MORGAN LE MANS CARS - The Morgan Motor Company

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MORGAN LE MANS CARS
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Lawrencetune 2-litre
Triumph engine has
been further tweaked
to give 175bhp;
interior is basically
standard Morgan,
as are suspension
and running gear.
‘There’s no snarl, no fusillade from
the exhaust when you rev the engine
beyond 5000rpm; just the noise of a
big four-cylinder being pushed hard’
Morgan’s 2004 appearance at Le Mans was an emotional one
but it was only the continuation of a long, if irregularly
maintained, tradition. In 1938 one Prudence Fawcett took second
in class in a Morgan 4/4, having driven the car to Le Mans
before the race – and she drove it home again afterwards. The
Le Mans entry that everyone remembers, though, is the Morgan
Plus Four entered by Chris Lawrence in 1962. Competing against
much more up-to-date machinery, it won the 2-litre GT class
and helped to revive Morgan’s flagging fortunes in the 1960s.
Chris’s career is told in more detail by the man himself on
page 84 but, to recap briefly, he had been racing Plus Fours
since 1958 with great success. A gifted engineer as well as a
talented driver, he also created the Mini-powered Deep-
Sanderson race car. But it’s the Morgan connection which
would prove the most enduring, so much so that he was
recruited to design the Aero 8 nearly 40 years later.
As Chris was putting the finishing touches to the Aero 8, his
1962 Le Mans entry – universally known as ‘TOK’ after its
distinctive TOK 258 registration – was being restored by
historic racer and Morgan dealer Rick Bourne:
‘The car had been sat doing nothing for ten years when I
wrote to the owner and suggested it would be nice if it could
return to Le Mans for its 40th anniversary in 2002,’ says Rick.
‘Initially I was thinking in terms of just borrowing and
preparing the car but it soon became clear that if I wanted to
get my hands on it, I’d have to buy it!’
Following a complete restoration which carefully respected
the car’s remarkable originality, TOK is now just as it was in
1962, right down to its Le Mans running lights and the 120-litre
fuel tank that would allow it to race for up to four hours at a
time. The engine is to correct spec, too – a Triumph 1991cc
block rather than the later 2138cc lump – but with Chris
Lawrence’s performance-enhancing mods further developed by
specialist Mass Racing Engines.
Otherwise, however, the car is remarkably standard. Pop the
driver’s door open and any Morgan owner will feel instantly at
home: regular bucket seats, usual wooden dash, stubby little
lever for the Moss ’box and a handsome MotoLita wheel. Only
the big, angled rev-counter gives the game away.
Fire up the engine and the surprises continue. You expect a
race car to be all sound and fury but you could take your
grandmother shopping in this one and she wouldn’t even have
to raise her voice. There’s no snarl, no fusillade from the
exhaust when you rev the engine to 5000rpm and beyond; just
the workmanlike noise of a big four-cylinder being pushed hard.
Same goes for the gearbox, which is just like any other Moss
transmission of its era – a bit obstructive if you try to rush it.
That was hardly a problem at Le Mans in ’62, where
gearchanging was an irrelevance since Chris and his co-driver
Richard Shepperd-Baron just didn’t bother slowing down for
corners. It explains why they were able to complete the entire
24 hours on one set of brakes and one set of tyres.
Rick claims that the best way to drive TOK is to keep the revs
up by sliding it through corners. Pumping the crossply Dunlops
Right
Chris Lawrence’s
(unauthorised) use of
a lowline 4/4 body on
a Plus Four chassis
reduced drag to make
it competitive at Le
Mans-type speeds.

‘In 1962, changing gear was an irrelevance since Chris Lawrence
and his co-driver just didn’t bother slowing down for corners; that’s
why they were able to complete the race on one set of brakes’
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MORGAN LE MANS CARS
to 40psi helps, he says. But you don’t have to drive TOK like a
loony to make rapid progress, because it handles beautifully.
