Le Mans Special

MG TC ‘George Phillips Le Mans Special’ Replica

First registration 11.1947

FiA HTP papers

Participation in Goodwood Revival and Le Mans Classic

Swiss road registration with veteran entry

The long-time chief photographer of Autosport magazine, George Phillips, bought an MG TC in 1947 to race it. However, disappointed with its performance, he first had the engine optimized and got over 100 stable horsepower out of the 1250cc in-line four-cylinder. In the next step, in order to significantly increase the performance of his racing MG, he had an aluminum body built by Lester and thus reduced the car’s weight by a staggering 200 kg, ultimately bringing it down to around 600 kg. With these extensive modifications, this MG TC was unrecognizable and its power-to-weight ratio was simply phenomenal!

George Phillips contested the following races with one of the most successful racing MGs to date:

1948 BRDC Manx Cup (4th place)
1948 Ulster Trophy (4th place)
1948 Goodwood Meeting (4th place)
1949 24h Le Mans (disqualification for carrying a spare ignition coil)
1950 24h Le Mans (2nd place in its class)

The original car was later so badly damaged in an accident that it was presumably scrapped.

Simon Evans had the idea of reviving this legendary racing MG and pursued his plan to gain a starting place at the Goodwood Revival with this incredibly detailed replica.
He had the racing car offered here, christened the “George Phillips Le Mans Special”, built by specialist Phil Cornut in Great Britain. The complete rebuild is based on an original MG TC chassis from 1947 (as was the original at the time) with all contemporary components. This MG TC with the British registration “FAK57” had already completed racing missions, as documented by contemporary photos. An enormous amount of research had to be carried out to ensure a match with the original “Le Mans Special”, with countless historical photos of George Phillips and his converted MG TC being consulted. Renowned specialist Peter Edney built the engine to historic racing specifications, with the emphasis on reliability rather than absolute top performance. The heavily modified engine develops around 100 hp and allows this racing MG to run at over 160 km/h. Simon’s plan thus worked out and the main success was his participation in the Goodwood Revival 2015 and the Le Mans Classic 2016.

This MG TC ‘George Phillips Le Mans Special’ is in excellent perfect condition and is a unique appearance and opportunity to successfully participate in historic racing events. A great deal of investment has been made in recent years to obtain a Swiss road registration for this racing MG and to restore it to a technically and visually impeccable and breathtakingly beautiful condition. Many documents such as the original registration book, newspaper and magazine reports, photos, invoices and so on are available.

Errors, mistakes and prior sale reserved.