Two all-new Morgan Plus Four race cars successfully complete the Race of Remembrance
The 12-hour race at Anglesey Circuit marks first competitive event for the Morgan Plus Four
Mission Motorsport beneficiaries took the wheel and supported the cars, continuing Morgan’s support of the forces’ charity
An automatic Plus Four was fitted with hand controls, allowing drivers with disabilities to take the wheel
The cars were developed and supported by the University of Wolverhampton, as part of Morgan’s championing of education and training
Data and feedback collected from the race will feed directly into development of current and future vehicles
The Morgan Motor Company has demonstrated the capability of the all-new Plus Four in its inaugural competitive event, the 2021 Race of Remembrance. Both the manual and automatic variants of the car – which have been kept as close to the road-going model as possible – were entered, completing the demanding 12-hour endurance race successfully.
Run by Mission Motorsport, the event – held at Anglesey Circuit in Wales – is the culmination of the charity’s sporting year and raises awareness for the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations. A remembrance service as much as a race, it pauses on Remembrance Sunday for everyone involved to commemorate the fallen.
Morgan’s involvement in Race of Remembrance furthers its work supporting Mission Motorsport, Morgan’s nominated charity partner. Recently, three service leavers have been recruited by Morgan via Mission Motorsport, across its development and experiential business areas.
Reflecting the two transmission options on offer, two cars were entered. The manual Plus Four was driven by accomplished Morgan race drivers Shane Kelly, Tom Richards, and Tony Hirst, along with CAR Magazine journalist James Taylor. Finishing 14th from the 46 cars that took the chequered flag and the 53 that started, the result validated the inherent reliability and pace of the car against its race-bred competitors.
In the automatic variant, Mission Motorsport beneficiaries Lionel O’Connor, Linda Noble and Steve Binns joined Superbike editor John Hogan. O’Connor, a single leg amputee, proved the competency of the automatic transmission, setting lap times on par with the experienced drivers in the manual car. Binns made use of the bespoke hand controls – the first time such a system has been fitted to a Morgan.
The two Morgan Plus Four race cars were joined by a previous-generation Morgan Plus 4 Clubsport, driven by its owner John Richards, along with further Mission Motorsport beneficiaries and personnel Cliff Hall, Russell Anderson and Nick Wilson.
The cars were run by Mission Motorsport beneficiaries, the Morgan Motor Company, and students at the University of Wolverhampton (UoW), working in collaboration. It continues a five-year relationship between Morgan and UoW, with direct recruitment opportunities for graduates, and forms a crucial part of Morgan’s CSR (corporate social responsibility) programme, supporting education and training.
Morgan’s motorsport activity continues to provide an instrumental engineering tool, the data and feedback collected from the extreme environment directly shaping the development of current and future models.
Steve Morris, Chairman and CEO, Morgan Motor Company, said: “The all-new Plus Four represents a huge leap forward for Morgan. For it to finish its first-ever race so successfully is brilliant to witness, even more so when we consider how closely related this race car is to the road-going vehicle. It’s fantastic to support the work of Mission Motorsport, too, and the amazing event that is Race of Remembrance, but also for Morgan as a company to pay its respects to those who’ve served in the armed forces.”
James Cameron, CEO, Mission Motorsport, said: “We’ve worked closely with Morgan over the last few years, including with the recent placing of three service leavers into the company. But the company’s support of Race of Remembrance this year is something incredibly special. For the beneficiaries driving and supporting the Morgan cars in the Race of Remembrance, this will bring tangible and long lasting results on their road to recovery.”
Shane Kelly, University of Wolverhampton, said: “The race marks the culmination of months of work for students on the Motorsport Engineering course, converting a production Morgan Plus Four into a race-ready vehicle. It’s testament to both the underlying capability of the car and the students’ hard work that we achieved such a positive result, and has brought on an even stronger sense of excitement for our plans to further develop and support the cars in 2022.”
The Morgan Motor Company would like to thank the Adaptation Installation Company, Avon Tyres, Bauromat, FBC Manby Bowdler, Hadley Group, Hex, Intarace Communications, LaserProcess Fabrication, Makita, MyWorkwear, Ocenascan, PPG, Sercal, and Tungaloy, who made its support of Mission Motorsport in the 2021 Race of Remembrance possible.
