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MG MGA - 777ENK..?

Just wondering how this car is doing nowdays..
I am a grandson of K.P Tomei who originally raced this car in the late 50's and went on his honey moon in this car to Devon unfortunatly he has passed away now, so i was wondering how is it doing now i know someone called Steve restored it.. is he on here.?

Many Thanks Tim
TJW Whitcher

Tim,

I don't own it, but looks like it's still about.

Date of Last V5 Issue 23 07 2004

Click Vehicle Enquiry then type in the license number here.

http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/index.jsp

Help this helps.
<MARK>
Mark Hester

This old Works Twin-Cam is very much around. Raced last Sunday at Goodwood Revival. 1'44" best lap and a respectable finish for a relatively standard car.
Looks as beutiful as ever, just as it did when I took it to Peter Tomei's funeral almost 2 years ago. What a lovely man, and his wife Jean who died shortly afterwards, I believe.
I remember taking the car to Peter & Jean's house in 2002 just after it had been driven so well by Rauno Aaltonen at that year's Revival and how made-up Peter was to drive it again. I remember him coming to Brands Hatch for a race in ?October 2003?, where he was such a star in this car in the early 60's, and driving it again albeit not at race pace. He was thrilled.
The car raced in the MGA Anniversary race at Silverstone in July although most will have missed it due to the torrential rain.
A fine, beautiful condition car. One of only two Works Twin-Cam race cars (it also rallied for the Works).
The car may be available for sale one day soon, if anyone is interested.
Steve Dixon
Steve Dixon

Correction. Heaven knows where I got it from but there were other Works twin-cam race cars, particularly if one includes the USA. Sorry.
Point I was trying to make was that racing Twinks were very rare. Most Works cars were rally cars.
Steve Dixon
Steve Dixon

Interesting story Steve !
However 777ENK is also mentioned in Graham Robson's book: "the MGA, MGB and MGC" (Collectors Guide series)on page 55 as, and I quote: "...an MGA 1600 on loan from John Gott" ,for the works rally team in 1960.
Was it indeed also owned by John Gott, or is Robson wrong on this one ?
Cheers,
Nick, 63midget/52TD and ex-59MGA.
D.G.J. Herwegh

Tim,

Have a look at this link :

http://members.home.nl/cstruijk/777enk/

regards,
koen

MGA Register Holland
www.mgcars.org.uk/mgarh
Koen Struijk

Would this also be the same car which came 2nd in class ,in September 1960, in the German Rally driven by Peter Riley and Tony Ambrose ? A car which is reffered to as "7EMK" by Peter Browning in "the Works MG's".

Koen, do you happen to know (as an MGA register member), if DE-64-05 a Glacier Blue 1500 roadster, is still among your members ?
Thanks,
Nick, 63Midget/52TD and ex59MGA.
D.G.J. Herwegh

Nieck, yes HDL43 65228 is still owned by one of our members!

Koen
koen struijk

Thanks Koen !!!
Good to know it's still in good hands !
Spent more than 1400 hours on that girl to bring her back from the dead and it wasn't easy to let her go.
Maybe one day I will be able to buy her back.
Cheers,

Nick, 63Midget/52TD
D.G.J. Herwegh

Yes, 777 ENK is the German Rally car in Peter Browning's (and Bill Price's) book shown as 7 EMK. The reason for the error is that the photo they saw has the number plate somewhat obscured by dirt.
The car ran with a pushrod engine, as Peter Riley says, for reliability reasons. It was competing against 14 Porsches, beating all but one which would have been overtaken with perhaps only anothere few miles/stages.
Peter Riley has a lovely story of the event. On a night section, Riley noticed they were being followed by a rival car and he deduced that the crew in it were half-asleep, simply using the MGA as a guide. Tony Ambrose, navigating, suggested Riley took a turning in the wrong direction having seen from the map that he could trick the following car. They were followed, sure enough, by the Porsche. Riley built up speed and put a little more distance between them and the other car. Just before a turn that would take them back to the proper route, they switched off the lights, made the turn and stopped. The Porsche shot by pursuing nothing. Riley & Ambrose returned to the rally with another Porsche out of contention!

Peter Tomei bought the car from Marcus Chambers at the Works. Chambers had approached Tomei who was then very successfully driving an Elva Courier and beating MGA's. He esuggested that Tomei buy ENK. The car was John Gott's, of course, from new, hence the St Alban's registration. It was maintained by Tommy Wellman and mostly stored at the Works. Gott used it as personal transport but it was mostly in action at a myriad of club/national events, mostly Silverstone.
Gott would be moving on to his famous Healey but wrote that the twin-cam, driven well, was its equal. Gott ran the car (as did Tomei) with the valance painted yellow like the contemporary Jacobs car 1MTW which must have confused as they did race against each other from time-to-time.

