Racing world mourns loss of Chris Lawrence (From Hereford Times)

Racing world mourns loss of Chris Lawrence

7:00am Friday 26th August 2011 in Features By Lauren Rogers

TRIBUTES have been paid to a gifted engineer and driver who once raced at Le Mans.

Chris Lawrence, who worked at the Malvern-based car maker Morgan Motors, passed away at home in Herefordshire this month, aged 78 Mr Lawrence lived in Burghill, and was the engineer, as well as one of two drivers when Morgan won its class in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1962.

Later, in the 1990s, he became an integral part of the team that produced the Aero series of cars, of which Morgan has subsequently built over 1,000.

Leading tributes to Mr Lawrence, Charles Morgan described him as a “formidable engineer” who came to the company in 1996 to work on the Aero range.

He said: “We started off with the race car, in BPR GT racing, and we ran it in 10 races in 1996. We learned a huge amount, so much of which went into the eventual Aero road car.

“We did some more racing in 1997, but we broke off to develop the road car.

“Chris was a formidable engineer, with a real instinct for the machines he worked on, and we will all miss him.”

Three years ago, Mr Lawrence published a book, Morgan Maverick, chronicling his life in the motor industry.

Next year is 50 years since the Morgan win at the Le Mans 24 Hour and Morgan enthusiasts planning to mark the anniversary are expected to celebrate Mr Lawrence's life and work at the same time.