THE MORGAN MYSTIQUE -
Real - not imagined.
One of the reasons Morgans are so unique is that the marque has an illustrious 100 year + competition history . In motor cars you can't get much more competitive than Le Mans. One man probably more than others made Morgan's success at Le Mans in the 2 Litre class in 1962 possible. This was Chris Lawrence.
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| Kevin and Chris Lawrence at the Centenary celebrations. |
Kevin and I (and I’m sure others) met Chris Lawrence at the Morgan Factory and at the 100th anniversary celebrations.
Not to put too fine a point on it, WINNING THE CLASS WAS A REALLY BIG DEAL. Especially when you remember that the year before, the French officials, who decide on everything regarding Le Mans – and motor racing generally (FIA etc.), would not allow Morgan to run because it was just an old car brought up to date – or some such. (They kinda made up the rules as they went along! The more things change……….etc.)
This feat was the more remarkable because the 2 Morgan entries were driven from the UK to the race at Le Mans in France – AND DRIVEN HOME AGAIN AFTER THE RACE. And by the way, the sister car at Le Mans (Reg. XRX1) was bought by Steve Spencer in the UK after it had been fitted with a 2.5L Daimler V8 motor. He brought it out to South Africa and raced it extensively and successfully here in historic racing before returning to the UK - with XRX1 unforunately. I understand this car has its original 2L motor fitted again and competes in historic events in the UK.
I first met Chris Lawrence at the factory when he was developing the Aero 8 in the “room at the back”. The room was off limits and you couldn’t get in so I had to stand on tippy toes to see into the workshop. There I was, hands cupped, peering in through a dirty window, when I voice behind me said “What seems to be your problem?”. I don’t remember the actual words but Chris was none too pleased with my efforts at espionage. So I got to know him as a grumpy old bugger. This opinion was confirmed by many others in later years. What he lacked in people skills however, he certainly made up for in innovative engineering ability, driving skills and mechanical acumen.
Though Chris died some years ago, It is worth mentioning his achievements because so much of what appeals about the Morgan has to do with the history of the marque. And Chris was responsible for a large chunk of mystique.
Chris Lawrence obituary
Engineer and racing driver behind Morgan's 1962 Le Mans
victory
Chris Lawrence at Brands Hatch in 1967. Photograph: Getty
Images
Chris Lawrence, who
has died of cancer aged 78, was a development engineer and racing driver who
won more than 100 races. His prowess as a tuner of engines helped revive the
fortunes of the Morgan sports car in 1962, when his famous Plus 4 racer won its
class in the Le Mans 24-hour race at an average speed of 94mph. He masterminded
Morgan's return to Le Mans in 2002 and 2004 with the Aero 8 sports car, his
last major project.Born in Slough, Berkshire, Chris was the only child of William Lawrence and Joan Sanderson. He inherited an affinity for golf and motorcycles from his father. A naval tradition within the family dictated that he went to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, aged 17, and he gained a degree in engineering on HMS Thunderer.
He had already progressed from motorcycles to his first Morgan, a three-wheeler with no reverse gear that he persuaded his mother to buy for him. In 1952, Chris competed in his first event, in an elderly 750cc MG special. On leaving the navy, he moved on to a works trial MG that he assembled from parts. Later this morphed into the Rotacks MG on a new chassis, built in a cellar in Swiss Cottage, north-west London. When it became obvious that it was too big to emerge from the cellar in one piece, it had to be disassembled and rebuilt in the street. This glass-fibre-bodied MG special made more demands on Chris's driving and his burgeoning engineering ingenuity, but was not sufficiently competitive to get him a win.
The turning point was the acquisition, in 1958, of a used Morgan Plus 4, registered TOK 258, for £650. Teaching himself the theory and practice of camshaft profiles, combustion chamber design and "squish" area, Chris gradually increased the power output of the Morgan's humble two-litre Triumph TR2 engine (originally designed for the Ferguson tractor) from 95bhp to 156bhp. It was in this form that it won the two-litre class at Le Mans in 1962 as an official Morgan factory entry.
By then Chris had formed Lawrence Tune, based in Acton, west London, where he built his own Deep Sanderson cars – which raced at Le Mans in 1963 and 1968 – and tuned Triumph engines for customers. He raced in Britain and Europe most weekends. There was a brief foray into Formula 1 in the new three-litre formula in 1966 with a Ferrari-engined Cooper and a twin Mini-engined Deep Sanderson, but it was the Monica project, an exotic luxury saloon car built for a French industrialist, Jean Tastevin, that would come to define the second half of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s for Chris.
Chris designed the entire car, which was named after the patron's wife, Monique. The convoluted development process generated 25 prototypes as the Monica's luxury ambitions and weight increased. Chris, creating the car with his team in a large railway arch in Chiswick, made frequent trips to France, squabbling with Tastevin's French engineers as tensions grew about the Monica being "too English".
The finished Monica of 1974 was a graceful, refined and sophisticated 150mph vehicle and a remarkable effort for a man who had very little experience of luxury road cars. Its only true shortcoming was mistiming; in the wake of the oil crisis, the market for thirsty, expensive cars had collapsed; in the end, only 10 true Monica production cars were built in France. Bernie Ecclestone, then a car dealer, bought the last three at less than half-price.
Chris escaped the economic gloom of mid-70s Britain for California, where he set up Lawrence Tune West, preparing English classic sports cars for historic racing events. The California adventure lasted 15 years. In his autobiography, Morgan Maverick (2008), he was candid about the colourful deals and unhappy customers he left behind as a result of the collapse of the old car market and his own sometimes poor business sense.
Back in the UK, in the early 90s, he began working for the Wiltshire sports car firm Marcos, and managed and engineered an assault on Le Mans in 1995 with a team of LM600 cars before taking a job with Morgan. He regarded the development of the Aero 8 Morgan as the greatest achievement of his engineering life and was creating a second Le Mans version of the car for 2004 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2003. He settled down to retirement in Herefordshire the following year and swapped the Aero 8 that Charles Morgan, the company's managing director, had given to him as a retirement present for a brown Monica registered KUM 999.
It was at around this time that I first got to know Chris. Although a seemingly curt and blustery character, he was extremely kind and helpful, and more than happy to find some rare parts for my Monica through his many French contacts. His achievements were recognised at a tribute day at Goodwood Motor Circuit in 2005.
Chris is survived by his third wife, Carrie, and two sons, Gordon and Steve, from his first marriage. A daughter, Joanna, predeceased him.
• Christopher John Lawrence, racing driver and car designer, born 27 July 1933; died 13 August 2011
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