MG Gammon Special: smoking the competition

By Charlie Calderwood

| 19 Sep 2024

Classic & Sports Car – MG Gammon Special: smoking the competition

You can’t really call beating Lotus, Frazer Nash or Morgan sports cars giant-killing.

In terms of physical dimensions, that seems a bit ridiculous.

However, when amateur racer Peter Gammon won against those famous names in the one-off Special he’d built himself on the chassis of an obsolete MG TC through 1952-’53, pride was hurt enough that Colin Chapman eventually shoved the keys for a Lotus Six into his hands to save further embarrassment.

The MG Gammon Special’s twin-carburettor XPAG benefits from a Laystall-Lucas head and enlarged valves

The Gammon Special not only boasts an enviable record in motorsport of its own, both in period and contemporary historic racing, but also has a role in the founding days of Lotus.

Gammon, a draper from Guildford, wasn’t the first owner of this car, or even the first to campaign it.

One of the last MG TCs built, it had a brief racing career in its original form, with two owners before Gammon bought it in 1951.

By then, the new TD was prevalent and the old TC increasingly uncompetitive, but Gammon saw an opportunity to build a Special for his first full season of racing in 1952.

The MG Gammon Special has knock-off wire wheels

A simple, cycle-winged, aluminium body that Gammon seems to have built himself replaced the heavier, upright, ash-framed MG original.

This was common practice for clubman racers of the early ’50s, who tended to be remarkably self-sufficient and hands-on.

Where Gammon was atypically professional, however, was in enlisting Barwell Engineering in nearby Chessington to help with the mechanicals.

The firm’s John Lucas built a 1500cc XPAG unit for the car, featuring an early version of what would become the famous Laystall-Lucas alloy cylinder head – John was the eponymous Lucas.

The MG badge identifies what’s underneath the unique Gammon Special’s bodywork

Barwell Engineering did all of the preparation work for Gammon and, as well as Lucas’ genius in the engine bay, the chassis was tuned by Bernie Rodger – who later went on to design the underpinnings of the Peerless GT.

The Gammon MG’s racing debut is uncertain: perhaps in late 1951, or at the eighth Goodwood Members’ Meeting in March 1952 – where it retired from its first race and didn’t start its second.

By May, however, the Special was back at Goodwood for another Members’ Meeting, and its first podium: a third-place finish.

This MG’s flat dashboard is loosely tied to the TC design, albeit with less friendly ergonomics

But it didn’t have to wait long until its maiden victory, at a Maidstone and Mid-Kent Motor Club event on the Silverstone circuit later that month.

It began by quickly overtaking the leading Frazer Nash, holding off a rival MG TD while cutting through backmarkers and taking the lead.

Half of Gammon’s shirt apparently blew off in all the arm-twirling frenzy, forming a brightly coloured flag as it hung off one arm and streamed behind the car.

Despite the drama, he had indeed reversed his TC’s obsolescence to the TD.

‘Peter Gammon claimed to have been warned off the sport by an apparition of the recently deceased Mike Hawthorn’

Two weeks later, Gammon returned to Silverstone and came second to a 4.5-litre Allard by just 2 secs.

Gammon won again in July, at an MG Car Club event at the same circuit.

Later that month, he took his first Goodwood win at the 10th Members’ Meeting, finishing just ahead of one Colin Chapman in his Lotus Six.

The rest of 1952 included podium visits at Goodwood, Thruxton, Castle Combe and Snetterton.

The MG TC before becoming the Gammon Special

The 1953 Performance Car 1500cc Trophy topped off the Gammon Special’s big year of success when, once again, it beat Chapman in his Lotus.

The Egerton Challenge Trophy and the Silverstone Motor Sport Trophy also came Gammon’s way, as did a second place in the Memorial Trophy at Goodwood.

In two years, it had notched up a remarkable 80 podium finishes.

Chapman realised that Gammon’s success was overshadowing his Lotus and, by the end of the year, offered a Six to the plucky upstart.

The MG Gammon Special in 1975, as found by Dave Saunders

Other accounts describe the encounter as being the other way around, with Gammon appreciating that the Six had the superior chassis.

Either way, he was driving a Lotus for the 1954 season – but took his XPAG engine with him into the usually Ford-powered Lotus.

Gammon repeated his Performance Car Trophy triumph the following year with his MG-powered Lotus.

Then he came third in the British Empire Trophy, no doubt impressing a useful number of customers into Lotus Sixes, in turn funding the development of the Lotus Seven.

The MG Gammon Special’s aluminium bodywork is well finished

His namesake Special remained unused that year and was advertised in Autosport for £450.

For the rest of the 1950s, Gammon raced Elvas, Coopers and Lolas before retiring in 1959, claiming to have been warned off the sport by an apparition of the recently deceased Formula One champion Mike Hawthorn.

Touring Car and one-time Le Mans driver Jimmy Blumer bought the car from Gammon to compete in 1955, including a victory in a sprint at Sherburn.

It passed to John Swift in 1957, who continued racing it at Croft, Silverstone and in numerous hillclimbs.

Cycle wings appear to have been a constant throughout this MG’s various guises

In a later letter, Swift claimed the car out-accelerated Healey Silverstones, AC Aces and Triumph TR2s, but that it struggled against the new Lotus Eleven.

The Special moved between owners after that, losing some of its original bodywork and deteriorating in condition, until it reached MG fanatic Dave Saunders in 1975, by then painted British Racing Green and fitted with an eggcrate grille.

