Clive Lones' Brooklands Aero Morgan
All the photos on this page are from Mr Jerry Larke, the present owner of the Clive Lones' Brooklands Aero Racer. From 1929 onwards this very car achieved 37 World and Class Records at Brooklands.
Clive Lones had been racing Morgan Three-wheelers since the early 20th using a Blackburne engined Aero (registration number NP 4200). While the Blackburne engine was very fast it lacked somewhat in reliability and commanded frequent and costly rebuilds. In 1928 Lones made the changeover to J.A.P. engines.
It was Lones who "invented" the cranked chassis: During a race in 1927 the cross head tie bars on his Aero broke. As a result both front chassis tubes bent and thus lowered the front of the car, which improved the handling.
Left:
A clear view on the heavily bent front chassis tubes. The engine is a JTOR/Y* from J.A.P. - the figure * indicates that it was one of Prestwich's 'breathed upon' units. Tuner of that engine was the famous race driver Ted 'Berry' Baragwanath.
Right:
Clive Lones at Brooklands in 1932. During that period the engine of the car was a 733 c.c. ETOW/R J.A.P. engine specially tuned by Bert Le Vack. Maximum achieved speed of that car/engine combination was over a 100 mph!
Left:
The interior showing the controls. On the steering wheel the levers for air and ignition and the throttle lever. You can also detect the two oil gauges for the lubrication system.
Right:
This picture is from an article, which appeared in "The Classic Motor Cycle" in October 1989. The driver is Jerry Larke.
Left:
Jerry Larke in "EKG 505".
The 996 c.c. JTOR/Y* J.A.P. engine works with a compression ratio of 10,5 : 1 and the power output is 51 bhp at 5.700 RPM.
Jerry Larke and John Coates in 1996
If you want some more information on this particular car you may also contact Mr Jerry Larke through his daughter Anna. The address is anna@argonaut.com
(see also Message No. 6 at the FORUM).
If you want more information on Clive Lones or Morgan Three-wheeler racing in general: The book "Morgan Sweeps the Board - The Three-wheeler Story" by Dr. J.D. Alderson and D.M. Rushton covers it all.
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