MG Does It Again at Bonneville in 1957

As we approach another Speed Week at Bonneville soon, I bring you another clip from the British sports car maker MG setting records on the salt. You might remember the clips I shared from their earlier EX-179 runs both here and here too. This time it’s the Ex-181 at the Flats, an aluminum-bodied streamliner known as the “Roaring Raindrop”, which featured a supercharged 1.5 liter twin cam four-banger running on race fuel and putting out an impressive 290 hp at 7,000 rpm. Designed for top speed with safety was an afterthought, this miniature buzz-bomb was formed in a wind tunnel to top 240 mph, but had a few issues for the great driver Sir Stirling Moss to deal with. First was a very compromised seating position with poor visibility and no crash protection at high speed, and the second was deadly fumes in the cockpit created by the 86% methanol fuel mixed with nitrobenzene, acetone and sulphuric ether, reported by the American test driver referred to in the film, which was legendary Phil Hill. None of this bothered Sir Stirling enough to stop him from setting a 245.64 mph Class F record that August of 1957, and putting MG further into the record books. It’s amazing what a such small English car company was able to do by putting their full effort into the attempt…