'It's much noisier, rortier than the Elan and it's clear from the start that this is a more focused machine; close to a track day special and as extreme as can be for road use'
The rev counter flies to 7000rpm, demanding frantic gear changes and constant correction to the dinky steering wheel. It's a responsive little sod, mostly due to its deliberately extreme steering geometry and negative camber on the front wheels, which make for instant turn in, even by the famously responsive standards of a standard Frogeye. Curiously, though, the overall feeling is not one of twitchiness but of solidity, and that's a product of a whole host of modifications, not least of which is Frontline's established conversion.
This car has the lot: four adjustable trailing arms and coil-over-damper units in place of the quarter elliptic leaf springs, and Frontline's clever bolt-on Rear Traction-control Link (RTL), an axle locating assembly that keeps the axle perfectly in line, improves traction and lowers the roll centre. With Frontline's front telescopic damper conversion, which does away with the lever arm dampers that double as flimsy upper wishbones, and polyurethane suspension bushes, all original weak spots have been eliminated - to great effect.
Despite all this, Frontline also strengthened the Frogeye's body to cope, seam welding it and raising the line of the sills for added rigidity. The brakes are 280mm vented discs at the front, with a solid disc conversion at the rear. It hauls up from 60mph to stop in under four seconds. Then there's the limited-slip differential, special fine-spline halfshafts that will handle up to 250bhp and a wealth of our special tweaks to turn a budget sports car into a true weapon.
It's extreme, to extreme or some tastes, but as a sample of what can be done to a Sprite or Midget, it's deeply exciting. With DIY less over-the-top Frontline K-series conversion can cost just £3500, and all the clever bits on this car are available to customers, many of them as relatively easy bolt-ons.
I like these cars. They take the worry out of classic ownership, without removing too much of the character. The Elan, I could use everyday, or blast to Le Mans (the Plus 2 makes more sense, though). The Frogeye is more exciting but much harder to live with. They're not the be all and end all of modifying, but they're dammed good.
Spyder Cars, Peterborough, Cambs, +44 (0) 1733 203986, www.spydercars.com; Frontline Spridgets, Bath, +44 (0) 1225 852777, www.mgcars.org.uk/frontline