Sue Darbyshire, in her Morgan Super Aero, passes Alexander Hewitson in his Riley 12/4 TT Sprite Rep during the MRL Pre-War Sports Cars 'BRDC 500' Race
In 1927, the Super Aero was introduced with streamlined bodywork with a rounded beetle back. In 1931 a three speed transmission & reverse gearbox with single chain drive was introduced and a new model, a development of the Super Aero, the Aero Supersports was introduced. The Morgan three wheelers started to face difficult competition from cars of similar yet more practical specification such as the Austin Seven and produced their first four wheeled car, the Morgan 4/4 in 1936 which signaled the end of the three-wheeler. The Riley Sprite is a two-seater open sports car model produced by Riley Motors from 1935 to 1938. It followed on from the company's Imp and MPH sports cars. The Sprite was mostly built with 4 cylinder engines, although alternatively a 6 cylinder engine was available. The chassis was based on that of the preceding 'MPH' model. Its racing success (especially in the form of the Riley Sprite model) led to the adoption of 'Sprite' as a designation for the top-end sportier model in the Riley Kestrel saloon car range of the time.
Size: 2926px × 2331px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 12/4, 1200cc, 1496cc, 500, 1929, 1937, 2022, aero, alexander, armco, blue, bonnet, brdc, british, car, cars, chassis, classic, club, cockpit, darbyshire, driver, drivers, gravel, grill, headlights, helmet, hewitson, historic, morgan, motorsport, mrl, northamptonshire, overtakes, passes, pre-war, race, racing, radiator, rep, riley, silverstone, sports, sprite, stand, sue, sunshine, super, towcester, track, trap, trees, tt, tyres, wheels
