Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Morgan Aero Supercharger

Some questions for you clever folk...

Will the Aero's gearbox take the extra torque?

Will the cooling system cope?

Is the mapping set-up for the lighter weight of the Aero? There was much noise made about all the tuning done for the Aeros, and I have to say the set-up on my S3 is fantastic as standard.

There's also a 'chip' which changes throttle mappings and gives a little extra torque and power for a much lower price (about $1000). Has anyone tried this or any other remaps of the N62?

just a great "mind" or at the local "bar" story ... i had a 500HP Viper ( 8.2 l V10 ) and let me influence to mount a Roe Racing blower.... o yes, i had up to 700 HP depending ignition timing as one daires with the fuel octane used....just became a dangerous car with torque all over the place and Always demanding easing the pedal... no more fun ! and i sold that car.

Now , my GTN#5 with 330 HP ? is more then vivid, quick enough , and "holding" the power to the road... don't want another 100HP to make it again "dangerous" "overpowered" !

Sure as we have only 225/235 rear tires... !

The clever folk are at ess who have always done their r and d with great products ,please check their history .Gaining an extra available 100 hp obviously means just that , if you were using that extra power at all times ,problems may occur with extra heat , transmission and possible brake upgrades ,but in reality 480 hp is not going to be called upon on a regular basis . These are factors which have been thought through by ess when fitting their superchargers to standard bmw road cars ,and of course you can always upgrade your own car to suit your style of driving .

Yes yes yes yes

Good comments from belgiumbarry!
How often will extra power he used?
What effect will it have?
Remember we drive on public roads so the chances of using power are limited.
Striving to get more power can turn a damn good car into a beast that can bite!
It took me several trips to learn the differences between my 4/4 and my Plus8.
Some tail wagging to start as I put power on too soon.
Then over reaction to that and staying in higher gear due to plenty of torque.
Now I feel the way the car behaves a lot better.
I don't feel I NEED more power but sometimes think....what if?
It's the naughty part of my brain making me think that way!
Yes, a blast on a track in a high powered Ferrari is awesome...did that at Rockingham.
But I had as much fun in a lower powered Exige at Silverstone.
The Aero based cars could cope with more power but how much extra before they
a) outstrip the drivers capability
b) need upgrades to manage the power increase?
Let the debate begin!

Power corrupts

Warning - this is a long post, and contains some provocative opinions - but it has helped me to procrastinate over starting the real work of today which is a boring user requirements review, so I make no apologies for hitting the 'Submit' button :-)

I reckon that for a car that is going to be used on the road, it is far too easy to spoil the car and the enjoyment of driving by having too much power - and 'too much' is really not very much at all, anything over about 200 - 300 bhp is too much, depending on the weight of the car.

Why? Well, think about when you are driving. You are either in traffic, in which case ultimate power is irrelevant, or you are out on the open road. On the open road you are probably on a motorway, in which case you can't sensibly drive at more than 100 mph for any length of time, for which a couple of hundred bhp is more than sufficient.

If you're not on the motorway, and you are away from towns and villages, and there aren't any speed cameras around, then it's definitely time to play - and this is where too much power spoils the fun completely. The enjoyment of driving is all about handling a car near the limit, and if you have too much power things can go horribly wrong very quickly indeed. So right at the time when you have the only chance in an otherwise pretty dull driving environment to really let rip and have a laugh, you can't because as others have pointed out, a moment's inattention with the right foot will have you backwards through the hedge faster than you can say "oh bollocks!"

"But what about torque?" I hear you cry. What about torque? I have a handy torque multiplier in my car, it instantly gives me as much torque as I need for any given situation. Choosing which setting to use is one of the core skills of driving, and it's something which I enjoy doing and getting exactly right whenever I can. Why on earth would I want to remove that element of driving enjoyment by slapping in an engine so powerful that its use becomes unnecessary?

There are 2 situations in which there is no such thing as too much power:

(a) for race cars - and anyone who has ever driven a pukka race car on the roads will know immediately that they are simply terrible for everyday driving

(b) for bragging rights down at the pub or on the internet - in which case it's vastly more economic to simply say that you've done the work, thus gaining the kudos but retaining the real fun of driving in the real world.

Of course, if you a a Driving God with superhuman skills, none of this applies. If you are rich as Croesus and can afford to have a car for every occasion this also doesn't apply, as one may as well have an largely unusable behemoth in the fleet, if for no other reason than it completes the set, as it were.

But for normal human beings, less is more. After all, if an Austin A35 on cross plies was James Hunt's vehicle of choose for driving on the road, who are we to argue?

Tim,

I have to agree with you...

It is an argument I've long supported, originally because of the ridiculously powerful bikes on the market. I know two people who purchased BMW S1000 RRs at about £17K for a bike with 200 bhp and weighing less than 200kg. Both sold the bikes quickly, because on the road they are pointless. It will exceed the national speed limit in 1st gear!. One said that if he kept the bike he'd either end up in prison or dead.

Cars are going in the same direction, a pointless pursuit of power...

For a real laugh try to get a test drive in a Toyota GT86. They understand. Today's A35 van, in many ways....

Peter I think you must have purchased the wrong car ,surely a 4/4 with 110 bhp would have suited your needs better. With the same trad body and colour scheme you would have saved a fortune , why have 367 bhp when you can be over the moon with 110 ,you could also ask MMC to fit cross ply tyres ,what a dream that would be !

You know, if there was an Aero Roadster Auto built I'd have been tempted...

We chose the +8 because of the ride, refinement and space. The power is probably more than is needed, certainly in the wet.

The auto box helps a lot: in normal mode the throttle response is soft and the gear changes ultra smooth. So it is quite easy to control. Plus the mpg is good: going up to Williams yesterday it achieved 31mpg.

Put it in sport mode and it is much as the manual version, the paddles change gear faster than I can change gear and the throttle response is very sharp. On a dry road fine, but on cold greasy roads... too much!