All,
I'm sure there will be several emails recounting the weekend's activities at
Mosport, and here are my own. If you have had enough reading about Mosport,
stop now!
I flew into Toronto from Washington DC early Sat morning, and made it to
Mosprt in time for the qualifying events. Mosport has to be one of the most
challenging tracks I have seen. Nearly 2.5 miles in length, with 10 turns
and I would guess elevation changes exceeding 200 feet. The track winds its
way through dense forest, and unfortunately there is no spectator viewing
(that I could see) along the 2,500 foot uphill straight. I hung out mostly
at corner 5 (Moss Corner) which was a tricky 2nd-gear down then uphill
complex of 3 corners. After the occassional spat of rain, there were quite
a few spins.
I did meet up with several FOTers, including Jack and Tony Drews, and due to
my shyness, did not want to interrupt a very busy Irv Korey, Mark Wheatley
and Henry Frye. I understand that Bob Kramer was there, and my apologies
for not saying "hi". There were many Spits and a TR3 in attendance, but
alas I do not recall their drivers and teams.
Kas Kastner was on hand to chat, sign things, and present the trophies at
the end. The inaugeration of the "Kastner Cup" ("Kastner Kup"?) was based
on driver skill, car presentation and success, and was awarded to Jack
Drews, who had a fabulous weekend. Kas tells us that this will be an annual
event, with the Kup race to be held next year on the West Coast. Paul
Richardson was also on hand to talk about all things Triumphant.
Incidentally, Paul has about 20 complete sets of his glossy "Triumph"
magazine left. At $60 for the complete set, I picked one up. When they are
gone, they are gone!
As said, Jack, and Tony had a great weekend. The TR4s raced in the Historic
Production car class. In all the preliminary races, Jack and Mark Wheatly
diced for third place, and would exchange position several times during each
race (first and second would go to a Boss 302 Mustang and big-block 'Vette).
Tony would be hot on their heels, ready to swoop through should either
Jack or Mark make a mistake. It was great racing, and the cars looked and
sounded gorgeous.
The Triumph turnout was not as large as expected, and I was disappointed
that JK Jackson and his TR6 did not make it to the races (no TR6s at all,
but there was a TVR 2500M that ran about mid-pack). For the last race, MGs
and Triumpgs combined. For the feature race, Jack seemed to stall on pole,
and was the last to leave the grid. Tony held the lead for the entire race.
Jack worked his way from the rear to 4th place after the 17 minute event,
and just could not get around the TR8 of Gord Ballantine.
What a marvellous weekend. VARAC are to be commended for an very well-run
weekend (from the spectator POV), and it is simply a magical track. Many
thanks also to all the Triumph drivers who exhibited a tremendous sense of
camraderie and fun. Thanks!
Shane Ingate in Maryland
PS Kas suggests that his new book on performance tuning for Triumphs is
about 250 pages long with photographs, and is limited to a production run of
1000. He indicated that it may be ready in a month or so.
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