Hi. My name is Hugh and I have a Triumph problem.......
Anyway, I think that my relationship with Triumphs is somehow genetic. My
father ran his first SCCA race in a borrowed TR3 at Marlboro. He later when
on to racing Corvettes and Sports Racers. I have no explanation for his
fall from TR grace. Throughout my childhood, I remember that wherever we
lived, there was always a British car either in the garage or the driveway.
My dad commuted to work in a succession of Sunbeam Alpines, Tigers, and E
Type Jags. From about the age of 12, I was part of my Dad's pit crew, first
with a Turbocharged Corvair-based sports racer and then with a Chevy V8
powered Jaguar E Type sports racer (which he still races in vintage to this
day). Being the 70's, those where the heydays of the Bob Sharp Racing/Group
44 rivalries and when we were at the track, I used to hang around the Group
44 paddock just to watch them work on the cars.
When I became of driving age, I bought my first car. It was a 1970 Spitfire
Mk3. I immediately charged down the Local British Leyland dealer and bought
a copy of the Competition Preparation Manual. I then wrote the Comp Dept in
Brisbane, CA and got the list of competition parts that one could (at that
time) order from the parts counter at your local BL dealer. In true
teenager fashion, I then modified the car with all the go-fast stuff,
neglecting to install any of the make-it-last stuff. In three years, I went
through 4 engines and one transmission. The good that resulted from this
was that I learned about auto mechanics and Triumphs.
I met my first wife in a BL dealership. I was there to pick up a part for
the Spitfire. She was there to get an oil filter for her 1973 GT6 Mk3. She
mentioned that the wheel bearings on her GT6 needed replacing and I offered
to help her. The rest is, as they say, history. During the early years of
our marriage, we autocrossed the GT6 in the San Francisco region. I won the
regional championship in D Stock (in the GT6) in 1980. When our marriage
ended in 1995, she retained the GT6. It pains me to say that, while she
still owns it, she has allowed it to fall into disrepair and refuses to fix
it or sell it to someone who would fix it.
Round about 1985, I bought a 1973 TR6. It was one of those "I've always
wanted one, dammit I'm going to buy one" things. I went through it and did
a complete mechanical restoration, upgrading things where I saw fit. When I
was done, it had triple webers, 10:1 CR, an S2 cam, stiffer suspension
w/front and rear antifoll bars. I drove that TR6 to from Livermore to
Sunnyvale (35 miles each way) to work each day for five years. After that,
I "retired" the car from active duty and only drove it on weekends. I
retained the TR6 during my divorce in 1995.
Which sort of brings us to the present day. I have since remarried, to a
wonderful gal who tries to understand my "car thing" (her words). About a
ago, I decided that I would like to go vintage racing. During the mid-80's
I had road raced motorcycles (Honda CB750-F SS and Kawasaki GpZ750) and for
the past three years, I have (once again) been crewing for my father's
vintage racing effort. Neither of those efforts has sufficiently "scratched
the itch". The prime candidate for my endeavor was my TR6. I then set about
disassembling it and the reassembling it as a vintage racer. By my
estimation, I am about 9 months away from getting it on the track (less if I
have fewer wife/work distraction). While I am building the 6, I am still
crewing for my Dad. As I say to my friends, "You have it easy. You worry
about your father falling off a ladder. I worry about my father in his race
car". I will be at Barber Racetrack in Birmingham, AL on July 25-27 for the
VDCA race. If you are there, come by and say "Hi" (#81 Black Jaguar XKE
sports racer). Thank you for allowing me to come into your clubhouse.
As for the non-TR stuff:
Name: Hugh Barber
Age: 45
Married
3 kids (son (24), son (21), daughter (4)
Hometown: Hollister, CA (about 60 mi south of San Jose - 30 minutes from Lag
una Seca)
Work: Lockheed Martin, designing satellite test simulation systems
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