1954 Dick Jacobs MG YB Special Coupé

1954 Jacobs MG Special, Stuart Dean, Etretat Hill Climb 2017.

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Dick Jacobs, South Woodford, Essex, England.  Dick Jacobs was a well known driver post-WW2 who drove for the works MG team and built a number of MG specials.  He took over the Mill Garage from his father in December 1945 and the next year it became an MG dealership. He then took up racing MGs with his first race being at Goodwood in 1948 in a supercharged MG TC where he finished fourth.  in 1949 he took his first win, had his first drive for the MG works team and built the fist of his MG specials on a TA chassis using a supercharged TC engine.  In the early fifties he raced an MG YB in production races with some success.  In 1954 he built two specials based on the MG YB, one of them being built on the last ever YB chassis 1551. The one built on chassis 1551 is the one owned by Stuart Dean and seen above at Etretat.   They had special glass fibre bodies built by RGS Automobile Components Ltd and 1.5 litre MG engines.  They were raced throughout 1954 but were however no match for the Lotus-MG of Colin Chapman.   Dick Jacobs drove a prototype MGA for the works team at the ill-fated 1955 Le Mans 24 hours but had a very bad crash that ended his racing career.  He did however recover to continue his MG business.  Stuart Dean regularly races and hill climbs this car including at the famous Goodwood Revival meeting.

1934 Fazer-Nash TT Replica

A nice opposite lock slide from Paul Weston at the Etretat Hill Climb in 2017 in his 1934 Frazer-Nash TT Replica.

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Frazer-Nash, Isleworth, England.  Founded by Archibald Frazer-Nash in Kingston in the twenties, this car company went into financial difficulties and was acquired by the Aldington brothers and moved to Isleworth.  The Aldington brothers were good marketeers and named the new models after the major iconic events  in which their cars competed.  Thus the TT Replica was named after the Tourist Trophy in which Frazer-Nash competed from 1928 to 1931, although with little success.  The TT Replica was thus based on the 1931 car but the replica did better than the original as it finish ninth overall and second in class driven by Harold Aldington averaging just under 69mph.  This was when the TT was run on the Ards Circuit in Northern Ireland. The TT Replica was sold between 1932 and 1938 and over 80 were produced.   It was sold with a variety of engines; 1.5 litre 4 cylinder Gough, 1.66 litre 6 cylinder Blackburne and 1.5 litre 4 cylinder Meadows.  There were also various wheelbase chassis options.  Like other pre-war Frazer Nash cars the transmission was chain-drive.  Handling was definitely in the oversteer department as demonstrated above.   The TT Replicas achieved their most notable success in the Alpine Trials between 1932 and 1934. In these three years they gained the distinction of becoming the only English car and only non-supercharged car to not suffer the loss of a mark three years in succession.  A great achievement.   The 6 cylinder cars could achieve a top speed of 90mph and achieve a 0-60mph time of around 15 seconds.  In 1934 models were available from about £500.

1936 MG TA Midget

Peter Edney, 1.35 litre 1936 MG TA Midget, Etretat Hill Climb 2017.

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MG, Abingdon, England.  The TA Midget was introduced in mid-1936 and continued to be produced until early 1939.  It was powered by an in-line four cylinder 1.3 litre 52 hp pushrod engine through a four speed gearbox that drove the rear wheels.  The body of the 1936 car shown here is a 2 seater roadster.  Other bodies were available later.  Top speed was just under 80mph but it took over 20 seconds to get from 0-60mph.  In the UK it originally went on sale for £222.  It was a bit bigger than the previous Midget but had a more powerful engine.  Not popular with the MG purists at first, it was become a very popular small sports car and over 3,000 were sold.  Initially it was called the T type until the TB was introduced.