Well travelled V8 with a racing history is lined up for a restoration


Ronald Watt

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Posted: 131200
Ronald Watt has used his MGBGTV8 for track work in Australia and says "I have owned my V8 (Bracken 1888) for many years, 25 years actually. I initially bought her to race and did 10 race meetings in 1988 with the BCV8 Championship, then took her to Australia where it was registered as GT 360. There I did events in Queensland (Brisbane, Iron Man, Mount Cotton, Lakeside) and then Victoria (Sandown, Winton, Caulder Park, Phillip Island).

I brought her back to Blighty in 1998 - much to my wife's surprise, if not annoyance! Since then I have been racing my FIA Roadster mostly. I did a couple of years racing the V8 with Thoroughbreds in the noughties and she did manage a class win at the Nurburgring in 2008. Two weeks ago I raced her in Anglesey and made third in class B in two races - not bad for an old engine, but I think she is getting to be too valuable to race.
So now I have started a project to build a race V8 using a 1980 BGT bodyshell that I bought a month ago. My plan will be then to restore Bracken 1888 close to its original spec - fortunately I retained most of the bits I took off. I already have the engine for the project car and am currently searching for information on gearboxes (SD1 and Borg Warner T5). Does anyone have any useful information or experience of gearbox upgrades?"

Bracken 1888 was first registered on 7th February 1975 - it was built at the Factory in August 1974 so will be eligible for the tax class change from PLG to Historic and a NIL value road tax charge from 1st April 2015. It was despatched to Hewens Garage in Maidenhead in mid August 1974 so was clearly in the showroom for the best part of 5 months, not unusual at that time.
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