Description
H&H Classic Auction @ The Imperial War Museum, Duxford/ Cambridgeshire
9th October, 2024 13:00
1969 Morgan Plus 8 Race Car
Driven by former Cooper-Ferrari F1 driver Chris Lawrence
Estimate
£65, 000 - £75, 000
Registration No: XNP 35G
Chassis No: R7043
MOT: Exempt
Iconic racing Morgan and winner of more than 25 races
Driven by former Cooper-Ferrari F1 driver Chris Lawrence of Lawrence Tune
1973 Production Sports Car Championship winner
This is a one off car - with a race history to be proud of
Multiple championship-winning Plus 8
Morgan's race heritage includes well-known developnment of the Plus 4 race cars, but the Plus 8 also hit the track with success. Although Rover's attempts to acquire Morgan in 1966 had proved fruitless, it nevertheless granted the sportscar manufacturer access to its newly acquired, ex-Buick lightweight aluminium V8 with a view to cementing a supply contract. Hired by the Malvern works to assess the powerplant's merits, race engineer Maurice Owen lost little time in shoe-horning one into a Morgan Plus 4 chassis. With trials of the resultant prototype successfully undertaken in 1967, the Plus 8 debuted at the following year's Earls Court Motor Show. Built along familiar Morgan lines, its ladder frame chassis was equipped with independent 'sliding pillar' front suspension, a leaf-sprung rear axle and disc / drum brakes. Supported by an ash frame, its swooping bodywork looked as traditional as ever but gave no clues as to the new model's performance potential. Initially equipped with a four-speed Moss gearbox but later Rover four- and five-speed units, Autocar magazine found even the earliest Plus 8 ‘road car’ capable of 0-60mph in 6. 7 seconds and 124mph.
Bringing the Plus 8 into the arena of motorsport, Lawrence Tune (aka Lawrencetune) was a racing team and tuning company founded by Chris Lawrence (the ex Cooper-Ferrari F1 driver) in the late 1950s. The team is best known for its work on the Morgan Plus 4, which they developed for racing. By 1961, Lawrence Tune was running the factory Works team of racers in the UK and Europe, achieving significant success. The Lawrence Tune Morgan Plus 8 was a high-performance version of the Morgan Plus 8, developed by Chris Lawrence and his team at Lawrence Tune. This car built upon the success of the earlier Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports. Chris Lawrence’s modifications typically included tuning the engine, improving the suspension and making other adjustments to optimise the car for racing. The Lawrence Tune Morgan Plus 8 became a notable competitor in various racing events, continuing the legacy of Lawrence Tune’s success with the Morgan Plus 4.
Morgan aficionados hold a place in their hearts for Lawrence Tune prepared cars. This particular Morgan, ‘XNP 35G’ and the Le Mans winning Lawrence Tune prepared Morgan ‘TOK 258’, showed the world what a great racer the Morgan was. Manufactured in 1969, the current owner of the ‘XNP 35G’ of some 34 years, is an ex Lawrence Tune ‘employee’ who had some success with the car in the later years. ‘XNP’ won more than 25 races between 1971 and 1976. The car’s achievements include being the winner of the Production Sports Car Championship in 1973, when owned by Peter Morgan and the 1974 Modified Sports Car Championship driven by Chris Lawrence himself and Robin Grey. In addition, in later years the car competed at the 2009 MG Silverstone Live and the 2006 Historic Sports Car Club 40th Anniversary Race Meeting at Silverstone. At some point, a lap of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit was timed at 1 minute 55 seconds.
Still fitted with motorsport cut-offs and a fire extinguisher, road-legal sticky tyres, working lap transponder, a Sparco harness and a Sparco single-seat and a roll cage (no ‘in-date’ certification implied on these). A keen eye may spot the bonnet stand-offs, made to aid cooling when racing, however, this set-up could be removed and put back to standard. The bonnet also displays ‘Lawrencetune, C. Lawrence/ R. Gray’ sign-written in White, with the driver’s door wearing a Lawrence Tune roundel decal on the driver’s door stating ‘Race Bred Performance’. ‘XNP 35G’ has previously been documented in features across a number of publications, such as More Morgan, The Motor, Autosport and in the books Morgan by G H Bowden and Morgan: The Last Survivor by Chris Harvey. This Morgan is a very special piece of British motorsport history. It is offered with the V5C, files of paperwork, magazine features and many photographs - with some featuring Chris Lawrence and Robin Gray.
