is still at the development stage. Our grand prix car will have an engine performance unequalled by any of the others.”

Soichiro was up against V8s from BRM and Coventry-Climax, V6s, V8s, and flat12s from Ferrari, and an air-cooled flat8 from Porsche. Honda produced a radical little V12, with needle roller crankshaft bearings, revving to 11,500rpm. It was a jewel of an engine in a semi-monocoque chassis using suspension that owed something to Lotus and BRM, with tubular rear sub-frames and inboard springs. The transverse engine owed nothing to anybody however, and lived up to Soichiro's assurances with 20bhp (quite a big margin in 1962) more than any rivals, including the Ferrari flat12. The little V12 was a triumph for designer Tadashi Kume, a mechanical engineering graduate who had been assigned to racing motorcycle engines even though relatively inexperienced. 1966 RC149

“Nobody at Honda really expected the car to shatter the racing world at its first appearance but such was the publicity accrued from motorcycle racing that the grand prix car was preceded by almost fanatical expectations from Europe rather than Japan,” according to Jenkinson. The reason for established teams' apprehension was the proficiency Honda showed at high-revving engines with large numbers of small cylinders and four-valve heads. Ferrari was notably successful with V12s, and Coventry-Climax, also an acknowledged master of racing engines, had a 16-cylinder under development. Honda was half-expected to have a roller-bearing 16 of its own with prodigious power. John Surtees drive RA 300 at Goodwood.


Jenkinson's admiration for Honda was not shared throughout Europe. Italians complained that Kume's masterpiece resembled an engine designed by Giulio Alfieri for Maserati in 1961, test-bedded in 1963, but only made public in 1964 following the Honda. 1965 RA 262

Yet if the prevailing teams overestimated Honda's prospects, team manager Yoshio Nakamura probably underestimated. Honda's 1964 offensive lacked the refinement and style of its motorcycle racing department. The cars were a year late and never had the polished finish of a Lotus, nor the glamorous appearance of a Ferrari. It was 1965 before they gained a competitive edge, an achievement that had eluded Porsche, but given the expectations raised by the exquisite motorcycles, it was no less than expected.
1989 Brazil Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna McLaren Honda RA 109E

MG

More on MG history (TC above). Successive managements were probably right curbing MG works racing teams. Research recalled the follies of the British motorcycle industry of the 1950s, which believed all it had to do was win TT races to secure customer loyalty. Manufacturers like Norton were profligate on racing, penurious over developing new models, and while creating the best racing motorcycles in the world neglected road bikes. BSA, Triumph, AJS, Matchless and Norton made machines that vibrated and leaked oil. The Japanese produced better, faster, well-equipped designs that ran smoothly and looked great with oil-tight exquisitely cast engines. The British firms were bankrupted in the space of a few years.

The British refused to believe that the Japanese were ever going to make anything except small-capacity machines. A book by Bert Hopwood, “Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry?” published in 1981 by Haynes was a work of what seemed at the time an endangered species, an articulate motorcycle engineer. Hopwood spent a lifetime designing amongst other successful machines the Ariel Square Four and Norton Dominator. He recalled vividly how the management of Norton, Triumph, BSA, and Associated Motorcycles sat back complacently as their industry collapsed.

“By the early 1960s,” wrote Hopwood, “Honda and other Japanese manufacturers, having dominated world motorcycle markets in the small capacity classes, were adjusting their sights and marketing excellent machines of medium capacity. I shall never understand the attitude of Jack Sangster, chairman of BSA, and Edward Turner, the Triumph designer (Turner's great vertical twin, below), to the threat. They were sought after by the press for their reactions to the growing strength of our Japanese competitors. Turner made statements many times, that the British motorcycle industry could count itself fortunate in having the Japs selling large numbers of very small machines, for they were training young riders, many of whom would graduate to larger ones, which he made so well. They formed a lucrative market that had become the backbone of our industry. He said there would be no profit in very small motorcycles so there was no point in entering that market.”

