MG Car Club of South Australia
Welcome to the M. G. Wags ' Page
T rust you are all into the swing of
2017. Many of us, of course, are working towards a successful National Meet at Easter right now. Please make best efforts to support the club at this time by registering to attend and / or volunteering.
Whilst Googling with such search terms as " MG and lady drivers " or similar; I happened upon the following story of famous women in motor sport in the 1930s. Thought I ' d share the following with you..........
Girl Racers of the ' 30s.
Into the mid 1930s gloom....... a world locked in the Great Depression, on the brink of war....... came Eyston ' s " Dancing Daughters ".
These talented girl-racers were part of a deliberate marketing strategy by MG, in 1935, to market the handling and reliability of the PA Midget via participation in the gruelling Le Mans 24 hour race. Women ' s relative rarity on the racing scene was just what the MG advertising office could exploit.
Lacking today ' s technological advances; the Le Mans was a really mean beast then. For example, there were no modern communication links between teams and their pits and especially trying was the night driving with headlamps less powerful than a small torch.
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Three Eyston-coached women-only teams entered the race.( Geo Eyston was a contemporary racing star). The results were sensational..... they all finished the race( a feat in itself), and the fact that WOMEN could drive them and at NIGHT... well, the Midget must be invincible!! However, it took the Dancing Daughters ' superb driving skills to truly highlight the features of the car.
The marketing deal with the girls and MG worked both ways. Being sponsored by a major marque certainly enhanced their future racing careers and certainly did no harm to the sales of the PA Midgets.
Here are some photos of these dashing dames and others of those times:
For a video link of the racing era, go to: https:// youtu. be / s9BVMCN9J44
By Barb Harrington
If you have any submissions for the Wags ' Page; please email:
Barb Harrington at barbandsteve22 @ iprimus. com. au
marked " Wags ' Page "
PA Midget