The Q and R Types
Successor to the J4 was the Q-Type, an all-out racing car that fully looked the part. A sinister cover below the
radiator shrouded the big Zoller blower, which hung between the front frame members - the source of 28 pounds of boost which forced 150 horses out of a bronze-headed Class H engine.
It was a sure race winner but had far more power than its classic chassis could use; so Charles and his team set to work on a wholly new single-seater to go around the Q engine.
Uniquely for a small racing car of that era, the resulting R-Type had independent suspension all 'round by slim parallel wishbones and torsion bars, hung from a remarkable 57-pound V-shaped frame.
Detail engine changes included the first official use of the 1-4 and 2-3 twin
exhaust pipe layout that MG specials went on to exploit so well.
In spite of some unnerving wheel and body angles, the R was a revolution of
handling and "stiction," though it was never developed far enough to pull the teeth of the twin-cam Austins. By any standards it was excellent value for the equivalent of A$4,500 - a thousand more than the heavier Q-Type.
The PB and R were the last of the less-than-a-litre MG's new concepts, and the end to factory racing came with the acquisition of the assets by Lord Nuffield in 1936.
Also see: MG Heritage |
MG
Performance Chart 