Hopwood warned Turner, whom he disparaged, that any industry that could make small bikes profitably was clearly capable of making more money out of big ones. “I had bitter arguments with Turner. I could not understand why members of the Board did not challenge him.” Hopwood blamed the Triumph management for “foggy” product planning and a total failure to acknowledge the perils.

The analogy I was drawing was how the Japanese had been quick to spot a gap in the US sports car market when Lord Stokes rather stupidly axed the Austin-Healey (above), and refused to spend money at MG. Along came the Datsun 240Z and its successors to grab the dollars we seemed to be turning our backs on. The same went for the splendidly successful Mazda MX-5 following the collapse of MG.

Hopwood’s view on Turner was probably unfair. He was deeply admired by the astute Sir William Lyons, who proposed a partnership in 1944, and designed the V8 engine later adopted by Jaguar.

MG

Lest we forget. A messy 30 years in the dog days of British Leyland. Extract from chronology section of new Classic MG ebook coming soon.

1965 Jly: BMC makes offer for Pressed Steel effective September 1965.
Jly 22: Rover buys Alvis.
Oct 20: MGB GT at Earls Court.
1966 Jun: Leonard Lord, now Lord Lambury, retires from BMC board. George Harriman becomes chairman, Joe Edwards managing director.
Jly 11: BMC and Jaguar agree merger, finalised December.
Oct 19: MG Midget Mark III (GAN4) (above) launched at Earls Court with 1275cc A-series engine. Also Austin-Healey Sprite Mark IV.
Nov 3: Assembly of pre-production MGC begins at Abingdon, two months after Healeys reject BMC’s proposed Austin-Healey 3000 Mark IV. 13 pre-production MGCs built for development.
Dec 11: Leyland agrees merger with Rover, effective March 1967.
Dec 14: BMC and Jaguar announce joint company: British Motor Holdings. Joe Edwards becomes BMH chief executive under Sir George Harriman.
1967 Feb: Industry Minister Anthony Wedgwood Benn announces exploratory talks between Leyland and BMH in House of Commons.
Oct: Merger discussions between BMH and Leyland follow meeting at Chequers between George Harriman (BMH), and Donald Stokes (Leyland), at invitation of prime minister Harold Wilson.
Nov: first cars to meet new US safety and emissions requirements built with ‘Abingdon Pillow’ padded dashboards and dual-circuit brakes. Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III discontinued.
1968 Jan 17: £320 million merger of Leyland Motor Corporation with BMH forms British Leyland Motor Corporation. Cars divided into Austin-Morris (including MG) and Specialist Cars (with separate Rover, Triumph and Jaguar boards).
Apl: MG 1300 replaces 1100 Mark II. Joe Edwards resigns from BMH prior to formation of BLMC. Harry Webster and George Turnbull, ex Triumph, in charge of Austin-Morris.
May 14: Creation of British Leyland Motor Corporation.
May 22: Roy Haynes proposes MG ADO28 (Morris Marina).
Aug: Harry Webster announces advanced engineering and conservative styling policy for Austin, more style and conservative engineering for Morris.
Aug 5: BLMC board views three AD028 prototypes by Pininfarina, Michelotti, and Roy Haynes. Haynes’s proposals accepted.
Oct 15: Earls Court Motor Show. Sir Donald Stokes instructs competitions department to go only for outright wins.
1969 Apl: Austin-Morris design transferred from Cowley. Interior design remains at Cowley until October.
Jun 27: John Thornley retires, Les Lambourne now assistant general manager.
Jly: Riley 1300 production discontinued; Riley 4/72 carries on until October.
Sep 18: Last MGC leaves Abingdon.
Sep 19: BLMC board approves ADO67, the Austin Allegro of 1973.
Oct 11: British Leyland facelift Midget and MGB - recessed matt black grilles.
