BritishV8 Forum

This question comes up from  time to time, but at last we have a definitive answer. According to a "How It Was Done" article written by Lloyd Faust for the MG V8 newsletter in 1995, Jim Stabe ran 152 at El Mirage with a turbo 215 MGB "in street trim minus windshield."
   
   Tell us more, Jim and/or Lloyd!  I'd particularly like to know how stable the car felt at that speed and what, if any, body or chassis modifications were needed.
   
   I'll never go that fast, but it's good to know I could if I wanted to.

That is a question I am asked frequently, my reply,  "I don't want to know".  I'm sure it is much in excess of 120+MPH.  Years ago when attending the meet in Cleveland, the GPS indicated my merge (being contested) onto the interstate going to Mentor  at 117MPH.  That was top speed for the trip!   Now, 75-80 MPH interstate is max. :-)

I would say the answer is very dependent on aerodynamic stability.  I can't remember who it was but someone on here has a v8 bgt, across the pond, with a significant aero setup and the videos he posted on track tend to suggest he was easily 150+.  I would bet that with right aero setup some of these cars with ~400 horsepower would be capable of speeds in the 180 range without too much trouble.  All of this in a controlled environment on track of course.

This is the same response I posted on the MG Experience forum

Partially true. What happened (although I shouldn't be admitting it publicly) is that one early evening I drove the car out the freeway through Santa Ana Canyon which at the time (late 1970's) did not have any on ramps in either direction for several miles and no places for cops to hide, just a golf course on one side and a sheer cliff on the other. After driving the several miles out and seeing no cops I took an off ramp and crossed over the overpass and waited at the top of the on ramp until all cars had passed and I could just see a car on the horizon before I took off. I went through the gears shifting at 6500 rpm and stayed in it until it hit 6500 rpm in 4th gear. I didn't have a speedometer but doing the calculations - 3.54 gears, 6500 rpm and tall rear tires calculated out to something around150 mph. Lloyd may have thrown in a couple mph for tire expansion. The road was very smooth and the car seemed stable enough that I don't remember being concerned - might be a different story if I did the same thing today in that car.
 
I would be much more comfortable doing it in the car as it is today - and I most likely will in a different venue.

Dan - you should post the article here also.

ivan,
I think it might be me that you are referring to with the aero. My car is quite low with a splitter at the front that runs back to the crossmember and a rear wing with a drag reduction device. I use the R380 gearbox and when I had 330bhp 5th gear was barely faster than 4th ( straight not long enough) Now I have about 370 bhp and it pulls much better in 5th. Not sure what the actual top speed is down the hangar straight at Silverstone but it must be 140+mph. car is very stable and feels planted.
I will be fitting a new 5.0L engine with TA heads soon which will be interesting.

Mark

QuoteDan - you should post the article here also.

When I first did my conversion back in about '88, from a dead stop I was doing 130 across the New River Gorge Bridge which is 3000 ft long, so that was at about the 2/3 mark when I backed out of it because the front end was getting light and I got a little concerned about being 900 ft up. It was pulling hard and would easily have done a good bit more. Not a stitch of aero at the time but it was lowered ('71 model).

Since then I don't think I've driven it any faster, though it has gotten quicker. That was with a HiPo Buick 215, full race cam, 650cfm Holley and those wonderful free breathing equal length headers. It was a screamer.

Jim

I agree Jim, top speed isn't what does it for me. I'll take face distorting acceleration any day - usually a lot safer too.

Given my gearing, and tire diameter the computer says I should get 143 @ 5300 rpm, given I could get 5300 rpm in 5th gear that is.  However, that speed would require a part of my anatomy to be sufficient for the task and the aerodynamics to stay planted which goes back to the anatomy thing I guess.  I would like to have the top speed as a bragging right which is a reason I have a 160 mph GPS speedometer I suppose, but as an old T-Bucket guy, like Jim, acceleration is what puts a smile on my face.  Every time I would pull into a gas station, which was more often than I would have liked, somebody would ask me how fast it would go and I would just say it had the aerodynamics of a 90 cent brick.

