One for the anoraks, I guess - or, perhaps, the genuine readers of this NG.
Late fifties, the MG EX 179 and 181 won all sorts of land speed records using a four cylinder twin-cam lump of varying capacities according to which record they were going for.
I always thought the engine was basically a Jaguar XK cut down to a four, as intended for the still-born XK100. This month's Classic & SportsCar reckons it was the excellent but typically underdevelped MGA Twin-Cam, which was based on the B Series block.
Anybody know or have any information? Was it a Jaguar or MG/BrileyMoCo? I guess the block would be a giveaway - either it was the Morris B Series or the Jaguar XK - anybody know which it was?
Or was there a bit of a crossover of designers - for example, around 1942 Edward Turner (Triumph parallel twin and later Daimler 2.5 and 4.5 designer) approached William Lyons (Jaguar) with a proposal for a Jaguar motorcycle. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but close inspection of the Triumph Speed Twin and XK120 combustion chambers indicates what I have heard referred to as "remarkable similarity".
Not a completist, nor writing a book, just curious.
Geoff MacK