Monday 12th March 2018

Showpiece of the Week: MG 6R4

A legendary rally car owned by a legendary rally driver - for a legendary price.

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There are a lot of rather exciting race cars in the PH Classifieds at the moment. From glorious old NASCAR machines, to Nigel Mansell's Lotus F1 car, to a stillborn piece of remarkable Group B history. There are also three - yes three - MG 6R4s, priced at 250, 350 and 450,000 pounds respectively. Of course, it was the most expensive one which caught our eye.

Though what a car it is. The 6R4 needs no introduction, but why miss an opportunity to remind ourselves just what an incredible machine is up for grabs? Developed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering, the 6R4 was powered by a Cosworth-derived mid-mounted 3.0-litre V6 capable of putting out up to 415hp. Naturally aspirated in this application, a turbocharged version of the same engine would eventually find its way into Jaguar's XJ220.

Fitting such a motor in such a tiny car, comprised mainly of aluminium and fibreglass, and with the benefit of all-wheel drive traction, produced predictably explosive results. 0-60 was dispatched in under 3.2 seconds, 0-100 in 8.2 and the top speed, well, it probably feels fast enough when trees were zipping by inches from your mirrors at 120mph. Unfortunately, feeling fast enough didn't equate to being fast enough, the 6R4 suffering reliability issues after a promising start and never recovering in time to become competitive before the demise of Group B racing.

This particular example has the added appeal - and therefore expense - of having been owned and driven by Colin McRae. Not in anger, of course - although McRae's driving style could be described as 'angry'' even when not competing, as the below video demonstrates - but rather as a Course Car following his retirement from the WRC.

How much of the current car was actually finessed, wrestled with and cajoled by the man himself is left is another question though. The ad admitting that the car "unfortunately caught fire whilst Colin was working on it in his garage" and has only "recently undergone" a full, ground up restoration.

Now in Tarmac spec, it still features its original V64V International Engine, although now makes use of a Motec ECU conversion, works-spec front and rear diffs, a carbon and honeycomb lamp pod assembly and 16-inch Dymag wheels. But despite the many changes since his ownership, the car still comes with the original V5, listing McRae as a previous owner. It's a tangible link between the halcyon days of rallying and one of the sports greatest sons, a piece of motorsport history, and one hell of a car to boot.

See the full advert here.

30

[BarcelonaLewis]

What a driver!

[anonymous-user]

How lucky you would have been to be mates with Colin and for him to ask you THAT question of co-piloting him on those stages.

It's totally exhilarating to stand close to those cars as they fly past, I can only imagine what the on board experience must have been like with Colin behind the wheel. Electrifying might come close to describing it, perhaps.

[austinsmirk]

In the 80's, the father of my best mate at school, was the co-driver of one of these group B metro's. Lombard RAC, I think. I think it was logo'd up- computervision or something similar.

He brought it to school one afternoon and put on a (pre-arranged) display or thrashing it around one of the school car parks. How cool was he to have as a father.

[MrC986]

The clip shows what is probably a leisurely drive for Colin McRae

On a slightly different note, I was fortunate enough that a friend of my dads had a Clubmans spec 6R4 that we borrowed for a weekend to use for a carnival....at about 17 years old it left a massive impression on my early adult motoring not surprisingly (purchased new for about £20k I think when they were trying to clear them out from the factory).

[ilovequo]

I rmeember it being driven in anger by CMcC in Donegel!

[Jual Mass Flywheel]

I was lucky enough to see these in anger before Grp B went

My favorite. I remember a blue road version coming off a roundabout in Chesterfield, covered in mud, the driver with a huge grin on his face......................................

[waynedear]

Great food and a fabby view in the restaurant pictured.

[Slippydiff]

McRae ? 6R4 ? There's only one video :

1min 25 secs ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpcwaFq-Z5Y

[huckster6]

Just gorgeous, albeit fearsomly expensive. Thank you for using the word 'legendary,' and avoiding bloody irritating 'ICONIC.'

[aeropilot]

More poor PH fact checking....

The 6R4 engine was not a Cosworth derived engine, they had nothing to do with it, it was a bespoke ARG design, the only tenuous link to Cosworth was that the 6R4 engine designer David Wood, had once worked for Cosworth.

[Tickle]

I remember seeing that car at Cars and Coffee Liverpool, some of the pics above are from that morning.

Great little car and history.

[Balmoral]

These were on the ARG price lists back in the day, they would start with the base Metro City, through the mid range models to the MG/Vanden Plas, and then finish with the 6R4. IIRC they were £42,000 and delivered in a crate.

[LotusOmega375D]

There used to be a club rally on a disused airfield near us back in the 1980s. All the usual stuff used to turn up: Mk1 & Mk2 Escorts by the dozen, Opel Manta 400, 911, TR7 V8, Hillman Imps, Minis et al. But by far the fastest was the 6R4 that used to turn up. At lunch time they'd drive past our house to the local town in it to get fish and chips. You'd here it coming for miles.

[kett]

GLWTS!

[aeropilot]

Yep, they made a fantastic noise, probably one of the best sounding V6 engines ever.

But..........with no WRC wins (and only 1 podium!) they really shouldn't command a huge price, and then only the official ex-works ones should, certainly not this one!

Only other one that would be worth money from a historic point of view (and there's not much of it left!) would be Will Gollop's ERC winning car.

[CO2000]

I saw a road spec one with del miles for 14k in the early 90's!

[Dave Hedgehog]

i will take mine in its proper livery

[Gary29]

waynedear said:

Great food and a fabby view in the restaurant pictured.

I can't read what it's called. Where is it?

[aeropilot]

Dave Hedgehog said:

i will take mine in its proper livery

[waynedear]

Gary29 said:

waynedear said:

Great food and a fabby view in the restaurant pictured.

I can't read what it's called. Where is it?

Chung Ku, L3 4DB.
It’s on the waterfront behind Jaguar dealers.