Paul

Well, the aerodynamics of an MGB are quite a bit better than a brick. I think you'd hit that speed easily enough with that 302. When I was 20 I had a 1970 Olds Cutlass Supreme, mildly modified, that would get up to 150 and at that speed it also got a little lighter in the front end but was still stable enough to bomb down the interstate. The MG was less comfortable at 130. But an air dam and a wing make a big difference in keeping it planted. Even so, these days I don't have any reason or even excuse for going that fast, there is way more traffic, way more cops, and when you do get caught the penalties are way more severe. Plus there are the things a 20 year old either never thinks about or considers unimportant like possible mechanical failures, dogs, deer, other drivers, acts of God, etc. We were all immortal back then of course and eventually begin to see our own mortality if we live long enough. Which is a very good thing too.

Jim

That's true, but then pretty much everything has better aerodynamics than a flat bottom "T."   High rates of speed make me nervous for all the reasons you give Jim and at 70 years old my reaction time isn't what it once was.  Rather than risk it on a public street, we have a couple of road courses in the area that offer track day almost every Saturday weather permitting.  


paul

I was doing 130 across the New River Gorge Bridge which is 3000 ft long,

Jim,

I know that bridge and wouldn't drive that fast there even as a 20 year old.  ( but the bridge wasn't built that long ago)

Hope you had a parachute.

Was that during your whitewater rafting days?

What is your top speed in the RM?  My GPS showed 93 once but then I backed off due to unsafe conditions and fear of cops.

Rats, I only got up to 70 when the Star Wars air cleaner came off & flew over the car!

Caution: That scoop is in way too much wind for high speed runs.

This raises the question "When is an MGB no longer an MGB?"  It's one thing to test an MGB motored car, quite another to ask the question about a tube-framed, V8 motor with a lightweight alloy body that has an MG octagon painted on the hood.  Take a look at this Bugeye Sprite that did 202 mph at Bonneville:



Not much Sprite left in there:  http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/guestcolumnists/richardscorner/07gailphillips/

You get a hint looking at the tail lights but that's about it.

Jim,

You got as far back to look at the taillights?  Can't be a bugeye without those trademark headlights.

Pretty sure I took the RM over 100 a couple of times just to see my GPS show trips....

I ain't sayin'

Rats, I only got up to 70 when the Star Wars air cleaner came off & flew over the car!

Caution: That scoop is in way too much wind for high speed runs.

Carl.  you reminded me of driving Roadmaster with the morning rush hour flow of traffic in Houston TX,  when I noticed the star wars air cleaner "wing" nut unwinding.  I was four or five lanes away from a safe place to pull over..  By the time I did get stopped it had one more turn before it was off.

I started checking it for tightness ever petrol fill-up.

Lucky morning , but later that day the right front air bag failed. And that's another story.

re:  Take a look at this Bugeye Sprite that did 202 mph at Bonneville:


There's a Bugeye in that photo?!?!

Clearly MGAs are faster than MGBs.  244 mph.

The question is not focus. How fast do you want to go in an MGB is more accurate to ask.
Going 152 mph on a street car that can be driven to the store with your wife has merit., that is fast. Talking about purpose build cars that go 202 with a small engine (I think) has some merit, I say that because there is always more and don't know if they did everything correctly to get  the speed out of the engine/car.

Speed is related to ability, money, time and the need for speed. So...how fast an MGB can go, well, how much money, ability, time and need for speed do you have.

Purpose built cars with motorcycle engine 1000 cc can go 250 mph. Big ci cars that barely break 200 mph is this impressive, I do not know.
What is impressive is to see someone get strapped in a street driven, go down the track and then drive the car home.

My 454 SS went 112 mph with the tail gate down and a computer chip, it was like a brick trying to break the sound barrier. LOL

QuoteThe question is not focus.

The focus of the original question was entertainment. I found it amusing the Lloyd Faust had written an article years ago in the British V8 Newsletter describing one of Jim Stabe's escapes with an MGBV8, and I thought others would too. I didn't really want to know how fast an MGB can go, as I realize that is an unanswerable (and irrelevant) question unless the parameters are clearly defined. Even then, the answer is "just a bit faster than previously."

That was one fast answer from a B owner  :-) Could be a new record.

In this forum the average record is hrs or days to read a comment to a post. This one took 1.01566667 now that is fast. LOL

I know Dan  just sharing my 2 cents worth.

Your average MGB with or without an engine swap is capable of 243.86 mph......



If dropped from an airplane :-]

Cheers
Fred