Anyway, Tomei had most of the £800 asked by Chambers having got the money from the insurers of his Elva, Seems he had, between races, left it with a dealer in Kingston, Surrey, for a commission sale. The dealer vanished with all the stock. Tomei was covered because his car had been stolen, and not sold to the dealer pending payment. He had theft insurance of course, while th other cars' owners had simply been owed money and were not covered. (Hope this makes sense.)

Tomei collected the car from the Works. When showed the car earlier by Chambers it had the pushrod negine from the German Rally still fitted with all the Rally lighting etc The twink engine was beside the car. On collection, as arranged, the Twink was fitted with SU's but the lighting was still there. There was no hard-top. Chambers gave him a number of spares, including a half-engine. Later when the car wouldn't go quite as well as Tomei expected, Gott advised him to fit Webers. This was done by Tommy Wellman at the Works foc and with a hole that Tomei cut into the shroud feeding air to them the car started to perform.
He ran it for 1961 in the Autosport Trophy and most commonly at Brands where he was always very quick. He told us the reason that Archie Scott-Brown had spent a while with hin a few years before when he was racing a T-type walking round the circuit and advising him the best lines and so on.

However, Tomei wanted to marry Jean and this he did later in 1961. He never raced again. The car became the honeymoon vehicle and took them to Devon for their honeymoon wher they, by chance, met up with Gordon Cobban, of the MG Car Club.

The car was sold in 1962 to Norman Lefton who raced it all over the country until he sold it in 1964 to Peter Levy. Levy raced it and famously rolled the car for the National TV cameras at Brands Hatch. Levy was thrown clear through the hood and was unhurt. The car still has a slight curvature of the shroud caused then.

Tim, you and I met at Peter's funeral and lost touch soon after. I recall that you live on the South Coast somewhere ~ Southampton, maybe.
I hope your family is well and that Peter & Jean's photos of the car still adorn someone's walls as the did at their home.

Steve Dixon
Steve Dixon

Steve,
Thanks very much for sharing this wonderful story !
Clarifies a lot about this works car's history.
Cheers,
Nick, 63Midget/52TD.
D.G.J. Herwegh

Would any of those with a knowledge of 777ENK ever ran with a pushrod engine prior to Jan 1, 1060. I believe that John Gott ran a "pushrod engined twin cam" at Oulton Park in the fall of '59. I saw that somewhere in an old Safety Fast but can't locate the reference now.

I have been seeking some proof of a factory prepared car running twin cam suspension and a pushrod to show to the VSCCA officials. I have the ex John Whitmore / Peter Riley #43 Sebring 1600 Coupe which was built and raced in 1961. Unfortunately VSCCA refuses to allow me to run the car even though the 1600 model was introduced before their Dec 31, 1959 cutoff date. I have the September '59 FIA homolgation papers for the 1600 which clearly state that four wheel Dunlop brakes and pin located K/O wheels where optional equipment under Appendix J and their response is: prove to them that a a car so equipped was actually raced prior to Dec 31, '59.

FWIW, the car has been rebuilt to the '61 race spec, therefore no roll cage, no fuel cell or fire suppression and it only has a simple 3" lap belt. VSCCA is the only group that has a class for cars without modern safety equipment. Other groups like SVRA would readily accept the car but then I would have to do a lot of modification to pass their tech inspection.

So if anyone has any old publications that identify a pushrod engined car with twin cam wheels and brakes competing before Jan 1,'60 please let me know.

Frank
Frank Graham

Typo, the first line of the previous message should say 1960 not 1060, sorry.

Frank
Frank Graham

Frank
I know of no use by JoHn Gott of 777 ENK with a push-rod engine. That by no means says that he didn't actually drive another car at Oulton Park.
According to Peter Riley the Works put the push-rod engine in only after consideration when it was agreed it would be more reliable for an International Rally. Any record I know of where Gott drove this car it was as a Twink. Because, however, those records are never comprehensive, we will keep a weather eye open for any such reference. I know someone who may have the resources (if not the time) to check the Safety Fast reference you seek.
I am minded to believe that with the resources of the Works Comps people available and perhaps a temporary problem for the Twin-Cam engine, or as some kind of trial/test-bed, they could easily have used a push-rod engine for an event.
I'm with you. Properly-provenanced important cars like yours need to be used and appreciated. I know something of the efforts you have made to do it right and wish you every success in persuading the authorities to let you race as you wish.
Steve Dixon
Steve Dixon

Tim
I half-hoped you would come back on this thread. I would want to keep the car in touch with Peter & Jean's family.
I've included an email address if you'd rather get in touch that way.
Steve Dixon
Steve Dixon

This thread was discussed between 17/09/2005 and 05/10/2005

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