August Newsletter

Well it hasn't been the best of summer's weatherwise, but we've had a lot of fun, stayed very busy, and generally enjoyed looking after the rather unique cars belonging to our customers.

Silverstone Classic, which we attended, was in some respects a bit of a washout, but the weather didn't seem to dampen enthusiasm for Morgan's new AR Plus 4 that was launched at the event - more details about this car later in the newsletter.  Also, there was still lots of spirited racing blended with an amazing selection of cars, both on and off the race track.

Our next Breakfast Club on the 5th September should be an interesting one.  We're very fortunate to have persuaded Jon Wells, Morgan's Head of Design, to come along and chat about his role and to bring with him one of his most recent and impressive creations, the new Morgan Aero 8.  More details later in this newsletter.

One new development that we're rather pleased about is that we've just been appointed as retailers for Nitron suspension.  We think this will be of interest to Lotus owners with Nitron dampers and springs being well proven upgrades on a number of different models.  More details to come in due course...

Hope you enjoy the latest newsletter!

AR Plus 4

The AR Plus 4 (or ARP4 if you prefer) is Morgan's latest model.  A rather special and limited edition Plus 4 - only 50 will be built - which features a whole host of upgrades and extras.

The car was launched at the Silverstone Classic at the end of July and received huge amounts of attention and comment from Morgan owners and enthusiasts.  It wasn't for some, but many loved it, and one thing's for sure, everyone had an opinion!

As for us, we love it and think it's the most daring classic styled Morgan produced to date.  And seeing that at the time of writing, Morgan only have half a dozen unsold 'build slots' for the AR Plus 4, it has to go down as one of Morgan's most successful limited edition models.

So what makes the car different?

For starters, it offers significantly more performance than a standard Plus 4.  At its heart is a tuned Cosworth 2 litre engine producing 225 bhp.  Then to handle the power the ARP4 boasts a raft of upgrades.  These include a revised chassis, completely new rear suspension with coilover springs, adjustable Spax dampers all round, AR Motorsport uprated brakes with front and rear discs, a revised axle ratio.

Styling-wise, the specification includes LED headlights and optional spotlights, unique dashboard and switches, alloy wheels, race style steering wheel, box weave carpet, exposed aluminium panel work in the cockpit, lined Mohair hood, choice of AR Motorsport colours and a conventional style handbrake.

To learn more about this latest Morgan, please visit its page on our website by clicking on AR Plus 4

As mentioned earlier, there are very few build slots left.  So if you're interested in one of these, probably best to contact us sooner rather than later to avoid the possible disappointment of missing out.

Lotus news

The latest car to be announced by Lotus is the Exige 360 Cup, which further refines and improves on the very accomplished Exige V6 Cup.

The Exige 360 Cup is limited edition - only 50 will be built - and has a 10 hp increase in power compared to the V6 Cup as well as new lightweight panels.

It will be available in 4 metallic colours - White, Grey, Black and Silver - and has a stealth matt black roof, front access panel and tailgate louvres.

Options include a red Alcantara interior, adjustable anti roll bars, Ohlin race dampers, fire extinguisher, electrical cut off, FIA carbon seats, air conditioning and removable steering wheel.

The Exige 360 Cup is on sale now and priced from £62,995.

For a little more information, please see the write-up on 'The Lotus Forums' website by clicking on Exige 360 Cup

The 'Morgan Challenge'

Having covered AR Motorsport in last month's newsletter, we realised from readers' questions that there are a few of our customers who may not know about the Morgan Challenge.

The Morgan Challenge is a series of races (eight in 2015) that AR Motorsport sponsors, and which is acknowledged to be one of the most successful one-make race series on the racing calendar.

The winner is decided by taking the best series of results to count towards the championship positions. Points are awarded to class winners (classes are listed as A, B, C and D), second, third and so on, with an extra point being awarded for the fastest lap in each class. It is a formula that enables a quick and consistent driver from any class to become overall champion and win the coveted Peter Collins Tray at the end of the season. It also ensures that, although the overall race winner is likely to come from the highly modified and very quick cars in class A or B, the battles for class honours throughout the field are just as hotly contested.

The current AR Motorsport Morgan Challenge can trace its pedigree back to 1966, when Bentley Drivers' Club man of influence Harry Rose also owned a Morgan. He decided that it would be a good idea to have a Morgan race at the Bentley Drivers' Club Silverstone meeting. That race was a 5-lap handicap for members of the Morgan 4/4 Club (as the Morgan Sports Car Club was then known). There were 16 starters in that first race - an impressive Morgan grid.