There’s none of the squirminess usually associated with
crossply-shod road cars when faced with a tight corner, and the
steering has just the right combination of weight and feel. The
relatively stiff suspension means there’s negligible body roll
and yet the ride never seems harsh. You really do feel that you
could drive this car to Le Mans, do the race and drive home
again, just as Ms Fawcett did in 1938.
Chris Lawrence has his own theory about why TOK is such a
good racer. ‘It’s a happy accident that old HFS [Morgan]’s front
suspension locks up solid the moment it sees a corner, so
creating a very stiff front end while the back remains flexible.
It makes the chassis hideous on the road but great for racing.’
Whereas TOK is basically a stock Morgan with a hot engine,
you can’t say the same about the 2004 Aero 8 GT(N). While it’s
closely related to the production car – it has to be, to meet the
race regs for its class – it’s a much more specialised piece of
kit. Driving the Le Mans Aero in traffic would be like trying to
keep a tiger on the leash in a herd of wildebeest.
Morgan’s first attempt with an Aero at Le Mans was in 2002
with an American-sponsored DeWalt/RSS car but engine
failure forced retirement after 18 hours. It was a heroic effort
yet, for reasons known only to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest,
Morgan were denied an entry to Le Mans in 2003. They put the
unexpected extra time to good use by testing a new car at Spa
and Sebring, ready for their return to Le Mans in 2004.
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Aero 8 GT(N) is now a
catalogued production
model; rear spoiler,
odd-sized alloys and
racing gearbox aside,
it’s remarkably
similar to ‘ordinary’
roadgoing Aeros.
‘A Le Mans-spec engine comes in at
around £70,000 and is good for 30
hours of racing before it has to be
overhauled – which costs 30 grand’
Taking in the GT(N)’s skeletal rear spoiler, limpet-like stance
and rubber-band-shod alloys, you might expect it to be nothing
more than a silhouette version of a regular Aero 8, all spaceframe
and carbonfibre under the outer panels. In fact, the gearbox is
the only completely different component. Peek inside the cockpit
and you see not spaceframe, but wood frame. Reassuringly,
alongside the fighter-jet display of push-button and toggle
switches, there are also a couple of girlie pin-ups, to alleviate
the drivers’ boredom during those endless circuits of La Sarthe.
The elaborate switchgear is there to prolong the life of the
racing engine, which is handbuilt by Swiss company Mader.
A new unit comes in at around £70,000 and is good for about
30 racing hours before it has to be sent back for overhaul; and
since this particular engine has just gone through the
‘refreshing’ process – which itself costs 30 grand – we’ve been
asked, politely but firmly, not to exceed 3500rpm.
Probably just as well, since the test track has a strict noise
limit and one thing the Aero isn’t is quiet. The sound it makes is
pure racer: harsh, metallic, and loud enough to make you wince
if you’re standing nearby when someone blips the throttle. At
fast idle, it has the manic energy of a thrash-metal guitarist.
One of the three Aero drivers at Le Mans this year, Neil
Cunningham, reckons the noise is the most tiring aspect of the
GT(N). ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic sound and I love it,
but it’s pretty deafening on the inside,’ the Kiwi-born Cunningham
says. ‘That and the heatsoak from the running gear gets you
tired. The steering’s heavy in the tigher corners, too.’
Right
Although fearsomely
quick, Aero’s
performance is
severely restricted by
Le Mans class regs –
it could be made to go
much faster.

‘Even at half-throttle you can glimpse what it must be like to hurtle
down the Mulsanne at almost 190mph, fingers clenched around the
Momo wheel and eardrums hammered by the V8’s relentless attack’
Pulling maybe half the revs that Cunningham would have been using, I don’t have a
problem with the steering, which seems direct without being at all twitchy. The
gearbox is an American-made Jerico racing unit so it’s tough as a Peterbilt truck and
clutchless gearchanges are a cinch; just bang the lever through and don’t worry about it.