Oct 15: Mini Clubman and 1275GT at Earls Court. Austin and Morris 1300 GT effectively replaces MG 1300.
Nov 5: Abingdon starts work on mid-engined AD021.
1970 Autumn: Engineers Spen King and Mike Carver visit USA to research market for TR sports car. Competition between Austin-Morris styling Longbridge, Triumph Canley and Michelotti. MG Abingdon not invited to put forward mid-engined AD021.
Oct 31: Abingdon Competitions Department closes. Special Tuning continues as low-cost unit.
Nov 4: MG ADO21 full-size clay viewed by British Leyland management.
Dec 29: Work ceases on ADO21.
1971 Jan: Austin-Healey Sprite rebadged Austin. Healey royalties cease.
May 27: 250,000th MGB, left-hand-drive Blaze MGB GT, made at Abingdon.
May: Syd Enever retires as chief engineer. Roy Brockleburst takes over.
Jly: Austin-Morris styling studio MG Magna proposal for new BLMC corporate sports car approved, and becomes Triumph TR7. Last Mini Cooper, last Austin Sprite.
Aug 4: Abingdon instructed to build MGB GT V8, following assessment of Costello conversion.
Aug 31: MG 1300 Mark II discontinued.
1972 Mar: Rover-Triumph created under Sir George Farmer. Board has seven Rover and five Triumph members.
Spring: MG SSV1 experimental safety vehicle shown at Washington road safety exhibition.
Aug: MGB range facelifted for 1973 MY.
Sep: O-series engine emerges as overhead-cam B-series. Soft bumpers approved for MGB.
Dec 12: Production of MGB GT V8 starts.
Feb: British Leyland plans MGB in case TR7 is late; O-series engine is due by April 1974
1973 Aug 15: MGB GT V8 launched.
Sep: Bumper overriders for MG Midget, MGB and MGB GTs in the USA
1974 Jan: Work starts on ADO88.
Summer: O-series engine decision for MGB and Marina by 1977 model year, autumn 1976. Delayed to 1978 MY.
Jly: British Leyland cash crisis. Banks talk of £150 million loan.
Oct 16: Soft bumpers for Midget, MGB, MGB GT and MGB GT V8. Midget adopts Triumph Spitfire 1493cc engine.
Nov 27: Banks and government discuss BLMC’s finances.
Dec 3: Triumph Spitfire 1500 launched in UK with same engine as Midget 1500.
Dec 6: Tony Benn tells Parliament government guarantees BLMC’s capital.
Dec 18: Sir Don Ryder, governmental industrial advisor, appointed to investigate BLMC by March.
1975 Jan 1: MGB GT withdrawn from USA.
Jan: Triumph TR7 two-door sports coupe announced for sale only in USA.
26 Mar: Ryder Report recommends government contribution of £2.8 billion over seven years; company split into four divisions: cars, trucks and buses, international, and “special products”.
Jun 27: British Leyland Motor Corporation renamed British Leyland; government 99.8% shareholder.
Aug 11: British Leyland formally nationalised.
Sep 13: First post-Ryder marque realignment. Austin-Morris 18-22 series renamed Princess.
Dec 16: Government secures Chrysler UK with £162.5 million.
1976 May 19: Triumph TR7 introduced in UK and Europe.
Jun: MGB withdrawn from Continental Europe.
Jly: Last two MGB GT V8s finished at Abingdon.
1977 Jan: Work restarts on “federalizing” O-series engine for MGB, aiming for introduction in 1980.
Feb: pilot-build of Triumph TR7 Sprint and TR7 V8 begins at Speke.
Nov 1: Michael Edwardes joins British Leyland.
1978 Jan: ADO88 replaced by larger LC8 project.
Feb: Edwardes reveals plan to reorganise Austin-Morris including MG, and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph.
Feb 15: Proposal for Speke factory to close and move TR7 production to Canley.
Apl 1: BL Motorsport Abingdon homologates TR7 V8 rally car.
Apl 3: government provides £450 million equity in British Leyland.
May 26: Triumph TR7 production ends at Speke. TR7 Sprint and Lynx cancelled. TR7 V8 – the TR8 – delayed two years.
