Engineering students up their game for Morgan racers
The hard work of engineering students at a city university has produced two new racing cars with an historic name.
The students from Wolverhampton University put the finishing touches to two new Morgan racing cars, with the vehicles exclusively revealed at an event at Donington Park.
The Morgan Motor Company, Wolverhampton University’s School of Engineering and the University’s racing team (UWR) have continued their long-standing technical partnership with the creation of a motorsport-focused variant of the Morgan Plus Four.
The university recently signed a new five-year partnership agreement with the Morgan Motor Company, bringing with it a racing programme set to further improve the student experience.
The two cars, which have been designed to compete in a host of club-level sprint and endurance championships, such as the Morgan Challenge, will race in the remainder of the 2021 season and beyond.
Having completed the racing modifications to both cars, the UWR team will provide trackside and workshop engineering support to the cars and drivers, honing students’ vital skills and preparing them for a career in motorsport or automotive engineering.
The partnership collaboration provides practical experience of working with a car manufacturer, educational programmes, research and development, as well as providing trackside experience for the students by preparing, maintaining and developing competitive race cars.
As Morgan’s factory works team, University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) converted the two Morgan Plus Four models from road-going cars into fully prepared racing vehicles.
Jack Birch, third year Motorsport Engineering degree student, said: "We’ve already passed a fair bit of research and development information across to Morgan which will make the vehicles more efficient both for racing and on the road.
"This kind of partnership is great for the students.
"It gives them hands-on experience and it’s crucial that the students can use what they learn, both on and off the track, to go into industry when they start to pursue their careers.
"We are technically the factory race team and that’s quite unique and it's amazing that the opportunities we have on the development side can turn experience into jobs."
Professor David Proverbs, the dean of faculty of Science and Engineering at the university, said: "The partnership between the University of Wolverhampton’s racing team and the Morgan Motor Company provides an incredible opportunity for our students to work with such an iconic car manufacturer.
"Converting these two stunning cars for racing, and then supporting the cars and drivers at racing circuits around the country will give the UWR students unique experience of the motorsport industry, as well as helping their drivers to win races."