Even at half-throttle you can glimpse what it must be like to hurtle down the
Mulsanne at almost 190mph, buttocks clamped in the racing seat, fingers clenched
around the thick-rimmed Momo wheel, eardrums hammered by the V8’s relentless
attack. Sneak a couple of hundred rpm above the pre-ordained limit and a slight
vibration permeates the alloy tub: you can almost sense the car readying itself for a
new level of performance, like a cat shimmying its hindquarters as it prepares to leap.
Back off the throttle slightly for an upchange and there’s a growl from deep in the
car’s belly until you shove the gearlever home and the Aero springs forward again.
But there’s a price to pay for such exuberance and on the next lap the test track’s
traffic signals are showing red: we’re making too much noise to be allowed to
continue. Kill the engine and silence falls like a heavy blanket over the circuit, to be
punctuated only by the cooling tick of the Aero’s exhausts.
One last question for the blokes from Morgan. I’m intrigued by the two red lenses
on the back of the car, with their hallucinogenic swirly patterns. One is round and one
is square: is this to meet some arcane detail of the Le Mans regulations?
‘They’re rain lamps,’ explains Dave, the electrician. ‘It turned out we had one of
each type in the store – and it seemed a waste of money to buy another just so we’d
have a matching pair.’
That’s why we love Morgans so much. Real cars, built by real people.
Thanks to: Charles Morgan, Matthew Parkin, Mark Baldwin and Dave Bradley from Morgan; and Rick Bourne of Brands Hatch Morgans (01732 882017).
If you’d like your own Aero GT(N), Morgan are taking order. To follow the progress of the Le Mans car’s auction on eBay, go to www.ebay.com and
set up a search facility for the words ‘Morgan’, ‘Le Mans’ and ‘2004’, using the automatic email facility to advise you when the auction starts.
SPECIFICATION
1962 Morgan
Plus Four
Engine
1991cc, four-cylinder,
pushrod ohv, twin Weber
42DCOE carbs,
Lawrencetune manifolds
Output
175bhp @ 6300rpm
160lb ft @ 5200rpm
Transmission
Four-speed manual
Suspension
Front: independent,
sliding pillar, Koni shock
absorbers. Rear: live
axle, semi-elliptics,
Koni shock absorbers
Brakes
Front: discs
Rear: drums
Weight
815kg (1797lb)
Performance
Top speed: 125-148mph
depending on gearing
SPECIFICATION
2004 Morgan
Aero 8 GT(N)
Engine
4498cc, all-alloy BMW
V8, four overhead
camshafts, 32 valves,
Bosch fuel injection
Output
465bhp @ 6800rpm
406lb ft @ 6300rpm
Transmission
Five-speed manual
Suspension
Front: cantilever upper
arms, lower wishbones,
coils over Öhlins shocks.
Rear: coil-and-wishbone,
Öhlins shock absorbers
Brakes
Ventilated, cross-drilled
discs all round
Weight
c1100kg (2420lb)
Performance
Top speed: c190mph
with Le Mans gearing
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84
CHRIS LAWRENCE
‘I didn’t set out to be an engine
tuner. I thought I was going to
be the next Stirling Moss!’ says
the man behind Morgan’s 1962 Le Mans
class-win and today’s flagship Aero 8,
Chris Lawrence.
His self-confidence was justifiable for,
during his first year of racing in 1958,
Chris won 19 out of the 22 races in the
Freddie Dixon Trophy series. He did it in a
Triumph-engined 1956 Morgan Plus Four,
bought for £600 from a used-car lot in
London. Its registration was TOK 258.
‘After I won the trophy, people started
to ask me if I could make their cars go as
quickly. So I set up Lawrencetune under
some railway arches in Acton, West
London. It paid the bills while I pursued
my ambition of being a racing driver.’
The early 1960s were a golden time for
Chris and his mates, travelling round the
race circuits of Europe with no money but
having a ball. ‘We wiped the Porsches
from the leader boards for a couple of
years with TOK,’ recalls Chris.
