Lester MG

This is a photograph of one of the cars that took part in the 10 Lap Scratch Race for 1950s Sports Racing Cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

According to the programme of the event car number 47 was John Gray's Lotus Eleven, but this is the 1952 Lester MG of George Edney, shown as number 165 in the programme which said this about the car:

'The engine to use before the appearance of the Climax was the MG XPAG which is used in the RGS MG of Peter Wardle (109), the Gammon of Dave Saunders (163) made by Peter Gammon and the Lester (165) driven by George Edney. The Lesters were built by Harry Lester from near Reading, whose cars were run by Jim Mayers, Pat Griffiths and Gerry Ruddock who came together to form the Monkey Stable, which had considerable success in the early 1950s.'

The XPAG engine was introduced after Morris had taken over MG and was based on the 1,250cc OHV engine of the 1938 Morris Ten. It was first used in the MG TB and subsequently in the TC, TD, TF and Y models. The one in this car was from an MG TC and was modified to give a capacity of 1,467cc.