During the recent 2021 Race of Remembrance, the all-new Plus Four from the Morgan Motor Company made its racing debut. They entered both the manual and automatic variants of the car which they have kept as close as possible to the road-going variant. Both models were able to successfully complete the grueling 12-hour endurance race.
The 2021 Race of Remembrance was held at Anglesey Circuit in Wales and is run by Mission Motorsport. It is the culmination of the charity’s sporting year as they raise awareness for the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations. Being both a race and a remembrance service, they take some time out on Remembrance Sunday so that everyone involved can commemorate the fallen.
Morgan has nominated Mission Motorsport as their charity partner, and their involvement in Race of Remembrance is just one of their ways of supporting the charity group. Recently, through Mission Motorsport, Morgan recruited three people who just left the service to work across their development and experiential business areas.
The two cars with two different transmissions were entered.
Accomplished Morgan race drivers Shane Kelly, Tom Richards, and Tony Hirst were given the manual Plus Four along with CAR Magazine journalist James Taylor. They finished 14th out of the 46 cars that finished, with 53 cars at the beginning of the race. The result showed the reliability and power of the car compared to its race-bred competitors.
The automatic Plus Four was driven by Mission Motorsport beneficiaries Linda Noble, Lionel O’Connor, and Steve Binns. They were accompanied by Superbike editor John Hogan. O’Connor, a single leg amputee showed the competence of Morgan’s automatic transmission. He was able to set lap times that are highly competitive compared to the experienced drivers in the manual car. Binns used bespoke hand controls which were the bespoke hand controls that has been equipped to a Morgan.
A previous generation Morgan Plus 4 Clubsport joined the two new Morgan Plus Four cars. It was driven by its owner John Richards who was joined by Mission Motorsport beneficiaries and personnel Cliff Hall, Nick Wilson, and Russell Anderson.
Working together, the cars were run by Mission Motorsport beneficiaries, the Morgan Motor Company, and University of Wolverhampton (UoW) students. The project also shows the five-year relationship that Morgan and UoW has had with the former giving the graduates direct recruitment opportunities. The project is also part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program of Morgan as they support the education and training of the students.
The motorsport activities of Morgan help give instrumental engineering tools from the data and feedback that they gather from he extreme environment, and it helps shape the development of current and future models.
Morgan Motor Company Chairman and CEO Steve Morris shared, “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.”
Mission Motorsport CEO James Cameron added, “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.”
“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,” shared Shane Kelly from University of Wolverhampton.
The Morgan Motor Company would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the Adaptation Installation Company, Avon Tyres, FBC Mandy Bowdler, Bauromat, Hex, Hadley Group, Interace Communiations, Makita, LaserProcess Fabrication, MyWorkwear, PPG, Oceanascan, Sercal , and Tungaloy who all generously helped Mission Motorsport though the 2021 Race of Remembrance.