Jly 1: British Leyland renamed BL. Leyland name remains on commercial vehicles. Austin-Morris is under Ray Horrocks, and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph under William Pratt-Thompson. Development MGB with O-series engine presented to BL management. Approval of £275 million for LC8 Metro.
Aug: BL in exploratory talks with Honda.
Sep: 1.7-L O-series engine for Marina 2. MG becomes part of Jaguar-Rover-Triumph.
Oct: Triumph TR7 production restarts at Canley after five-month gap. US dealers unhappy.
1979 Apl: US-market MGB Limited Edition (LE) model introduced at New York Motor Show.
May 15: Memorandum of understanding between BL and Honda. New Triumph saloon to be built at Canley based on Honda Ballade/Civic. Introduction planned for October 1981.
Jun: Sharp rise in strength of sterling affects BL, in particular US exports. BL forms CORE (Co-ordination of Resources) strategy. Edwardes Plan streamlines company.
Jly 9: BL meets industry minister Sir Keith Joseph to discuss funding of LC10.
Jly: Triumph TR7 convertible launched five years after TR7 coupe, for USA only.
Aug: Midget production runs down; among the last are 500 for Japan. Assembly of Vanden Plas 1500 transferred to Abingdon. Golden Jubilee celebrations at Abingdon.
Sep 10: Announcement of closure at AEC Park Royal. BL plans to end production of MG sports cars at Abingdon and manufacturing at Canley.
Sep 13: John Thornley invites 445 US Jaguar-Rover-Triumph-MG dealers to urge BL to continue MGB production.
Sep 26: BL claims loss of £900 on every MGB.
Sep 30: MG clubs stage London protest rally
Oct 14: Alan Curtis of Aston Martin Lagonda and Peter Sprague in the USA prepare bid for MG marque and MGB.
Oct 17: Union leaders recommend BL workers accept Edwardes Plan.
Oct 18: Consortium led by Aston Martin Lagonda announces bid to take over MG name and factory.
Nov 1: BL workforce ballot: 80% vote, of which 87.2% accepts Edwardes Plan
Nov 6: Californian MG dealers and 416-strong US JRT dealer council threaten to sue BL for £100 million if MGB is withdrawn. BL says MGBs will remain available until 1981, pledges to keep the MG marque.
Dec 12: Last MG Midget down Abingdon production line. Black UK-specification car for British Motor Heritage brings total to 224,817.
Dec: BL discusses MG Boxer project, low-cost MG offshoot from Triumph TR7, to placate US JRT dealers. Idea abandoned early in 1980, and MG returned to Austin-Morris from JRT.
Dec 20: BL says government agrees to recovery plan and a further £205 million.
1980 Jan: 500,000th MGB, a black roadster, built at Abingdon.
Jan 14: Jaguar-Rover-Triumph press release: “MGBs will be produced until late 1980 ... available into early 1981. The MG name will be retained and there are plans to build a successor to the MGB when production ends at Abingdon.”
Mar 31: Aston Martin consortium meets BL board, proposing £30 million deal for exclusive world-wide license to MG name and Abingdon factory.
Apl: Triumph TR7 production begins at Rover in Solihull, overlapping with production at Canley.
Jly 1: Aston Martin announces nearly half required £30m has been withdrawn. Last hope is that Japanese and Arab backers provide £12m. Aston Martin makes a quarter of its workforce redundant.
Jly 2: William Pratt-Thompson, head of BL International, announces Abingdon factory to be sold.
Jly 4: Alan Curtis talks with Japanese in an effort to acquire funds for take-over.
Jly 9: BL car divisions reorganised again: JRT dissolved, Jaguar becomes separate once more. Volume cars (Austin-Morris) absorbs Rover and Triumph to form Light Medium Cars (LMC). Cars Commercial looks after marketing and product planning. Triumph Spitfire discontinued. LM10 approved by BL board for 1983 launch.
Aug: last production-specification MGB bodyshell produced at Pressed Steel, Stratton St Margaret, Swindon.