The 2015 Morgan Challenge series kicked off at Snetterton earlier in the year and the full programme can be seen in the MSCC magazine 'Miscellany', or on the Morgan website.  If you have not seen one of these races, hesitate no longer - go and take a look!

For more information about the Morgan Challenge, including how to participate, be it as a spectator or a driver, you can visit its website - www.morganchallenge.co.uk

(Pictures courtesy of Bob Bull and Tripos Media)

Saturday Breakfast Club - car design

Our very successful Breakfast Clubs have now been running for over 3 years.  They take place on the first Saturday of the month, kicking off at 9:30am with bacon rolls and hot drinks, followed by a talk or demonstration with a motoring theme at 10am.

Our next Breakfast Club is on Saturday 5th September and we're very excited to have coming along as our guest speaker, Jon Wells, the Head of Design at Morgan.  He'll be chatting about his job and what goes into developing new cars and evolving existing models.  As a 'prop' he'll be bringing along one his most significant creations, the new Morgan Aero 8.

This should be a fascinating morning for both Morgan enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in sports car design and evolution.

All are welcome to our Breakfast Clubs - no need to book, but just turn up on the day.  Or for more information, including a list of the upcoming events, visit our website by clicking on Breakfast Club

DRIVE 7TENTHS Feature - an introduction to tyres

Neil Furber of DRIVE 7TENTHS has kindly agreed to provide a series of articles for our newsletters.  So over to you Neil...

Last month’s newsletter featured driving position. This month I’ll look at tyres - as the only link between the car and the road they are definitely the most important topic for performance driving.

Firstly, I often say that if you can’t afford to fit good quality tyres to your car you can’t afford to drive. They may appear simple, but tyres generate all the forces to make a car accelerate, turn and stop. Obviously, there's a bit more to performance driving, so understanding how a tyre generates force and what happens at the limit of grip will go a long way towards doing it safely and effectively.

During my time in the Formula 1 industry I have worked, and talked extensively, with colleagues who have devoted their working life to testing, understanding, modelling and developing tyres.  Clearly this feature will only be a snippet but let’s take a look at tyre construction.

The business end of the tyre is the ‘contact patch’. This is the portion of the tread in contact with the ground at any one time and is about the size of a CD. Since tyres are made from flexible rubber material and normally filled with air, the weight of a vehicle pushes down and compresses/flexes the bottom portion of the tyre to form a flat area of tread.

The tyre pressure will control the amount of flex. The flexing portion is known as the sidewall. As well as vertically, it can flex laterally (rolling under the wheel rim during cornering) and torsionally (twisting relative to the wheel rim when steered). The sidewall transfers forces from the contact patch to the wheel rims and into the car.

Modern sports cars often have stiffer, shallower sidewalls than passenger cars. They provide a very immediate steering response due to high torsional stiffness (less delay in generating cornering force when turning the wheel) and have less lateral flex (better tread to road contact for more grip during cornering).

Dynamic loading during driving will vary the amount of grip at any one tyre. For example, acceleration leads to rearward weight transfer to increase the vertical load (and therefore the grip) supported by the rear tyres and vice versa at the front tyres. This explains why front wheel drive cars tend to spin the driven wheels during harsh acceleration far more easily than an equivalent rear wheel drive car.

This article only scratches the surface. To learn more about the contact patch, the limit of grip and how all 4 tyres (except Morgan 3 Wheelers!) generate forces in acceleration, braking and cornering, please click on the following link:

DRIVE 7TENTHS - tyre article

Cars for sale

Currently in our showroom we have a variety of Morgans and some interesting Lotus from a classic Europa to a supercharged Elise.

To find out more about our cars, please click on the links below:

Morgans for sale

Lotus for sale

Other makes for sale

Our used cars come fully serviced, HPI checked, have a new MOT (if applicable), and if sold for use in the UK have a 3 month warranty.

If you're interested in any of these cars, or would like advice on any aspect of Morgan or Lotus ownership, email sales@allonwhite.co.uk or call 01234 750205.

Cars wanted!

It's been an exceptionally busy time for us in our showroom and we've sold a lot of cars.  The problem now is that we don't have as many on display as we'd like!

So if you're thinking of selling your car, please do get in touch.

We're particularly interested in Morgans and Lotus.  For Morgans, we love all types, from 'project cars' to late model, low mileage examples.  As for Lotus, we're on the look out for good condition examples, from classic to current models.

But if you have another interesting sports car, classic or modern, that you'd like to sell, do let us know.

We buy cars outright, take cars in part exchange, and sell cars on behalf of their owners.  We're very flexible as regards the solution that's right for both sides.