Despite his successes, Chris was at
this time receiving no factory support
from Morgan. But when his entry for the
1961 Le Mans was thrown out by the
organisers – rumour has it to avoid
embarrassing the works Triumphs –
Chris realised that he needed official
factory backing if he was to prevent the
same thing happening again.
‘I went to see Peter Morgan in 1962
and twisted his arm into entering TOK on
my behalf. What Peter didn’t know was
that I’d fitted it with a 4/4 body to reduce
drag. He wouldn’t allow me to have a
new body, on the grounds that a hybrid
would blur the distinction between
different models, so I quietly bought all
the parts from the stores one-by-one and
built it up myself. Painted wine red with a
special alloy hardtop, it looked fantastic.
‘At the ’62 Le Mans practice weekend
I cheated and fitted a 2.2-litre engine, so
the car really flew – until I stuffed it in a
ditch at Arnage, at least. After we got
home, Peter Morgan received a letter
from the race organisers saying TOK had
to be painted green. I’d only just painted
it red, so I refused, at which Peter
grumpily instructed me to deliver it to the
factory for them to respray.
‘I told my mate Len to get to Malvern
well before 9am, dump TOK outside the
factory gates and leg it straight over to
the railway station, because I knew the
phone would be ringing off the
workbench by 9.30am. Well, I was wrong
– it was 9.45 when Peter rang me,
absolutely hopping mad to have found
TOK wearing a 4/4 body.
‘I insisted that the car was a winner
and he just had to let it run with the
lowline body. Peter wouldn’t give way but
later that day he rang back and told me
that Morgan would introduce a lowline
version of the Plus Four, called the Super
Sports, and I would be responsible for
doing all the engines.
‘In the end we turned out more than
440 engines for Morgan and private
customers and I’m proud to say that we
only ever had one failure – and that
turned out to be due to a duff con-rod
forging supplied by Triumph.’
LAWRENCE OF ACTON
Car designer, tuner and racer Chris Lawrence recalls how he bamboozled
Peter Morgan – and brought him a Le Mans class-win as a result
Words and photograph: Mark Dixon
12 04
Below:
Chris Lawrence with
a modern Aero 8
chassis, designed by
him nearly 40 years
after his class-win for
Morgan at Le Mans.

YOUR NEAREST MORGAN DEALER CAN BE FOUND AT
WWW.MORGAN-MOTOR.CO.UK OR CALL MORGAN SALES
ON 01684 573104. DELIVERY WITHIN 12 MONTHS

It’s amazing what you can buy on eBay these days. Holidays, books,
DVDs, a 2004 Le Mans car…
In a few weeks’ time, Morgan will be using the internet auction site to sell
their 2004 Le Mans race car. Anyone in the world will be able to log onto the
eBay website and bid for a real piece of Le Mans history – providing, that is, they
can put their money where their mouse is.
An internet auction might seem an odd way to dispose of such a valuable car
but for a small company like Morgan it makes a lot of sense. In the UK alone,
one-third of all internet users will visit eBay’s site in a given month. Scale that
up to a global perspective and you’re talking of a massive potential audience.
With an expected selling price of £150,000-plus (less than the cost of many
production supercars) the Aero 8 racer must be a tempting proposition for
anyone captivated by the David-versus-Goliath character that Morgan
epitomises. It also happens to be a bloody good car. At 2004’s Le Mans 24 Hours,
the batmobile Aero entertained the crowds with a unique son-et-lumière
performance – the ‘son’ courtesy of its barely silenced 4.5-litre V8 and the
‘lumière’ provided by the flames that shot out of its side-exhausts at every
downchange – before coming home 27th overall.
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MORGAN LE MANS CARS
MIGHTY
MORGANS
In 2002 and 2004, Morgan returned to Le Mans with high-tech racing versions
of its powerful Aero 8. Thirty-two years earlier, things were rather simpler
Words: Mark Dixon Photography: P aul Harmer
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