Oct 8: Austin Metro launched.
Oct 23: Last MGB goes down the line at Abingdon.
Oct 24: MG factory at Abingdon closes.
1981 Jan: £990 million further state funding of BL over next two years.
Jan 26: announcement by BL of last MGB derivative, the UK-only MGB and MGB GT LE.
Mar 18-24: Auction of MG factory contents: 434 buyers, 3600 lots, totalling £100,000 for BL.
May 10: BL claims Jaguar loses £2 million per month due to unfavourable dollar/sterling exchange.
May 13: Ray Horrocks of BL announces closure of Solihull Rover factory for all but Land Rover.
Jun 15: BL Motorsport moves to Cowley. Plans laid for MG Metro 6R4.
Jly 26: Sunday Times says BL plans MG-badged version of the Metro.
Aug 6: MG is among names considered for performance Metro.
Sep: Austin Allegro discontinued.
Oct 7: Triumph Acclaim launched.
Nov 12: Ray Horrocks and Honda sign co-operative agreement in Tokyo for new executive car, coded XX.
1982 Jan: Banks agree to lend BL £277 million over 8-10 years. David Bache resigns as design director following management disagreements. Replaced by Roy Axe, formerly of Chrysler.
May: Austin Rover Group formed from Austin, Morris, MG, Rover and Triumph. Harold Musgrove chairman and chief executive.
May 5: MG Metro 1300 announced.
Jly 1: BL announces Morris name to be phased out.
Oct 22: MG Metro Turbo announced at motor show.
Nov: Sir Michael Edwardes leaves BL, publishes Back From The Brink.
1983 Feb: MG Metro 6R4 prototype handed over by Williams Engineering to Austin Rover Motorsport at Cowley.
Mar 1: Austin Maestro range includes MG1600.
1984 Apl 25: Montego range includes 2-litre fuel-injected MG version with O-series engine. S-series replaces R-series in MG Maestro 1600. LC10 has cost £210 million. BL reports first operating profit, £4.1 million, since 1978.
Aug 10: Jaguar privatised. Government keeps “golden share” until end of 1990.
Sep: Austin Rover formed as LMC is integrated with Cars Commercial.
1985 May 8: Harold Musgrove announces Austin Rover Cars of North America (ARCONA) in partnership with Norman Braman to launch Austin Rover/Honda XX in the USA in 1987.
Sep 19: MG EX-E concept car launched at Frankfurt Motor Show. (in Heritage collection, Gaydon with other MGs)
Nov 1: MG Metro 6R4 homologated for international debut on RAC Rally.
Feb 2: Roy Hattersley claims General Motors wants to buy Leyland Trucks and Land Rover.
1986 Apl: MG Maestro introduced in Japan. Design studios at Canley reorganised.
May 1: Graham Day appointed chairman of BL.
Jly: BL renamed Rover Group
Jly 15: Honda/Rover joint project XX launched as Rover 800 series.
Sep: Harold Musgrove leaves.
1987 Apl 18: US-market Sterling (Rover 800) launched at New York Motor Show.
May: Austin Rover Motorsport Division at Cowley closed down.
Nov: Sterling 800 range on sale in the USA.
1988 Mar 1: British Aerospace (BAe) talks with government on acquisition of Rover.
Mar 30: British Aerospace buys Rover Group for £150 million; government writing off £800 million debt. £2.98 billion in state aid received since 1975.
Apl 13: British Motor Heritage launches MGB bodyshell.
Oct 22: MG Maestro Turbo, to be built by Tickford, announced at Birmingham Motor Show.
1989 Jan: Rover board restructured. Graham Day hands over to George Simpson, board members reduced from 36 to 11. John Towers becomes production engineering director and Graham Morris takes over as Sterling president from Chris Woodwark.
Jly 14: Honda announces £300 million first European assembly plant at Swindon, and 20% equity stake in Rover. Rover takes 20% stake in HUM (Honda UK Manufacturing).
Sep 18: Graham Day suggests sports car. Appoints Project Phoenix to investigate three MG concepts with different engine/drive train configurations: PR1, PR2 and PR3. ‘PR’ stands for Phoenix Route, nicknamed ‘Pocket Rocket’.
