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I hope ISIS are well insured... I would hate to think of the product liability implications if someone did themselves some serious damage whilst driving one of these road rockets!

I’m not a product liability attorney but I would be inclined to agree Phil. In a country where individuals sue over a mild burn from a cup of coffee, this is surely asking for trouble?

Guys

If that's the case why are there so many tuning firms around offering double (or more) the horsepower on mainstream 'family cars'

At least Isis have uprated the brakes all the way around and for those who lust after a vee 8 in a trad have provided an alternative to the +8 with a bit more on top:)

I think there is one in Germany, are you guys not at least a bit intrested in how this car goes?

Given the opportunity I'd love a ride in one

Andy, not many (in fact, I can't think of one of the top of my head (although I'm sure there are)) do a full heart transplant on a vehicle.

I also - and again, I am not an expert - believe there would be a difference in liability between if the dealer sold a modified vehicle or changed a customers existing car at their request. To my mind, one is a sale of a new product (with all the liabilities associated) while the other is carrying out a customers request on their property.

I haven't driven the Mogvette, so I cannot comment on how it handles and performs but the concept doesn't appeal to me.

(ps - you mentioned "mainstream 'family cars'", don't forget these will have driving aids, passive safety devices and modern suspension and crash protection. Having owned an E60 M5 with over 500bhp, I can tell you the car never felt even close to the ragged edge (including at the VMAX on the autobahn). Would it be possible to say the same about a traditional Morgan with double (or more) the BHP of the Plus 8?)

I actually do have some experience of running a well tuned Plus 8 albeit with a Rover engine. Mine was an ex race car that I had done up for the road and sprints/hillclimbs. I had all the road gear put back like hood, wipers, etc. Mine was only 265BHP but about 900 kilos (1980lbs). So power to weight was 0.134 (Mogvette is 0.16). However this was more than enough for very inspiring road performance and on track as well. In one sprint I was the fastest covered wheel car beating Porsche, Ferrari' etc. Even with road legal competition tyres this would spin the wheels in third in the dry and every gear in the wet. It needed treating with utmost respect on the road other wise it would bite back hard. It also had full discs all round and properly located and damped back axle. The other thing it had was an integral roll bar and many racers these days use full cages which help brace the chassis as well. I and many others consider this about the ultimate usable power package for a road going Plus 8.

I have also briefly driven a full Class A Plus 8 race car on the road and would not like to do it again. This had 400BHP from a 5.0ltr Rover V8 and suspension/brake set up similar to the Mogvette. It was a complete and utter beast. You could never realistically use full throttle on the road. Basically great for the track but no point on the road.

There has got to be limit where the basic body/chassis cannot reasonably handle more power (torsional stiffness and aerodynamics etc). I think 400BHP on the road is way above that limit.

I would also say that with this amount of change you cannot call it a real Morgan anymore as well.

I think the maxim "To the willing person, no harm is done" probably applies over here - perhaps they use a disclaimer as well.