Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax aero8 and bad roads...

last weekend trip did me realise the GTN and bad roads don't go together...real scary. Where i was the king in accelaration /speed i wasn't , didn't daire , on bad roads... seems the car want's to jump every direction , giving a scary feeling... strange to see how modern cars don't seem to have that problem... OK, my BMW 530 also doens't have it.
But my GTN doesn't give confidence on bad roads... strange.

Strange , I always regards bad roads and poor surfaces (like Belgian pavé) being the Achilles heal of trad Morgans.

Every time I have driven an Aero chassis car , I have been very impressed with the way that it absorbs bumps and I was able to drive much more quickly down poor surfaced lanes. Are you sure all is well with the suspension and in particular the damping on your GTN? Are you comparing it BMW/Audi/Merc type cars, or other Sporting cars

I have no idea but was the GTN set up harder than the standard Aero8?

I believe it is all adjustable settings so might need a bit of tweaking!

Andy ,

not speaking of Belgian "pavé" but secondary concrete/asphalt roads with putholes... were modern cars were driving "as" normal , i know, i my BMW530 , it are noises as " bamps " but not steering effects ... The GTN jumps and scary directs a angle... ok, at 80/90 mph , but modern cars with family aboard don't seem that afraid... couldn't follow them with piece of mind !

Shooter,
don't know how all is "set" by previous owner... will ask at dealer to see what & how is done and adjustable.

But give a real strange feeling , the more, rather plain,little,modern, cars were at that speed without fear so to see... ???? and i was "jumping" around... ????

Barry, unfortunately I don't know either.

Hope to collect mine tomorrow. Car has been PDI'd and having the soft top installed to make use of any last minute sun and to check it is all fitting properly.

Going to probably switch the Yokohama semi slicks out for Goodyear F1's as well.

Simple physics is at play.

Frequency of road undulations can launch the right vehicle depending on its mass and wheelbase.

You can hardly compare a lard bucket mainstream saloon with an Aero.

In general I find the SS to be fantastic in dealing with mid corner imperfections (mainly down to the lack of ARB) - but it can feel hard (and perhaps violent) on a badly surfaced back road. The keys seems to drive through the problem rather than back out of it. The damping does seem to be able to keep up, the wheels stay in contact and the car stay on the road.

I know the Plus 8 differs somewhat from the Aero 8, in that it lacks rear end mass, but I find that on the "wonderful" roads of Wiltshire once above about 40mph it simply ignores almost all road imperfections, at lower seeds it can be a bit crashy.

The only imperfection that catches it out is a bit of subsidence on a C road near home where there is a slight dip followed by a hump: the rear end tends to bottom out as the hump causes it to compress. Almost as if it is under damped. Mind you this only happens at about 70. The front end is utterly untroubled.

The Merc E350 Sport doesn't like it either!

I suppose slowing might help....

A GTN could easily have been set up for track work - where the suspension would be too hard for B road driving.

The S1 aero is a great car - specifically designed for this kind of use. Sure it vibrates crashes and hangs, but it should handle despite the noise. Get the setup looked at...