Oct 11: New Rover 200 range launched at London Motorfair. First production application of K-series engine.
Dec 1: Jaguar shareholders accept Ford’s cash offer.
1990 Mar 28: Executive committee approves Rover Special Products (RSP) prototypes.
Mar: Work starts on Heritage MGB V8 project; Mark Gamble builds prototype at Snitterfield.
May 2: Launch of revamped Metro with 1.1- and 1.4-litre K-series engines. Top of range GTi not an MG.
Jun: Rover board reviews PR1, PR2, PR3 and PR4 (similar to PR2, but with a steel body). PR3 increased in size.
Sep 19: Graham Day tells press, “We are going to do a proper MG.”
1991 Jan: Rover commissions consultants MGA and ADC to develop styling clays based on mid-engined PR3. John Towers becomes MD in charge of product supply.
Apl: Rover Special Products researches significance of MG badge to potential customers.
May: Two styling models for PR3 presented. Rover approves PR3 from development to D Zero.
Jun: Customer clinic tests of sports car concepts; leads to rejection of pop-up headlamps and abandonment of PR5, seen as a Jaguar/Aston Martin style, not MG. Rover management approves RV8.
Jly: proposal of PR3 1.6-litre K-series engine with optional supercharger.
Aug 9: Rover Group drops US Sterling marque.
Sep: Gerry McGovern begins work on styling clay for PR3 at Canley.
Autumn: MG-badged saloons discontinued after MG Maestro and Montego 2.0i.
1992 Jan: MG RV8 prototype presented at Rover dealer conference.
Jan 22: Styling of PR3 clay model approved.
Mar 3: Geneva show. Rover 200 Cabriolet launched (Project Tracer nearly became an MG). Rover 800 coupe also launched.
Mar: Styling of PR3 approved. Rover staff invited to give opinions on “elements of an MG”.
Jun: Teaser brochure for RV8 issued with studio photograph of DEV1 prototype, “The Shape of Things to Come”.
Sep 18: MG Car Club, MG Owners’ Club and others invited to preview of MG RV8 at Canley.
Oct 20: RV8 launched by John Towers at Birmingham Motor Show, together with Rover 200 coupe.
Nov: Rover board approves 1.8-litre K-series with optional VVC.
Dec: PR3 design signed off. Mayflower and Rover agree Mayflower Vehicle Systems (the merged Motor Panels and IAD) to raise £24 million for design, engineering and production of bodyshells.
1993 Mar: Rover board approves PR3. Launch planned for 1995.
Mar 31: Mayflower investment includes rights issue to raise £34.6 million. Production of over 10,000 a year expected, with sales of £20 million for a 6-year contract.
Mar 31: First production MG RV8 made at Cowley for BMH museum (chassis Nr 251, British Racing Green metallic). First six customer cars completed on 19 Apl.
Oct: Woodcote Green MG RV8 at Tokyo Motor Show.
1994 Jan 13: First 46 RV8s leave Southampton for Japan.
Jan 31: British Aerospace sale of Rover Group to BMW AG for £800 million.
Feb 21: Honda relinquishes 20% shareholding in Rover, which releases its 20% in Honda’s UK manufacturing subsidiary.
Mar 18: Title and ownership of Rover Group officially transferred to BMW AG. Rover Group comprises two sub-groups: Rover Group Holdings plc, Birmingham (with 89 subsidiaries) and Rover Group USA Inc, Lanham, Maryland (with four subsidiaries).
Jly: Pre-production examples of MGF completed, using final tooling.
Sep: Pilot production of MGF.
1995 Feb 6: Preview of MGF for MG Car Club, MG Owners’ Club, Octagon Car Club at Gaydon.
Feb 20-24: Dealer MGF launch.
Mar 7: MGF launched at Geneva.
May: Rover 416 and 420 launched.
Aug 4: First volume-production MGF built at Longbridge CAB2.
Sep 23: First customer MGF deliveries.
Oct: MGF makes its UK and Japanese Motor Show debuts.
Nov 22: Last MG RV8, Woodcote Green bound for Japan.

