Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) So, have you driven your Morgan today?

Must be weird for the startline crew, holding on to a car to stop it rolling, too!
Love the poppy fields down there

Peter, my proper Plus 8 ( ) Rover V8, that is, fishtails too. Our golf club drive has an uphill start from the carpark and I often wind the boys up with a wheelspin/ arse waggle!
Easier in the wet but do-able in the dry as the tarmac is smooth.
That's with my electric trolley on the rack and clubs in passenger well so a bit of extra weight but not much.
The road slope is about the same as Shelsley.
I have done some runs up Brooklands Test Hill and my aim there was no wheelspin or waggle. Managed ok but just a hint of tyre squeal a couple of times.
I have considered doing the course, the only problem being I am competitive so would not be content just driving up without trying hard. I don't want to mangle the Plus8.
Now.......trailering a car to events with less worries about losing my pride and joy....maybe, if the right car was cheap enough. I have considered a Seven type kit....

Drove home from work this evening and 5 km from home it was raining. Did I mention that I never have the hood in the car😁
I didn't know that driving in the rain sitting in an open Moggie it pure fun.

Slight abundance of power - great phrase.

No damage to wheels I take it - we know how you are!

Well done Peter, Tarka lived up to the name by the sound of it, fish tailing.

For those thinking of hill climbing especially anyone who has not driven in anger before I would offer the following advice. Hill climb tracks can be rathyer unforgiving, narrow, little if any run off, and hard objects passed at speed. Often they are deceptive, Shelsley is a good example, easy to get to reasonably high speeds and suddenly enter a bend too fast that has negative camber and a big bank to ram. I did several sprint days previuosly on open airfield tracks with cones marking the course, here you can experiment with the limits of the car, braking and cornering and get to know how it reacts when you exceed its limitations. I also did quite a few track days over the years on different circuits, this IMO enables you to repeatively gain the feel of a car at high speed and learn its capibilities, once again open circuits with nice run off are best.

After 2 years going up Wiscombe I managed to take about 7 seconds off my time up that hill, but still felt I had more to learn get any quicker. Two key things I did notice between the slower and faster people were this, ignoring the differences in cars. Younger people were faster, probably due to less inhibitions and quicker reactions. The older chaps that were quick had years of experience and a great feel for what their car was capable of. I had a long discussion at one event with a chap who had hill climbed for over 35 years and he said he was slower now than when he started in the same car, even though the car was now faster. He said that he had resigned himself to the fact that he was unlikely to win any cups again, and his competition was now with himself and his fastest times on each hill.

Hill climbing is great fun but don't underestimate how hard it is. Pushing s car and yourself to the limits for 40-60 seconds can be very challenging.

Absolutely right, Adrian. It's amazing how much damage you can do to a car in a tiny amount of time. One should never hillclimb in a car one can't afford to leave in a ditch.

the fastest person on the course was in a 2010 Porsche GT3: the owner is clearly used to using it on tracks, this was his first hill climb.

I asked him if he had turned all the computerized gizmos off..
"Of course not" he replied....

The slowest was a young lady driving a 1968 Citroen 2CV. Unfortunately she cooked the clutch and had to retire. Watching a 2CV going round Karousel is a sight not easily forgotten!!

Interesting comment Adrian about the effects of age...absolutely true. We do slow up as we age. There is so much information to process in less than a minute. Driving an automatic helps, one less thing to worry about!

And Mark, no kerb damage even though I did make use of a couple...!!

Good advice Adrian!

I always planned to return to the hills - but have left it too late.

Knowing what is involved to be mid class in any class ...has put me off!

But it's great fun.

Mandello to Agrigento in Sicily about 36 hours: well ok 20 hours of it was on the ferry from Genoa to Palermo. We are in a fabulous hotel with a beautiful garden overlooking the Valley of the Temples. Just gone to bed after a fantastic seafood meal and a bottle of white.
Photos tomorrow - maybe.

Sounds terrific. We've planned to take the mog to Corsica via Italy in September. Sicily was the other option but we will save it for next year. Consumed with jealousy though we are, don't spare the pics.