Faster than a Ferrari…
MG Maestro Turbo #396: Fun, but hairy
There is a legend in Maestro circles known as John Orrell. Some say he’s secretly the ghost of Spen King, creator of the Maestro, and as such wants to keep as many on the road in good condition as he can. Some say he’s a mentalist for loving such derided cars. But what is unanimously accepted is that he’s a great guy with a genuine passion for Leyland. Having offered me a spin in one of his MG Maestro Turbos, I leapt for the keys – with only 505 made such offers are infrequent to say the least.
The MG Maestro Turbo is a very special piece of kit, and another legend in Maestro circles. Just 505 of the cars were made between 1988 and 1991, H958HOO being #396. With a lairy bodykit courtesy of Tickford and a 152bhp engine from the earlier Montego Turbo, the Maestro Turbo is one of THE defining hot hatchbacks of the decade, if not of the century. To pass up the offer of a drive would be madness.
As with the rest of the range, there’s room for 4 in comfort or 5 at a pinch, it’s got a decent boot, it’s small and easy to park, and despite being easily the priciest 80s MG out there it’s still cheap by most people’s standards. But you don’t buy a Maestro Turbo for the boring and sensible bits, that’s what a 1.3 Special’s for. You buy a Turbo because they drive like you would not believe, quicker than the contemporary Ferrari Mondial from 0-60.
“Be careful of the clutch, it’s out of a Rover 220 Turbo and very sensitive,” John commented as I stalled it pulling away. My response was to ask if he minded me giving it the beans a bit when we got going – it’s a Maestro Turbo on a half mile long country house private road, with good visibility. It would, after all, have been rude not to open it up a tad. He agreed this would be fun. So I gave it about three quarters throttle, and changed up from second to third at about 3500rpm. He turned to face me, shocked. “What’re you doing? Change down and put your foot down properly!”
As if I needed asking twice. Knocked it back down, 5500rpm, third, 5500rpm, fourth. At this point the car started to wander about on the road, a combination of both the road’s quite pronounced camber and the spec of this particular car – 16″ MGF alloys and stock suspension made the car higher than a normal MG Turbo would be. It was still controllable though, so I kept the hammer down. At about 90mph the weaving became barely controllable, and it felt like the car wanted to pull me off onto the grass bank to the right of the bright red rocket. I decided discretion was the better part of valour, eased back, dabbed the brakes for the slight kink in the road, and slowed to a sensible speed. Back up the road to the show, then. The private road is not flat, and the first stretch had been downhill. The return leg uphill was equally fun, making full use of the car’s potential and leaving me with a Cheshire cat grin etched upon my face.
The run was sadly all too short – with an excited Lancastrian urging me to push it further from the passenger seat and with THAT driving experience I wish I’d been on a flat runway or something similar to really give it the beans. But my appetite for the Turbo has been whetted. I might prefer driving like a chauffeur to driving like a Formula One star, but we all need something to be lairy in once in a while. The A-R pocket rocket has me hooked.