If you would like to find out more or discuss possible options, please phone us on 01234 750205 or email sales@allonwhite.co.uk

Other interesting classics - Aston Martin DB5

In this section - a regular feature of our newsletters - we look at interesting cars we've seen in our dealership or ones we'd maybe like to have...

This month we look at a car that truly deserves that much overused word 'icon': the Aston Martin DB5.

Aston Martins always were a bit special.  From humble beginnings in 1913, when Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin started it all off, it took only a year for the name we all know to be established.  It came about after a successful weekend of hill climbing at the Aston Hill Climb meeting in 1914.  The first ‘Aston’ Martin was built a year later.

In 1922 an Aston Martin ran in the French Grand Prix and later in 1933 the company became famous, with class wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours.  The die was cast and more models followed in the footsteps of those early and still-raced gems.

In 1947 the David Brown era arrived. A new model, the DB1, was followed by the DBR1 (R for Racing), then the DB2, the Mark III and the 2/4.  Le Mans featured again and with the DB4 coming along in the late 1950s, we then come to our featured model, the DB5, introduced in 1963.

It was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cars in the world and interest went global when the DB5 was chosen for the new James Bond film, 'Goldfinger', instantly propelling the car to legendary status.  Putting it simply, who hasn’t heard of James Bond?  Here was the kind of marketing potential that car manufacturers dream of.  With the special DB5 featuring various types of ballistics delivery as well as Boudica-style wheel centres and other 'Q' inventions, every boy in the world wanted a model of the car.  The DB5's place in history was assured.

From 1963 to 1965, the period of production of the DB5, only 1,023 of the cars were made.  Most were 2+2 coupés, but convertibles were also available.  The 3995cc engine was initially mated to a 4-speed manual with optional overdrive, but soon superceded by a ZF 5-speed all-synchro manual.  A 3-speed Borg Warner auto box was available as an option.  282bhp was good for the time and sight of a DB5 on full song was not to be missed.  Top speed was 142mph and 0 - 60 took 7.1 seconds.  If you were inside driving, it was Nirvana time.

Various models followed the DB5, but few if any have had its following. Forget what it cost originally - it was in the luxury bracket then. Today, to emulate Mr James Bond, you may need to budget £700,000 or more.

It was quite possibly the greatest car to come out of Aston Martin and certainly the most charismatic of them all.

And finally...

You probably (hopefully!) have a driving licence valid in the UK, but what it required will depend on where and when you obtained it.  A close relative passed his by driving 100 yards – forwards and reverse – in an armoured car during his national service.  While the UK driving test has become a little tougher, we thought you might like to see what it takes in other countries…

• Mexico City doesn’t so much test drivers as regulate them.  Would be drivers simply sign a form stating they can drive and then hand over the 626 pesos (about £28) for the license.

• In India, it’s even cheaper.  500-1000 rupees (£5-10) paid to an out of state agent will get you a licence, valid all over the country.  Oh, and if you do want to sit the test, just drive in a straight line, turn left and then stop after 50 yards. 

• Russia’s test sounds as if it came from a KGB manual.  Not only will you swerve your car in and out of a slalom, you then need to zoom from nought to breakneck before braking at a marker without leaving skid marks.

• If your first experience behind a wheel was on a computer, Spain’s test might appeal.  Steer a car on a screen moving a couple of sticks forwards and backwards to turn left and right.  Don’t worry if you can’t master it – most can’t – because everyone seems to turn a blind eye and they get their license.

• Conscious of the importance of a Highway Code, Sierra Leone don’t want you to just read up on road safety, you must enact it.  On a board game.  Buy the game and be tested on the laws of their roads while playing it.

• Being physically fit enough to drive is of course essential, so the Taiwanese test this by ensuring you can wiggle all ten fingers.

• Japan’s is pretty stringent with pass rate under 35%. You’re tested on a track and it’s instant failure for exceeding their speed limit (19 mph) or driving over a kerb.  Okay, fair enough.  But you may also be failed if you didn’t bend low enough when checking beneath the car beforehand for cats or children.

• However, just in case you’re starting to feel smug about the UK’s, spare a thought for Colombians.  Before you can become a learner you will be tested on road signs and safety.  Follow this up with lessons and 40 hours training to get your provisional license.  Another 6 months on provisional before you can apply for a full licence – with caveats.  And only when you reach 21 can you acquire your full unconditional licence – assuming of course you first pass another practical test.

Contact us

If you want to talk to us on any sports car related issue, please contact Allon White Sports Cars by:

Phone: 01234 750205
Email: sales@allonwhite.co.uk
Website: www.allonwhite.co.uk

Kind Regards

John

John Bellenger
Allon White Sports Cars Ltd