Factory Correct Forum

As an offshoot of their racing and rally careers, professionals in motorsports such as Les Leston, John Sprinzel, and Paddy Hopkirk marketed their individual lines of accessories and performance parts during the late 1950's in the case of John Sprinzel's Speedwell, and from the 1960's and 1970's for Les Leston and Paddy Hopkirk. An accessory developed to aid in more aggressive heel-and-toe driving was the Paddy Hopkirk Throttle Pedal. These were originally marketed for the Mini Cooper as well as the MGB, and were quite popular. These included an adaptor plate for attaching to flat accelerator pedals as well as curved. Speedwell developed their own version in alloy and hard composite with their famous "Flying S" insignia, and later Mini Mania cast a version which was polished alloy and incorporated their MM logo. The Paddy Hopkirk original includes the casing mark on the reverse, and were unpolished. The fixing screws were machine threaded and flat head slotted and cadmium plated, secured with nylock nuts to the throttle pedal. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-07-27 10:30 PM by mgbbrown.

I was never good at heel and toe. The MG made it worse. The BMW guys were the best i think because of the pedals hinged on the floor and layout,. The 1600 and 2002 guys could use all of the exposed pedal arm, anything to push on.
I never had a Paddy Hopkirk, so didn't do much heel and toe action, but saved a lot of long slides by quick full throttle application after what a good heel and toe braking/downshift would've saved me from!
Chris...

Chris; Pretty much the same boat for me. The one pictured was my first period accessory- from Tom Bishop, the proprietor of Auto Sport Gallery. In the mid 1980's he was a Moss distributor, and I was able to purchase quite a number of things from him, particularly MG related artwork. Tom had had this one for years, and was going to put it on a Mini Cooper S he had but sold. I was in an obnoxious green, white, and black cardboard hang tag with a picture of Paddy himself grinning on the front. It will be a gift to Don Ross who I have mentioned on the site- an ex-BMC apprentice who now lives in Raleigh near my Mom to put on a Mini Cooper he is restoring. The MM pedal was a wonderful gift and surprise from one of our site members, and will be a fitting replacement for the Paddy Hopkirk one. It will be a cherished addition to the cause. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

In securing the final period correct bits for Marilyn, the Paddy Hopkirk pedal is extremely high on the list. Fortunately Moss still sells them for those of us who don't have access NOS parts, or even used parts.

I never had one, even on my full blown Alpine Ralley 67 Mini Cooper S. Of course I meant to because of that "heel and Toe" thing. But I also have to confess I never could figure out what the hell they were talking about, despite reading discriptions over and over of the technique for braking and applying the gas with one foot at the same time while down shifting. I even went out a practice it a lot. I'm getting one for Marilyn because the large postage stamp the Factory provided for the gas pedal in 67 would probably become very tiring on the long trips I'm planning. So I look at it as kind of a manual cruise control. I would imagine a great many of Paddy's pedals were sold for the same reason back in the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-07-30 07:08 PM by favedave.

Dave; The Moss one appears spot-on in my opinion. I camped-out on mine for at least three years, and one day Tom brought it out from the back of the shop! It is the only NOS one I have ever seen since... His customer service paid off as I through the years acquired many MG related pieces of art work for my one-day office as we remodel the house... God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Chris,some of the Porsche racers might take exception to your BMW comment.Back when I was serious racing a 911 rs I actually learned to heel & toe that car backwards. Meaning my heel and middle of my foot was on the brake and toe was blipping the gas. You have to remember those gas pedals hinged on the floor like an old VW. Your leverage is at the top of the pedal and conventional heel & toeing does not give a good throttle blip. To use that method my whole foot was cocked sideways. After doing it backwards pendulum pedals are a godsend and just plain easy.

Patrick,
After watching an completely scary video of a RUF 911 at Nurbergring on track day featuring a brave driver with no helmet or gloves oversteering on straights, I'm glad to hear you are alive.
Chris...

Well Chris that ain't me so don't worry. Brave is really not the word here,senseless sounds more reasonable for someone who would not at least use a brain bucket.I might not be brave enough to get up in a plane with you,so I will stick to flying on the ground.
Believe me having a roof over your head in a car tends to make drivers feel inherently safer.And to stick with the theme of the Paddy Hopkirk pedal I could prove that fact as a 16yr.old who used his to put my Sunbeam Imp up on 3 wheels. However that pedal did not have what I needed which was 2 more inches of pedal travel to make it go!

That RUF 911 is worlds away from the old 73 911rs I drove. Modern tires,engineering,and computer design makes that car at least 6-10 seconds a lap faster not to mention a much larger motor. That is the sad part technology has taken away from driving. You can put almost any idiot in a car with traction control,paddle shift or sesquential shift and the car drives itself. Totally soul less and oblivious to need of driver input. We must look like cavemen to some, with our old speed tuning devices for vintage cars.
The difference to striking a fire with a flint stone as opposed to pulling your Bic out.

Here it is, balanced on the head of a pin! You may be alternately entertained and scared by this.
Chris...

Paddy Hopkirk throttle pedals were marketed on blister packs pictured below. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

There's a name I haven't heard in a long time!

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Rob Edwards
Raleigh, NC
http://www.mgcarz.com

If you're in NC, check out the North Carolina MG Car Club!
http://ncmgcc.org

"...good secondhand tools are much better than inferior new ones."

Rob; I have known Tom Bishop from his original days when Autosport Gallery was first located in Garner off of Highway 70 East. You turned left at a stoplight before going through town and the shop was located in a brick and metal building. I have purchased numerous MG related art pieces from him over the years! It has been a while since I last saw Tom and I hope he is in good health. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

Never knew he was in Garner -- he was in his N Market shop when I met him in the early '90s. After I posted here I googled him and it seems he still has a shop, now in Pittsboro. May have to take a trip out there and say hello!

I can't tell -- is that MGB pen & ink a George Herschel?

Sorry to derail the thread!

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Rob Edwards
Raleigh, NC
http://www.mgcarz.com

If you're in NC, check out the North Carolina MG Car Club!
http://ncmgcc.org

"...good secondhand tools are much better than inferior new ones."

Rob; I do not think so- I will check for you when in I am in Raleigh next- probabily in two weeks. I believe it was someone local from North Carolina, but I am old and infirm. I remember the North Market Square Shop well. The Pittsboro address is news to me- I thought he had relocated to Garner again. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

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Always drink upstream from the herd. Will Rogers

I need to put mine back on before driving to Louisville

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Gil