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Originally Posted by Peter Mallett
Point one. No siamesed head you are thinking of the A series engine.
Point 2. Never heard the oscillation story before. Also having driven one for many years I've never experienced it either. You sure you aren't thinking of the Truimph Spitfire?
Anyway the point is well made that the Elan was the benchmark but it was low volume and when it came to long distance racing tended to fade away. That really was my point the Elans in longer races now tend to leave the B behind. Totally the opposite to my understanding of the contemporary case.
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Peter, the head on the B is siamesed. It has two inlet and 3 exhaust port all on the same side of the head. This is one of the reasons the car can never produce big power.
The best you get from a B engine these days, running a 5 bearing crank is around 190bhp - this will be reving somewhere around 7-8000rpm.
The trick is keeping them together!
The B's don't do that badly in racing these days and there is a very healthy following in the MG car club race series. I race mine, and have owned it for the last 14 years.
They can be made to handle and with a competent driver behind the wheel they will suprise a lot of modern cars - especially on trackdays where I like to go hunting down Elises and similar cars.
This front end problem sounds like hogwash and must have been due to worn out dampers - I've never encountered this problem in 14 years of hard road and track driving.
As for the Elan - well I have one of those as well and my modified B would chew it up and spit it out in about half a lap of any circuit. A standard B would struggle though, and the Elan certainly provides the much better feedback to the driver. It does feel fragile however, and the race cars must have a lot more spent on them than the B to make sure they last. It might just be that it is more glamorous to spend big money on a Lotus, than on an MGB...
Ultimately though, the B is incredibly friendly and predictable - even when modified. My brother tried mine on a trackday and got into the grove within about 4 laps, even waggling the front wheel in the air. I think that is alarge part of the appeal and may explain part of their success. They are very undemanding to lap in consistently and quickly.
This is what it is like driving a modified one these days (although the engine still has some development to go, IE: I can go up a cam and go larger on the valves on the head)
http://www.justgofaster.com/gallery/...Rockingham.wmv
Tony