Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum Hi from Berkshire

I posted a picture of just such a beast a few years ago which if I remember correctly was one of John Shealley’s race cars over in the States.
It looked pretty special. https://www.classyvice.com/morgan-cosworth-bda-for-sale/https: Not the only one around it seems.

Yes , the first BDA-engined 4/4 was built by MMC for Andy Duncan , the company's legal counsel. It replaced his Lotus Twin Cam engined 4/4 that was also built by MMC. The later was passed to his brother , Mike Duncan, the then Midlands agent. Both brothers competed on the hills and at sprints.

The second BDA was a "home built" special. It was done by Chas Smith , the then secretary of the Morgan 4/4 club (predecessor of the MSCC ) and still the Vice President of the latter. He has been competing with his Ford 1500 cc Series IV car on the hills , and wanted a bit more oomph. He built it up using a lot of David Rutherford parts (one piece f/glass body , lighter gauge chassis etc ) It was quite a fiercesome beast but Chas never really had the resources to develop it fully , and it got sold to John Shealley , who did spend an awful lot on it over in the USA, including a Cosworth BDD engine. It became quite a formidable car in the events that John entered.

I think various others tried similar conversions, with mixed success. Mainly in the UK because there was no real opportunity for one to compete without going into the "Specials" category, so it was of limited appeal as a BDA did not make a good road car engine.

More recently Billy Bellinger (of JB Engineering) has developed a Cosworth engined 1500cc 4/4 for HSCC and similar historic racing. His reasoning is that the Ford Cosworth engine , even with all the dry sump engineering is so much lighter than a race prepared TR engine in the +4 , that it should be a competitive car with the Historic +4s. I think it is down on power from a 2 litre +4 , but the lighter weight and nimble handling will make it pretty quick IMHO.

Yes , the first BDA-engined 4/4 was built by MMC for Andy Duncan , the company's legal counsel. It replaced his Lotus Twin Cam engined 4/4 that was also built by MMC. The later was passed to his brother , Mike Duncan, the then Midlands agent. Both brothers competed on the hills and at sprints.

The second BDA was a "home built" special. It was done by Chas Smith , the then secretary of the Morgan 4/4 club (predecessor of the MSCC ) and still the Vice President of the latter. He has been competing with his Ford 1500 cc Series IV car on the hills , and wanted a bit more oomph. He built it up using a lot of David Rutherford parts (one piece f/glass body , lighter gauge chassis etc ) It was quite a fiercesome beast but Chas never really had the resources to develop it fully , and it got sold to John Shealley , who did spend an awful lot on it over in the USA, including a Cosworth BDD engine. It became quite a formidable car in the events that John entered.

I think various others tried similar conversions, with mixed success. Mainly in the UK because there was no real opportunity for one to compete without going into the "Specials" category, so it was of limited appeal as a BDA did not make a good road car engine.

More recently Billy Bellinger (of JB Engineering) has developed a Cosworth engined 1500cc 4/4 for HSCC and similar historic racing. His reasoning is that the Ford Cosworth engine , even with all the dry sump engineering is so much lighter than a race prepared TR engine in the +4 , that it should be a competitive car with the Historic +4s. I think it is down on power from a 2 litre +4 , but the lighter weight and nimble handling will make it pretty quick IMHO.