That's all pretty interesting. We did find that raising the rear spoiler at
Sebring made the difference between a goat and a horse. It made a huge
difference. Brakes, there were lots of them but not the best, but the best
of what was available at the time. The wheels, these were made for Jim Hall
and Pete found them and we fitted as received. Never modified but wish they
had disapeared into the clouds somewhere. Yes they failed at abut 110 mph.
Dittemore had a really wild ride in turn one. Amazing this car is still
sound enough to race. I've got some sincere hours after midnight in that
devil. Kas Kastner
----- Original Message -----
From: Mordy Dunst <gasket.works@gte.net>
To: fot <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 3:47 PM
Subject: : Seattle races
> The following is a brief summary from Mr. William Watkins....who was
> invited to drive the TR250 at the Seattle races recently.......
>
>
> > Hi Mordy:
> > You asked about Seattle. The TR250K was an interesting car. Apparently
the
> styling was the inspiration for the TR7. I saw a TR7 at Portland and could
> see some similarities. I understand that Brock received no compensation
for
> this.
> > The history of the car is that it was built using TR250 components for
the
> '68 Sebring race, driven by Bob Tullius and Jim Dittmore. It retired after
> an hour or two due to a wheel failure. The wheel had been modified for
some
> reason ( lightness, cooling, whatever) by cutting a triangular hole in
each
> spoke. Following that ( I'm a little hazy on this) I believe it was raced
> somewhere else before the project was abandoned by Standard Triumph. It
was
> in the Collier Museum for some time , then sold to someone in Studio City
or
> Encino who drove it on the street. Pat Hart bought it from him and did a
> beautiful restoration.
> > When I first sat in the car, the top of the swept back windshield was
> about 3" from my forehead, so I removed the seat cushions and sat on the
> floor. That corrected that problem but made it a little difficult to see
> the front corners. I was a little intimidated by the thought that I might
> damage the beautiful aluminum body even tho Tony Garmey, Pat's
> driver/mechanic, said to go for it ("Pat doesn't like slow drivers"). On
> the first couple of laps I found the steering to be much quicker than
> anything in my experiance except , maybe, a kart, but I adjusted to that.
My
> qualifying was not too swift and I was placed 23rd on the grid. On the
start
> of the first race, I passed a lot of cars but upon braking at the end of
the
> straight, which is pretty rough, the car became very unstable , ( scared
the
> shit out of me as a matter of fact ) , so I lost most of what I had
gained.
> After I settled down and braked more prudently, I passed a few cars and
> moved
> > up to 17th. at the end of the race.
> > We changed the brake bias to lessen the rear brakes and discussed the
> possibility of raising the rear spoiler which is cockpit adjustable.
> > In Sunday's practice I didn't notice a lot of improvment but managed to
> avoid instability by using the brakes judicially. So in the race, I had a
> good battle with a couple of Porsche 911's, got past both of them , and
> pulled out with a pretty good lead when I noticed water entering the
> cockpit. I pulled in and we found that the fan belt had come off due to a
> misalignment with the alternater. So that was pretty much it for me as a
> Triumph driver. Pat seemed pleased with my dice with the Porsches but
since
> his other drivers, Ron Butler in the Miles R2 MG and Barry Lietch ( who
came
> over from NZ ) in a McLaren Formula B, both won their races, I doubt that
he
> considers me as his star driver.
> > On Monday it was raining so I didn't go out for practice and decided not
> to risk it in the race either,so Tony Garmey took it out for the race. He
> was turning 7 seconds quicker than I was so that kind of establishes my
> performance level. He had raised the spoiler a notch and avoided the rough
> spots but he also talks of pointing the car in and just standing on it,
> putting the car in a drift. I'd like to try it again sometime, but my
> concern for damaging the car would probably limit my performance. I feel a
> lot better driving my own cars.
> > So, that will teach you to ask. I,ll sent you a picture when Mr Dunsmore
> gets them to me.
> > Regards, Bill
>
>
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