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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - report on first autocross in my 73 Midget

I hopefully have retired my other car and I can continue to just drive the midget because driving the midget in the autocross was a blast. Other people at the autocross teased me and told me that if I ever wanted to win I should buy a Miata (and they asked me where you stick in the key to wind it up). Well, I am willing to bet that eventually my Midget can beat the slowest Miata. ;)

I have a long way to go before I say that it is safe and really ready (I did not give anyone a ride and I did take it easy) but it is ready enough for some test and tune. There was never a time when it felt like I was in danger of tiping the car over. Actually it handled surprisingly well (as long as my anti-sway bar holds).

I got second to last place (it is slow but I was not pushing as hard as I could have).

I need to continue upgrading my suspension. It will be nice to have something to compare to as I upgrade it.

I need to make a decision on a roll over bar. Possibly just get a bolt in SCCA compliant one such as the one listed at Victoria British. One thing that I don't like about that is that they don't make a model for shorter people. I think that with my height (and my husbands height) I could have the bar shotened enough to close the hood and still be many inches above my helmet. I think that since they sell a bolt in bar they make it tall enough for very tall people. I wonder if I could just shorten it a little (and have the resulting bar still pass SCCA inspection - for some entry level track training day stuff).

I need to fix my fuel venting system (see other post).

My anti-sway bar mounts probably won't hold (as several people warned me). They did not rip out yet but I agree that they will (please show me more pictures of how you beefed up yours). I am thinking that I need 1/8 inch plate to mount them on.

The car handled better than I thought it would (given that I am not done with my upgrades).
My engine is not running as well as I want it to (how to improve performance is part of another discussion but I don't think that it is tuned up right). I had it idling pretty smoothly but something has changed.

I held it at second gear. I pushed it up to about 5000 rpm. If my car had a rollover bar and an updated suspension (with same engine) I am sure I could have pushed it a lot closer to red line.

I got a rev limiter which I will install before the next event. I might never hit it but I will feel better. I also agree that I should have an oil pressure warning light. My oil pressure seems to stay between 60 and 70 except at idle when it stays a little above 40.

I installed Hawk high performance brake pads. My brakes performed above expectation during the autocross. However, the next day the front brakes started squealing pretty bad. Is it normal for high performance brake linings to squeak once they are really seated in? I am going to check anyway to make sure that something did not come loose (not seating correctly). I thought it was unacceptably annoying and probably something is not moving as it should.

Next race for me is July 24th.

Rebecca

R Harvey

Well, I am willing to bet that eventually my Midget can beat the slowest Miata. ;)


It should do alot more then that! once you spend the time to learn autocross and devolop your skills and learn how to set up your car (tire pressures examples) there wont be much that can compete with you, mostly other spridgets and minicoopers (classics) but the muscle cars and other larger cars have to settle for back in the field, these cars are made for autocross, this is where they shine... as long as there are few long straight aways

theres a great you tube video of a bugeye killing off a hot rod rice burner over in the Uk I think it was an episode of top gear, I felt sorry for those poor kids, it was like having there pants pulled down and given a good spanking on there bare bums...LOL

Prop
Prop

Rebecca - I know the autosolo's are a lot more open than our autotests, however, just remember that even the best Miata's and MX5's over here aren't a patch on the Midgets.

Prop - that was Top Gear, they took a barry'd up Peugeot 306 GTi-6 with lots of ponies but lots of fibreglass, leather and other heavy sh*tty boy racer add-ons and pitched it against a very nicely prepped hill and sprint frogeye.

There was never even a competition there!!!

PeterJMoore

I look forward to the opportunity to make those Miata guys eat their words. They have a much better power to weight ratio than my midget and they do handle pretty well but I agree that the Midget should be able to compete. Mine will get faster. Their remarks just encourage me even more to prove them wrong. ;)

Rebecca
R Harvey

Step-by-step mods are the best way; and there's always more to come from the driver than the car (at least when I'm behind the wheel!).

BTW - my ARB mounts are original, and I use an 11/16 arb on polys with sticky tyres.

A
Anthony Cutler

Sounds like you had a great day Rebecca. You'll probably never out run the Miatas on the straights, but in the turns your Midget should do quite well. As for the roll bar, that will give you a bit more confidence. I'd suggest checking around your area for a race car builder and see if you can have a custom bar built for you. You should be able to get just what you want in height and necessary bracing to be legal for about the same price as one of the off the shelf bars, especially if you have it modified. If you don't have access to a welder they could also do the seam welding on the front frame extensions to reinforce those at the same time. Basically all that is done is to weld around the edges of the frame stubs where the tow pieces are spot welded together.


Bill Young

I have a Millermatic 140 Mig welder which might be good enough to beef up the seams. For this I might prefer a TIG welder though. (I have a 50A outlet installed - ready to use but I did not find a good deal on a TIG welder yet - taking my time waiting for a good deal at a flea market or Craigs list). I will definitely try and strengthen it before the 24th (next autocross).

I calculated that currently my weight per horse power is pretty bad on my stock Midget compared to most other autocross competitors. However, with incremental mods I think that I can make it reasonably competitive some day.

I like the idea of tweaking it gradually so I can learn what the effect of each mod is. It would be more fun that way.

Rebecca
R Harvey

Here's the Hillclimb challenge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-DGMrLGnLg
Geoff Everitt

That Miller 140 will be just fine for that seam weld, you're doing the edge so you can up the heat range a bit and get good penetration without worry about burn through on the sheet metal.
Bill Young

Oh, yes I liked the Hillclimb challenge. Now how do I get a driveable 130 bhp from my 1275 midget - did I see the name Peter May on the front of the frog-eye?

Peter
Peter Blockley

Echoing Bill above, and re-posting (yet again) the link to my ARB mount reinforcement pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/safety_fast/sets/72157623942645649/

I've been under my Midget the past day or so replacing the front shock absorbers, and can verify that the beefed-up ARB mounts are holding up very nicely.

:-)

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

"Now how do I get a driveable 130 bhp from my 1275 midget" ... Turbo charger and fuel-injection/programmable timing.
Trevor Jessie

Now how do I get a driveable 130 bhp from my 1275 midget"

Theres always "Prop the engine builder" ROFLMAO!!!! HAHAHAHA!

Oh man that thought almost made me pee a little

Prop
Prop

This thread was discussed between 06/07/2010 and 07/07/2010

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