Land Rover

I wish I had thought of LXV for the 65th anniversary edition of our Land Rover File. Land Rover thought of it first, for a 65th anniversary special edition Defender. If you haven’t driven a Defender for a long time you will be astonished how refined they are now. Short of elbow room maybe, but with the 2.2 diesel and not the old Ford Transit 2.4, along with an improved NVH package introduced in 2011, they are quite acceptably quiet. Drove one at Packington Estate, testing ground for the original 1948 Land Rovers, where they had 130 heritage Land Rovers with which to compare it. Certainly it’s nothing like the rest of the modern range with automatic electronic gizmos, hill descent control and air suspension. Yet it is perfectly civilized, with 6-speed manual transmission and a decent turn of speed. Nought to 60 in 14.5sec and 90mph isn’t bad and the LVX has 16in Sawtooth alloy wheels and Santorini Black paintwork with Corris Grey roof, grille, headlight surrounds and facia. There are leather seats, upright but perfectly comfortable and practical, with LXV embossed headrests and orange contrast stitching, extending to the steering wheel and centre cubby compartment. Even the ride is quite smooth; maybe something short of serene, but nothing like the spine-jarring turbulence once associated with Defenders. There is a union flag on the back. Be prepared for a surprise at the price. It now starts at £28,765. They hadn’t thought of variable-vane turbochargers and high pressure fuel injection on Land Rovers in 1948, but there is a lot in the LXV with which Wilks family members, present for the celebrations, were perfectly familiar. Shown a copy of the new Land Rover 65th anniversary book, Stephen Wilks, president of the Land Rover Series One Club pointed to the family Anglesey beach picture on page 15 and said gleefully, “That’s me, aged 7.” Land Rover milestones. Packington.

Grand Prix Grauniad

Jack Brabham “finished the race on half-pistons”, should have read “half-distance”, but phoning race reports to The Grauniad was always problematical. And copy-takers would laugh if you told them that Jack Brabham failed to finish because he had run out of petrol. The notion that the world’s best cars had not enough in the tank to see them through was jokey. If they had a puncture it was worse. Punctures were something that happened to ordinary people. Copy-takers never quite grasped the finer points of motor racing.

It would be just as bad now if you phoned on a crackly line from Monza that Lewis Hamilton’s tyres wore out after five laps. Decent tyres last 25,000 miles. Truly, racing has gone unrealistic, with regulations that have everybody diving into the pits and changing one tyre compound for another. Grands Prix were always something of a circus but what with DRS zones and obscure kinetic energy devices nowadays, they look bizarre.

Innocent lottery-winner interviewed the other day said he’d always fancied a drive in a Formula 1 car. Chances are he would never understand the game-station buttons on the steering wheel. The last kind of Formula 1 car that related to anything in his understanding would probably be something in the pre-wobbly wing era when drivers changed gear with a gear-lever and worked a clutch with the left foot. Back in Jack Brabham’s day.

(Top picture Brabham biplane, bottom Repco engine on the grid, Brabham golden helmet, Maxwell Boyd of The Sunday Times out of focus in the white jacket. Can’t tell which Hewland gearbox this is. Brabham began by upgrading a Formula 2 car with no more than an F2 Hewland, but had to change it for a Hewland DG. Gurney Eagle used to claim this meant Dan Gurney; Brabham said DG only meant Different Gearbox, so as not to confuse it with HD (Heavy Duty) and LG (Large Gearbox. They had simpler nomenclature then, like Cosworth FVA, which meant Four Valve type A, and DFV - Double Four Valve)).