Our morgan Super Sports #5381, raced by Don Greimel, in the early 60's,
was indeed modified, in many ways, both by the factory after it was built
as an SS, and further by Don in 63.
This is what we have proof of:
Built as an SS, lower 4/4 series IV alloy body on plus four frame,
lawrence exhaust, 42DCOE-8 webbers, oil cooler, enlarged frame exhaust
port, 16 gallon baffled dual filler gas tank, dual electric fuel pumps,
dual fuel lines, positive radiator shielding, cast aluminum finned sump,
2degree negative camber, WWI airplane style windscreen, full width roll
bar, limited slip differential, the engine was sent UNTUNED to Don, at
Fergus Motors, and then 10.25 to one compression ration, and usual SS
engine tuning done there, a big bore kit, performance cam from triumph,
heavy duty clutch. goodyear bluestreak tires, and was run as crimson red,
number 97 in C production.
We have several other interesting bits, a safety gauge for oil temp/water
temp 1500/24 was added, and under paint on the right front fender was
four holes with a larger center hole, which appear to have held a
?endurance light. She was run without bumpers, no compartment cover or
windshield.
She was sold after Fergus to Thomas Cochran, in NY, then to a navy
corpsman in VA, then to a yard in 1969, where we found her in 1991.
Anyone remember her?
Bob Bowie in Maine
On Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:15:48 +0100 "Graeme Sutherland" <graeme@xara.com>
writes:
> I've seen a few postings on the list concerning peoples' exploits in
>their Morgans on the race track. I'm interested in old Morgans, and
>historic
>(or vintage) racing, and have a few questions.
>
> I recently got myself a copy of the November '90 issue of Classic
>and
>Sports Car, which contains a review of TOK 258. Willie Green, a well
>known
>racer and fettler of old cars here in the UK, wrote that TOK's
>road-holding
>was excellent, whereas most other Morgans that he's driven have been
>less
>inspiring. Later on in the article, it revealed that Chris Lawrence
>had
>altered the front sub-frame, and thereby changed the suspension
>geometry,
>along with fitting telescopic dampers to the rear to replace the
>original
>lever arms.
>
> Was the Lawrence modified front suspension ever a feature on any
>production cars of the '60s, or was it a one-off for TOK, and other
>Lawrence
>tweaked cars? And if it didn't make it onto the standard Plus Fours,
>was it
>fitted to the Super Sports or Competition versions?
>
> The TOK article also mentioned that there had been a problem with
>breaking half-shafts once the telescopic rear shock conversion had
>been
>carried out, although this was rectified by using cut-down Jaguar
>half
>shafts. I've been interested in TVRs for a while now, and know that
>building
>a Griffith into a racer involves replacing a large part of the car to
>over
>come its inherent faults such as over-heating, weak suspension parts,
>etc.
>(To the extent that one TVR specialist virtually replaces the entire
>car!)
>Would building a Morgan racer involve such serious surgery, and are
>there
>any particular weak spots that I should be aware of?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Graeme
>
>
>
Best Regards,
Cameron, Lori and Bob Bowie of Maine
PO Box 3751
Brewer, Maine 04412
deemi@juno.com
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