Adrian's SLR

[lambroving]

Adrian van der Kroft's SLR, a very rare beast and one of about 35 significant Morgans in his collection. He races it actively, but only a handful of these were built in 1964 by Chris Lawrence for Le Mans where they managed 135 MPH down the Mulsane Straight. Really hard to photograph as the body is polished alloy these days. (Wonder if that's legal?! ) The camera saw more than my naked eye could with those intense reflections...

[stuny]

William -

That IS lovely! I've never seen one. Thank you.

[lambroving]

Well..., I SAID it was rare. There is one on the West Coast if memory serves.

[uulrich]

The car certainly still is.

What I find a bit different is the lack of people. The mood these gung-ho drivers are not in. I wonder where they went.

[lambroving]

Uwe,

They were watching the racing, otherwise there would be no shot of the car. In most cases there were far too many people around to even SEE the car. There were thousands of people at this event, as I mentioned in response to one of your earlier comments. Mallory is no photo shoot. Life is like that...

[elansprint72]

William- you've got me with this buggy, never seen one! Saw a photo of a painted one years ago and assumed that it was GRP . Did Williams and Pritchard do the bodies? Looks like their work.

Agree about Mallory, except if you can get on to the apex of the hairpin (media pass req'd), there you need nothing longer than 35mm lens, you are close enough to touch the cars.

Did you see the new book about 50 years of the circuit? I offered them some shots taken in the 70's, gratis, the author did not even reply, which was his loss because the national mags used them at the time. Such is life.

Cheers,
Pete.

[lambroving]

Pete,

I'm no historian.You could ring Chris Lawrence at the Works and ask him.

I was too busy looking at cars to borrow Brian's Press Pass. Maybe next time. They ran the Peter Morgan Memorial Race concurrent with the MOG and the place was jammed with 1,000+ Morgans.

Agreed, some of your old racing shots from that period which you've posted were special. Their loss...

[lambroving]

Should anyone be going to Goodwood this weekend, I quote this post by Alan Osborne from a Morgan listserv I moderate:

"Just got back from qualifying day at Goodwood Revival.

2 x SLR's 1st and 2nd in their heat - Mr Ahlers first Mr van der Kroft second.

2 x 3 wheelers acquitted themselves well in their heat against significantly bigger rivals.

Day marred by 2 major "offs" by lightweight E Types - but we believe both drivers are OK.

Alan & Sally"

I've since learned there are only three SLR's, these two and Bill Fink's in California.

[vic vic]

what a beauty william - intresting how it sounds with the engine fired

i saw the new morgan car now on theor website. such an inpiring car. as i said to andy abrton, u have amazing motor culture and tradition there in england. if i were in england i would defenetly join some ethusiastic club and do it on weekly bases. im gifted and crazy driver as well :-)

in short, your images really inspiring with those amazing cars.

[abrewer]

Agree with Vic...you really should come to one of our cars shows in America someday William!



Just a technical comment regarding top speed: the car certainly looks capable of more than 135 on the Mulsanne.I would have guessed fifty miles an hour faster than that.

And a technical comment on the polished alloy: was it possible to get some reflections shots off the body with the camera?

Thanks for sharing with us, as always, William.

Allan

[lambroving]

Victor,

Glad you enjoyed. I'll agree the English are car mad which is not a bad thing as they lovingly restore and maintain, and more importantly drive cars which would be mere "mantelpieces" here in the U.S. You would be amazed at the cars you will see there on the roads on nice weekends in the summer.

In case you missed the earlier stuff from this event, my faves are http://www.leica-camera-user.com/spo...aeromaxed.html and http://www.leica-camera-user.com/spo...-series-i.html and http://www.leica-camera-user.com/spo...e-veteran.html and http://www.leica-camera-user.com/spo...e-veteran.html and http://www.leica-camera-user.com/spo...kes-allan.html

Ron took far more shots than I did at Mallory. I was "busy". Now Ron is busy with work, so we'll probably have to wait until winter to see them.

Allan,

It was all I could do to grab a snap of this thing without totally blowing the highlights. The glint off the nose was almost blinding. Your idea is interesting, but it is not highly polished like an American hot rod! :-)

BTW, the SLR's are powered by a Lawrencetune TR engine similar to the spec of a Plus 4 SuperSport. 135 MPH is pretty healthy for a tractor engine... The 2 Litre OSCA Zagato coupe I drove at Le Mans in 1964 could manage 165 down the Mulsanne but also had a very reliable twin-cam which could turn 12,000 rpm if pressed. Slight difference in initial cost too... Luigi, Heppenstahl and NART paid, not ME, BTW...

[vic vic]

william thanks alot for your links. fantastic - really inspiring. such a pity that im so far frrom it at the moment :-(( i realy love motor. think i have to move to england at some point :-))))

and ya - i saw ron too once, know i also had some comment exchange with him on my photos - so i know who he is. fantastic photos too with viewer atmospher etc :-))

[lambroving]

Flash.

"The two Morgan SLRs finished 1st and 2nd in the Fordwater trophy at the Goodwood Revival Meeting yesterday driven by Keith Ahlers and Adrian van der Kroft respectively - the Triumph-based SLR was also in the race.

More details at the Mogsport website www.MogSport.net

Select “Forums” on the left hand side menu

Select the forum “On Track”

Select topic “Goodwood 2006 – Morgan SLR on Pole !”

Have Fun

Andy"