The MG 1100 and 1300 were badge engineered versions of the Austin/Morris 1100 model with slightly modified engines and better trim and equipment. Other than engine size badges they were externally similar. There was a two door version as well as the 4 door.

This model is based on the first MG owned by anyone in our family. It was a late 1968 model purchased in early 1972 and it passed the 10 years and 100000 miles barriers before it expired. The 11/1300 cars suffered badly with rust and needing a new body and engine rebuild it was uneconomic to save it.

The car was used in many local and national events, but never raced. Its best results were an autotest at Donnington Race Track were it came second in the FWD class to a Mini Cooper S. The Mini's driver was a past national autotest champion who missed a bollard on the last test so all that was required was a clear round to win. The same bollard was missed.

At a local Road Rally the club's best driver was testing his new fully rally prepared Vauxhall Firenza 2.3 litre. It was built and sponsored by the local Vauxhall dealer and was quite successful in National events. The MG was on tune that day as not only did it win beating the Firenza but as there were no penalties for early arrivals at the check points it also caught up and over took the course car, another Cooper S.

11/1300s were always at a disadvantage in motor sport because they were always in the same classes as Minis which being shorter and lighter started with an huge advantage.

The owner with some of the trophies he won so it wasn't all bad. Bet he didn't drive in those shoes though.

The model was obtained from Traffic-modelcars who manufacture the car as a complete kit with a MRRC slot chassis. See below.

The body is cast in resin. I am assuming that Traffic-modelcars created their own original for this model as here are a number of minor differences between it and the static Airfix kit I have and I have thought that the Airfix/MRRC 1100 slot racer was based on this kit.

Externally the car was standard although the paint job was not. The two-tone colours were originally enhanced by the painting of the wheel arches and sills. This was done after rust ate through the wheel arches and it was cheaper to hand paint the green edging than respray the panels. The sills, a common rust area, were also given the green treatment for extra protection as the paint used was a brushing enamel which gave a stronger and more hard wearing finish than normal car paint of the time.

I spray painted the main green and white areas but the wheel arches and sills were done freehand without masking tape, just as was done on the original car.

Finances were tight so the car was improved as things needed doing to it rather than being done in one go. Having sorted out the rusting problems Hammerite rust proof paint in a green metallic shade was chosen to paint and protect the underside and the left over was used on the wheels. Some time later the car roof was painted white just to be different. The only other visual change was the fitting of a second badge on the boot lid.

Besides the resin body, chromed white metal parts are supplied for bumpers, lights and grill. The lens colours and grill badge have been painted on. The rest of the chrome work has been done with Bare Metal Foil. The second badge was cast in resin, using the airfix kit to make the mould, filed flat and glued in place.

The tyres were not standard. When the original crossplys needed replacing the largest sized radials that would fit on the rims were purchased, first two and the remaining three some months later.

The MRRC wheels are very small and gave insufficient ground clearance for our track. I have replaced them with wheels from a Lotus 7. They are a little to large and stick out from the body but do give the correct feel to the model

The car was one of the original MG 1300s and had a single carburettor rather than the later twin carb engine . This was never changed due to the trouble friends had with trying to balance their twin carbs set-up. Over the years many engine parts were replaced with uprated Midget versions and the cylinder head was cleaned and gas flowed. The ribbon speedo read to 100 mph and this was reached on many occasions.

The interior has slightly over scale seat backs and a simplified dash. The seats were left unchanged but the Airfix kit ribbon speedo style dash was used to mould and cast the replacement in resin. I was offered a choice of heads, in a helmet or bareheaded. This is the bare head with milliput seventies hair style.

If building a racer I would suggest replacing the resin interior with a light-weight vac-formed one.

Being a non-smoker the owner used the central ash tray fitting to hold a home made pod for four additional instruments. This has been modelled with plastic card and milliput. The steering wheel supplied with the kit is wrong for a standard car as this was much larger and only had two spokes. The featured car however had a small 13" three spoke wheel fitted for ease of use in autotests and the like, so the supplied wheel was retained.

Minor detailing still to be done like the sun visor and grill badges. Oh. and to dirty the number plates. They were never washed for some reason.