Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Dutch newspaper 28 Jan 2020

If it doesn’t have a crumple zone the energy has to go somewhere!

Just an observation and it might be an illusion but looking at the image in the orig link those stiff front chassis members look to have bent slightly upwards at the first bulkhead too.

It looks like the car hit the tree head on, exactly in the middle of the radiator. Given trees are immovable, the deceleration would have been instant and considerable... (maybe in a load path direction that the designers of the wheel attachments would probably not have thought... wheels and tyres together are quite heavy?)

Lotus designed the Elise/Exige chassis with a 'deformable' carbon ' crash structure that is good for up to head on at 30 mph before the chassis starts to also deform. The Evora chassis did not have this crash structure... instead the 'tub' was made in 3 'pieces' so in the event of a frontal impact, the front section could be unbolted from the 'centre' structure and replaced.

My son, who is working as an graduate engineer for JLR had a look at the P6 on a ramp recently and commented about the apparent lack of deformation pathways that he thought would mean that the chassis could be 'write off' in the event of a frontal collision. Interesting.

Does anyone on here know if Morgan are 'exempt' from the latest regulatory crash testing by dote of being a 'low volume' manufacturer? If so, that would explain a lot...

I really hope this does not open a 'can of worms' about the P6... as myself and others have said, this car needs some big respect (with no TC systems) and a healthy BHP/Tonne ratio. It certainly opened my eyes when I drove one on damp 5c Winter roads... even in manual mode, it was SO easy to break traction even in a straight line... and the car felt like it was quite minded to give the unwary a good old 'tank slapper'...

Crash test now completed ☑
Crash test dummy survived ☑

I wonder if he was a journalist. They seem to have a tremendous capacity to crash test drive cars.

Ferrari test drive crash.

I always took care to crash only the cheap ones.

There was an American chap named Bissoon-Dath (sounds like a woodwind instrument) who did a European tour in the 1980s. In a short space of time, he crashed three high-performance cars. There was a Porsche and a Ferrari. If memory serves, the third was a Lamborghini. He might have added an Aston Martin to this tally if I had not had a conversation with Victor Gauntlett.

The early news items, within 3 hours, report only that driver was taken to hospital. One said, as a precaution (which is standard procedure in NL, when accidents are at higher speed), an other news used the words rushed to hospital. The news link I shared was later in the day, and quoted the dealer saying driver ok. Leads me to conclude driver is ok.
In messaging like this, I try to rely on multiple sources.
Cheers,
Bert

Thank you for the clarification. It was not you to whom I addressed my remark: you had made no suggestion in your previous post concerning the driver's condition.I hope he suffers no long-term physical consequences.

No indication of how the driver was actually driving but that damage looks like a decent speed was achieved.
You take a car out for a test drive.
Who the #### floors it straight away without getting a feel for it? Start as if you have a glass of water on your lap to test the response, steering, brakes then work up from there. Apologies for the #### but it sums up my view.
Even then you are on a public road so driving as if you stole it is stupid. After a while you can check straight line acceleration on a good road by building up to it. Pushing hard into corners is a big mistake until you have learned a bit about the car.
Was the driver alone or did he have a salesman with him to advise him and hold him in check?
If you want to test a car to its limits you need a track.
I hope the driver comes out of this ok.
Undoubtedly press coverage will fuel the anti car lobby.
I have seen Plus 6's on Prescott Hill on demo drives and they look rapid. Driven by Morgan staff who have learned the car capabilities and no problems.
Maybe the hype about performance has attracted some over enthusiastic inexperienced drivers?
I would love a test drive in a Plus6, but it must be treated with utmost respect. Maybe the Plys4 version would suit many better?