Drawing back the Union Jack cover at the special launch at the National Exhibition Centre revealed the MG Lola EX257 the car that is due to run at Le Mans this June. At the same time the covers were also drawn from the MG ZR EX258 Rally Car and MG ZS EX259 Touring Car.

“Outrageous fun for all” is the way that Rob Oldaker MG Rover’s director of product development and MG Sports & Racing sums up the new philosophy behind MG Rover’s competition initiative. “MG X power will become well known worldwide as it is seen emblazoned on the flanks of our competition cars, team clothing and on merchandise”. The special reflective MG logos on the Le Mans cars certainly stand out and will be picked out at night most strikingly.

The MG Lola EX257 is designed and built by Lola Cars International and powered by an MG X power 2 litre, four cylinder turbo unit from advanced engine specialists AER. Two EX257s have been entered for the 24 hour race and will be driven by a team of British drivers, Mark Blundell, Julian Bailey, Anthony Reid, Warren Hughes, Kevin McGarrity and Jonny Kane. Mark Blundell speaking at the launch said “I think we will surprise a lot of people. We have a really good package to get a good result. It is great to be driving an MG, supporting a British manufacturer and flying the flag.”

Flying the flag will be a recurring theme of the MG competition programme, all the competition cars displaying a neat enamelled badge incorporating a Union Jack and a racing chequered flag. MG Rover have decided to re-establish a reputation for building competitive cars that will have a direct effect on their image as a constructor of quality performance road cars. The launch and the new MGs reminded of the great days of the BMC competitions department and Special Tuning when an MG sports car or Mini Cooper was directly linked with a highly successful competitions programme.

The MG ZS EX259 Touring car was also unveiled at the NEC this is a racing saloon being prepared for the TOCA Tour series. Two cars using the race tuned 2 litre KV6 engine will start track testing in July and will make their competition debut at the Silverstone International meeting on September 8/9. Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes are the drivers and the team management is by West Surrey Racing WSR.

For MG’s return to rallying there was the MG ZR EX258 project in the new Formula 3 Super 1600 category. Ace rally driver Gwyndaf Evans who was 1996 British Rally Champion will take the wheel and rally experts GSE Motorsport are responsible for the development of the vehicle. AER are preparing the 1.6 litre K series engine. Testing begins in June and first outing for the Cardiff based Rally GB will be on November 22-26.