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1980 - MMC 111, Plus Eight, built by Rob Wells, winner of the Modsports Championship
In the USA Tony Arutunoff won the US National Production Championship in class H and in 1982 both British National Sports Car Championship belonged to Morgan with Steve Cole winning in Prodsports with his ultra lightweight Morgan famous for its one-piece alligator body.
Morgan were prominent in the only 24 hour race held in Britain at this time covering the greatest distance by a singe car entry in the Willhire event at Snetterton in 1980, 81 and 82. |
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The flexibility of the Plus Eight is illustrated by the fact that 80 - 120 kph in fifth gear takes 7.9 seconds
In 1984 fuel injection was fitted to the Plus Eight and over 1200 Morgans gathered from all over the world at Eastnor Castle to celebrate the 75th Anniversary. In 1989 the capacity of the Plus Eight was increased from 3.5 to 3.9 litres and this ensured that the Plus Eight continued to be one of the fastest accelerating roads cars. The German magazine "Auto Motor und Sport" crowned the Morgan Plus Eight as the fastest car they had ever tested in fifth gear, the world champion for flexibility".
The Plus Four was reintroduced in 1985 with a Fiat engine which was replaced two years later by Rovers award winning lean burn overhead cam 2 litre engine. Charles Morgan, grandson of the founder, joined the company full time in 1985 following a tradition by becoming one of the many third generation Morgan employees. Bruce Stapleton, the London Morgan agent gallantly tried to put the Morgan back amongst the winners in International Sports Car Racing competing with Porsche and Lancia entries in Group 4 and drove a early Plus Eight 12,000 mile to Australia in the London Sydney Marathon setting the fastest time on a number of stages. In the Pirelli Marathon Rick Bourne came second overall in a Morgan Plus Four Supersports and echoed the successes of the Plus Four in the International rallies of the 1950's. |
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Morgan Race Series - the grid at Silverstone
The Morgan Sports Car Championships began in 1987 as an annual championship designed to give owners the chance to race their cars in a one-make series. The championship grew fast and grids of 309 cars became common. The success of the series prompted a Hillclimb Championship exclusively for Morgans and encouraged the German Morgan Owners Club to start a race series in Europe called the Continental Morgan Championship. From 1987 to 1993 the Plus Eight of Graham Bryant and Matthew Wurr have consistently shown how fast a Morgan can go against other makes in the 750 Motor Clubs Roadsports Series and in Morgan marque racing.
Perhaps this brief history of the Morgan car is best summed up by its inventor, H.F.S. Morgan, who said of his life's work shortly before he died in 1959, "Looking back through the years, seeing both the errors and the triumphs in their correct perspective, I feel I have enjoyed it all. The motor trade has been, so far as I am concerned, a most interesting business." This now applies to two further generations of the Morgan family with the interest still sustained by Peter and Charles Morgan.
We hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of how competition success and the efforts of customers and workforce have contributed to the Morgan Legend. Perhaps the reader can now understand why the Morgan has become "The first and last of the Real Sports Cars". |
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