Saunders wanted to return the car to Gammon’s specification, but, unable to find photographs of what the car originally looked like, he stored it for 23 years.

It was the first Goodwood Revival of 1998 that would also revive the Gammon Special.

‘With a quiet chirrup from the rear wheels, it lunges forward and demands rapid changes as you gain momentum’

Saunders had read that the Earl of March was looking for cars that had originally raced at Goodwood to return to the track for the event.

Aware of the Special’s history, Saunders finally set about restoring it.

The Historic Lotus Register managed to find a past owner of the car with photographs of its original state, while Saunders himself was able to track down both Blumer and Swift.

Over a year, he completely rebuilt the Special, returning it to 1952-’53 specification, ready for the second Goodwood Revival in 1999.

Here’s the MG Gammon Special after another restyle, probably in the late 1950s

There, it competed in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy in Saunders’ hands, finishing 24th, and took part in a 75th-anniversary display for the MG marque.

Vintage Sports-Car Club and Historic Grand Prix Cars Association events followed into the 2000s, with Saunders campaigning the MG across Europe: at Silverstone, the Nürburgring, Oulton Park, Donington and Dijon-Prenois.

Saunders kept the car as part of a collection of historic MGs, including ex-works racers and pristine road cars, until his recent passing.

The Gammon hasn’t run much in the past few years, so you have to lift up the tail-cone to expose the battery and attach a jump-pack to get it started.

This MG’s post-Gammon grille was less refined

Here, the battery is held just in front of an otherwise bare rear axle, with the fuel tank further back still.

With that, the engine fires quickly, emitting a very 1950s ‘pop-pop’ exhaust note at idle.

With the cabin located further rearwards than in a standard TC – and the driver pinned back in the fixed seat by a harness – the Gammon’s gearknob is extended towards you by two right-angle bends in the lever.

It takes a little bit of practice to get used to its feel as a result.

Trumpets stick out of the bonnet and feed air to the XPAG unit’s twin-carburettor set-up

So, too, the clutch pedal, which, though easier than in some racing cars, still snatches a bit.

I’ve stalled it on my first attempt. So it’s off with the rear cone again, on with battery pack and another jump.

As long as you load on the throttle, moving off is simple enough: with a quiet chirrup from the rear wheels, it lunges forward.

There’s rarely any time to relax in the Gammon Special, because the gearing is frantic and demands rapid changes as you gain speed.

The MG Gammon Special feels planted, even in damp conditions

Period racers claimed to have seen more than 100mph with it, at which point the XPAG was turning at more than 6000rpm in top.

But this isn’t a peaky engine that needs to be held in gear to make progress.

Despite its high-lift camshaft, it feels torquey and muscular across its rev range.

The Laystall-Lucas head doesn’t just save weight, thanks to its alloy construction, but lets the engine breathe better, through gas-flowed ports and enlarged valves.

Dave Saunders (right) reunited the car with racing driver Jimmy Blumer in 2000

Low weight and short gearing give the car a pugnacious character, as if it is champing at the bit to go faster.

Certainly it feels far quicker than any standard T-series MG.

Lower than the TC on which it is based, and with an even more open cockpit, it’s an exposed experience – especially if you forget to bring a hat – where you can check the quality of the road surface by just reaching to the side.

As soon as you do accelerate in any kind of adverse weather, you quickly realise why the scuttle rises toward the driver on factory MGs.

On a racing circuit, the MG Gammon Special is capable of 100mph-plus performance

In the completely flat-decked Gammon, all the water that has gathered on the bonnet quickly slides backwards as you set off, flowing straight under the aeroscreen and on to your lap.

It doesn’t fail to surprise you each time you come to a stop and move away again.

But it feels firm and remarkably settled, considering how narrow the tyres are.

The steering is tight – slightly too heavy, perhaps, but impressively direct. It’s communicative, chuckable; friendly, even.

This MG’s cabin is located further rearwards than in a standard TC

Unlike many racing cars, the Special feels approachable rather than something to wrestle with.

This nature is presumably what Gammon referred to when he described it as an ‘extremely safe and easy car to handle’ in his Autosport advert.

Later, when Saunders reunited former owner Blumer with the freshly restored car, he took it for a spin around a car park and returned to say it had always been one of his favourites.

The MG Gammon Special’s tail-cone opens to reveal the fuel tank, rear axle and battery

The Gammon’s unfussy bodywork – slightly awkward and, let’s be honest, a bit fish-like from the front – belies both the car’s amiable manners and striking competitiveness in the mid-’50s.

It’s not just one of the most important MG Specials, but also a key forerunner in the Lotus motorsport story – so successful that it led to an XPAG being fitted into one such racer.

Perhaps the most miraculous thing about the Gammon today, however, is that it survives.

So many cars of its type were stripped for parts, crashed or otherwise abandoned when they became obsolete.

The MG Gammon Special was competitive but forgiving in period, which is perhaps why it survives today

It seems likely that a big part of its preservation is owed to the fact that its keepers found it so friendly, surviving nearly a decade in competition and another in the wilderness before Saunders found it.

As much as we all like to hear of the heroics of driving tricky racing cars, this little MG is a reminder of the rewards of playing nice.

Images: John Bradshaw

Thanks to: Classic Motor Hub

Enjoy more of the world’s best classic car content every month when you subscribe to C&SC – get our latest deals here

READ MORE

Lotus Six: a dazzling debut

Emeryson: unique F2 racer for the road

Hansgen Special: Jaguar-based racer meets its inspiration