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I thought that MMC we’re supplying a set of Morgan branded complimentary wheel chocks to ARP4 owners!


I followed Paul for a few miles at the weekend. His ARP4 certainly seems to have a more controlled ride than Stanley and the exhaust does sound nice!

Oh absolutely, and this is a perfect demonstration of what I'm on about. Circuit racing is completely unlike any form of road driving, even that of the most 'spirited' nature. The idea that a road car needs brakes that react like a race car's is frankly dangerous.

Simple example: How many race cars need to be able to do a crash stop with cold brakes? They have plenty of time to get pads and discs up to proper operating temperature. What racer cares if the brakes are a bit dodgy when cold? In a road car it's an absolute must.

All of the race cars that dont use the tyre heating technology of F1, and that is most race cars. But then thats an issue largely limited to CCM brakes anyway. Ordinary cast iron brakes have the reverse issue. Its excessive heat that stops them working.

The Trad has an advantage in its limted weight. At any given speed it has about half the energy of my F type to dissipate as heat when braking. But the brakes are sized accordingly or should be.

The issue with drums is that they are worse at dissipating the heat and worse still the hydraulics that suffer from excessive heat are internal to the brakes and outside the cooling air flow. So on first stop they will work as well as discs, and indeed will likely work better than a CCM brake, but if you are driving fast down a steel hill ( Porlock for example) there is a much greater risk of losing brake power with drums. And I suspect that the front discs will be affected by boiling brake fluid in the drums as well.

Trads are wonderful pieces of nostalgia but to kid yourself that we havent made great strides since they were first designed is wrong.

I'm not saying that drum brakes are the dog's bollocks when it comes to braking, clearly discs are better (and cheaper) for heavy, powerful, modern cars.

What I am saying is that they almost certainly aren't necessary for a trad of 'normal' power output. It's all very well to say you 'can' get problems with overheating, but if it doesn't actually happen in real-world conditions, why bother changing a perfectly good arrangement?

I only know of one person who fitted disc brakes to a GEMs Plus 8 - against specialist advice, it must be said. He spent a great deal of money with a Morgan specialist, who spent a lot of time getting them set up as best he could. The owner was so disappointed with the result that he then had to spend a load more money going back to the standard drums.

If you have overheated brakes on the likes of Porlock Hill, then you are in the incorrect gear and using very poor braking technique.
Mind you, an efficient handbrake might be necessary on the early part of the climb in case of being baulked by a large or farm vehicle (happened to me twice in the first Morgan!).

Trad Morgans don't need discs at the rear for the road They probably only apply 25% of the braking effort.

And the dual circuit should still give front braking even if the rear fluid boils.

What I would like though is more initial bite from the front on my Roadster and if I can distract MrsW I'll be getting some upgraded hardware.........

Dave

I also thought that the standard front brakes of my +8 lacked bite, were prone to locking with higher pedal pressures, and took rather too long to bring the car to a halt for my piece of mind.

I upgraded to Peter Mulberry's 300mm vented discs and alloy Hi-Spec calipers. Although it took quite a while to get them fully free trapped air, once this was completed, the results were everything I had been hoping for and more. Much better bite, impressive retardation and plenty in reserve . It was a long long time before I got anywhere near close to locking them up. I run them on standard road grade pads, I don't see the point of using competition pads on the road.

That's my plan Andy but an element of stealth will be needed.

Poor rear discs on a Morgan?
I am surprised they haven’t simply copied what Caterham etc do.
Kitcars have rigorous brake tests during IVA so the means to get it right are there if MMC want it.

Panhard PL 17 took the three first places in 1961 Rally Monte Carlo with drum brakes front and rear.They crossed the Alps at high speed with no brake overheating problems.



Note that the finned drums are on the outside making up most of the wheels!

Harald