Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Photo Gallery Shuttleworth Collection - if you visit, BEWARE!

Last Saturday there was a flying evening at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden. First time I had been to an event there. On flying days it seems you enter the grounds via the College, rather than the main gate. This is an unmettled track with speed humps. If my count was correct the first four are fairly low, so you are lulled into thinking they are all like that, but you proceed carefully nevertheless. And then comes the fifth. Higher than all the rest and I came down on it with a crash. The result you can see from the photo. Thankfully no damage to the sump or silencer bracket. I noticed another couple of Morgans in the car park; I hope they didn’t suffer in the same way. Which raises a question, I assume the wheelbase of my 4-seater is longer than that of a 2-seater, in which case the risk of grounding is greater; correct? Now to get the Hammerite out until I can get the underseal reapplied to the affected area…

Anyway, I got on with the evening and enjoyed the flying display, as you can see from the other pics.

Sorry - captions in wrong order

Great pics and I have not been there for a flying day - nor been there for many years - but remember it fondly!

At least your low point is the crossmember, but the 3.0 Roadster sump is lower than the crossmember.
I was caught out at Bourton on the Water, big bang, but got away with it. Frank wasn't so lucky, and Rob Walker was caught out at Wentworth in Yorkshire - both by centre gateposts, which are quite common at "stately home" type venues.

Sorry to hear that and, yes, in my "grounding" search on TM I have read some horror stories about the Roadster. Your remark about centre gateposts is timely, too. We have a couple of Canadians coming next week for a 5-week stay and shall be visiting lots of National Trust and English Heritage venues - so with 4 up gate-stops and speed humps will get treated with a load of caution. Note to self - inflate tyres to 26psi

When I think about it ahead of time, I try to approach berms, sleeping policemen, and dips at an angle in my old +4 four seater, seems to elevate just enough and leaves less of the bottom exposed for the whacks. Of course, I have to remember to think about it ahead of time, hmmm.

As to the airplane, looks more like a Hurricane than a Spit, but either one is a glorious sight, thanks for the photos, cheers, gordon "lismore" (Oakland, CA)

Good advice about approaching at an angle. I sometimes do this when the obstacle looks severe - but this time, of course, I didn't . As I said in the second post, I got the photo captions in the wrong order. The head-on view is a Sea Hurricane (but you'd be forgiven for not seeing the arrester hook from this angle) and the other two pics are of a Hawker Sea Fury which, incidentally, seemed to rip the air apart with its Bristol Centaurus engine.