XPAG Engineering

A 1952 Lester MG originally built by Harry Lester and restored by us around 7 years ago.

Harry Lester built cars. The time was the late 1940s, and Harry Lester ran a small garage business in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, England. Like so many other auto enthusiasts in England after the war, Harry raced a modified pre-war MG.

Originally starting with a PB Midget he was quite successful on the racetrack. 

With the introduction of the MG TC Harry decided to build a car that any talented amateur could use to compete successfully in the 1500cc sports car class. 

Harry modified a 1250cc MG TC engine by boring it through its water jackets and then inserting steel sleeves to create an engine with a 1467cc displacement.

He grabbed other parts from various pre- and post-war MG models, putting them together to build light and quick sports cars that were able to compete successfully with much more expensive designs.

Other MG special drivers like Dick Jacobs became interested in Harry's lightweight specials. Harry however was adamant that his cars be called Lesters, no matter who was running them.

In 1950  he began his association with Jim Mayers, a wealthy amateur driver who was an heir to the family that controlled the Polaroid company. Mayer, Pat Griffith and Gerry Ruddock formed themselves into a three-car Lester team called the Monkey Stable in order to tackle the 1952 sports car racing season.

Harry Lester was a short man with long arms, and the name seems to have been a reference to his monkey-like appearance.

The drivers of the team may have considered themselves to be the three wise monkeys, although exactly which driver saw, heard or spoke no evil we will probably never know.

The Monkey Stable team had considerable success in the British events. Cliff Davis in his Cooper-MG, had class wins at many venues.

The Monkey Stable dominated the nine-hour Goodwood race, taking the first three places. Mayer was so happy with his first season that he asked Harry Lester to build him three new cars to attack long-distance races in Europe.

Like us, the Monkey Stable retained the reliable MG engines.  At the end of the 1953 season Mayer again asked Harry to build him four new cars. Lester agreed to provide the cars for the 1955 season and so there were no Monkey Stable entries during the 1954 racing season.

Jim Mayer finally got his new cars in 1955, only to discover that they were already out of date compared with the latest aerodynamic designs from Lotus, Cooper and others.

After a depressing season, Mayers was willing to see what they could salvage from the Monkey Stable. When Jim Mayers was killed on September 18 in a multi-car crash at the wheel of a Cooper-Climax in the Tourist Trophy Race at Dundrod, the Monkey Stable ceased to be.