Glorious old MG racers are still going strong

SABIE – The late Les Miller, one-time national president of the MG Car Club in South Africa was known as the grandfather of South African motor sport!  Les had an immaculate team known as Ecurie Miller MG Racing Cars,which was founded post World War II, and which was based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. His cars were special bodied T-type single seaters. Les Miller had a great pedigree, having competed in the third South African Grand Prix in 1937 in East London, where he finished ninth behind the awesome German Auto Unions of Herr Rausch and Rosemayer.

“Les Miller in 2006.’’ When he returned from his war duty with the South African Air Force, he began building his first MG Special, known as Jasper, which was built on a display chassis which he had obtained from local agents, McCarthy Rodway.
The second Special – Spider, was to be the most successful, with his most notable victory being in the 1952 Winter Handicap at East London, where he won the Barnes Trophy.

His third and final MG Special was Fatman, in which he suffered a near fatal accident, which hospitalised him for five months and brought an end to his racing career. He was truly an iconic figure, who at the age of 90 was the oldest flying instructor anywhere on this planet!
His longevity has definitely rubbed off on his three racing MG Specials, as Jasper, Spider and Fatman have all survived to this day!
Jasper belongs to Putfontein farmer, David Gouws, who is a complete motoring enthusiast with his own private museum full of exotic motor cars and vintage motorcycles, and just like Les Miller, he is a keen pilot.

However, Jasper is no mere museum piece, but still used actively, as is Spider which is owned by Heyns Stead of the MG Pretoria Centre, and which still regularly sees the light of day. The third Ecurie Miller racer, Fatman, is in the hands of keen racer Rodney Green, another successful farmer of White River. The car has been regularly raced by Rodney and his son, Edwin.

A fourth single seater is Flo, the rebuilt Harry Pierce Special, which started to race at the Grand Central track in Midrand in 1952, and which was rediscovered as a mere aluminium shell by Jacques Debeil. After eight years of research, Jacques, with help from the late Clive Alexander, former race mechanic, and Joe Teixeira, managed to recreate a very realistic replica of the original car, using a MG TC engine and gearbox, and original Lancia front and rear suspension!

The four single seaters were reunited at the Bushveld Indaba, the National MG Indaba held at Bela-Bela between September 13 to 17, 2004, an event which we attended on our newly completed Sebring Special, but that’s another story.
Les Miller passed away on March 3, 2010 at age 96.