YD1/1782

Restoring TWN900 has been a labour of love, and has taken over 2 years of long nights and dedication to get her back into her former glory.

'Twin 900' was manufactured in 1959, and was purchased by the Fitzwilliam team to be one of their 3 racing team MGA Twin Cam, the others being VUF 541 and WGN734 (Alloy bodied car made by Peel engineering in 1959 for Paul Fletcher and raced under the Fitzwilliam Team).

Twn900 races included the 1959 Nurenbergring 1000km, the Goodwood Whitsun Trophy and Eleventh Annual International Trophy Meeting Silverstone.

We acquired the car in late 2016 and set about restoring it to its former racing glory. The first step was the engine, which after some careful deconstruction could start to be reassembled. Many hours were spent researching and contacting suppliers as far away as the USA to source the correct parts, and to say the list of parts required became extensive is an understatement of quite some magnitude!

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Engine bottom end rebuilt
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Engine timing
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YD1/1782 and YD1/907 on the work bench

After hundreds of hours work the engine was ready to be reunited with the chassis.

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Completed engine waiting to be reinstalled

The chassis required a complete overhaul, so was fully stripped, repaired, and coated to ensure it was back to original strength and finish.

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After some careful preparation the engine was lowered into place – a very snug fit!

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Neil making some final adjustments

Meanwhile… the body tub and alloy hard top were carefully aligned using a specially made jig and frame and sent away to a specialist to be fully prepped and painted.

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Body tub
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Alloy roof

After 8 weeks being prepared and painted the body was ready to be reunited with the now fully restored rolling chassis and engine. A delicate and precision task, and which took four grown men and 2 hours to complete.

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Once reunited TWN900 was starting to look more like her former self ... but there were still many hours of work to go. The next phase was to finish fitting the body work panels with the grey piping and the alloy splash backs. Then the wiring loom and the interior was next ... both of which have many special features specific to the racecar specification.

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Completed interior showing roll cage. Passenger seat removed for racing

Finally, the car was ready to get back onto the road. A few gentle runs to run in the engine followed by a session on a rolling road to really calibrate the engine and test the true performance. Not a bad result ... 160BHP.

Next is a test day at Donnington park, following by racing entries in 2019.

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First day out at Bicester Heritage
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On display at Kop Hill Climb