Q&A: Stunt ace Terry Grant.

Latest member of the MG XPPWER squad is stunt ace Terry Grant, who has thrilled crowds across the country with his stunning displays in his tiny Legends car. With the car now proudly bearing it's MG allegiance - Terry makes his first public outing in his new colours this weekend, at the ten day long Road Racing and Superbike Show at Alexandra Palace in London, which starts on January 26.

With the stunt king busy preparing for the show, we took a few minutes of his time to ask him about his links with MG and the season ahead...

Terry, pleased to be representing MG XPOWER?

Terry Grant: "Of course! To be honest, I'm well chuffed!

"We've been talking for a while, and then the timing was right and it all happened fairly quickly. If I had a choice of manufacturer to go to it would definitely be MG - everyone wants to be there to have a bit of fun, and there seem to be lots of smiles on faces.

"What we will be doing is getting the MG name out there in front of people, getting a reaction from them - and hopefully making them smile too! If you can do that then people feel involved and that's what it's all about."

So is there a new livery for your Legend stunt car?

TG: "Yes - and it looks fabulous! It was painted up before Christmas, but we've just finished the sign-writing and it looks really good.

"I'm going to be out there in a MG race suit as well to complete the corporate look. I didn't have my own suit when they took the first publicity pictures, so they brought along a couple of the MG race suits from the Le Mans guys.

"Now, I'm not a big guy - but Jonny Kane's was tiny even on me. Fortunately Mark Blundell's fitted really well and we used that. I wondered at the time why some of the MG people were laughing while I was posing, and afterwards one of them came up to me and said: "You do realise that we haven't washed those overalls since Le Mans don't you..."

I said, "And?"

"Well," he continued, "Mark had a call of nature in them while in the car..."

"I suppose that was my initiation into MG!"

What will be in store for race fans in 2002?

TG: "We're going to put together a different act. We'll still have a lot of the old favourites in there, but some new ideas as well.

"We have to do the one where I stand on the car while it is spinning round, because that is the stunt that everyone talks about. People who have seen it tell their mates about it and drag them along to see us do it - it's a real crowd pleaser.

"We're looking to get some MG cars involved and try and put a routine together. One thing that should happen is that we'll have an MGF to play with, and I'm really looking forward to that - I want as much MG involvement as possible."

Will you be having some glamorous assistants?

TG: "Yes - we'll be having the MG XPOWER girls involved as much as possible. I'm sure at first some of them will be wondering quite what they are in for, but once they get an idea of what we can do I think they'll find it pretty exciting.

"With so many girls to chose from - I think at some stage we'll have a go for the record on how many girls I can spin the car round. You've got to have some pretty girls involved - the crowd expect it!"

What is the hardest of all the stunts you do in the Legend?

TG: "It's spinning round the girls that is the most difficult. You sit so low in the Legend that it's hard to see anything below the level of your shoulders, and I certainly can't see the front wings or wheels of the car. You almost have to ignore the girl, and try and do it by feel - after a while you know how close you can go, and sometimes I'll run over the toes of someone for a laugh.

"It's really hard to do at first, but after a while it's one of those things that suddenly clicks and you can do it."

Where will you be appearing for MG this year?

TG: "We'll be out there at Touring Car meetings of course, and as many other things as we can fit in. I did 58 shows last year, so it can keep you pretty busy.

"I'd love to do Le Mans, that would be amazing, and it doesn't clash with anything this year so maybe we could pull it off. I know MG have lots of ideas of other shows we can do, and to do some new venues would be great, it's always nice to have a new audience and really show them what we can do."

Is the newly MG-liveried Legend the perfect car for this job?

TG: "It is, it accelerates so quick - I was once timed at 0-60mph in just 4.8 seconds. It's claimed to have 120bhp, and it is so incredibly torquey that it just takes off. I've never driven anything like it - it feels small at first, but then you realise that you can do anything with it."

Ready for the new season to start?

TG: "I am - I just can't wait! I'm really excited and everyone at MG seems really up for us having some fun together. It's going to be great."