Friends,
I have another Triumph owner and Spitfire Racer I'd like to nominate for FoT
membership. Mark Eden (of Evergreen, Colorado) and I have been
corresponding about Spitfire racing lately, and I discovered he had not
heard of the Friends of Triumph. Will someone second the nomination, and
could we get him on the list whenever that is possible? I asked him to send
me some of his Triumph history so I could condense it as a form of
introduction. It was too interesting to condense, so I've pasted it in full
below.
Thanks!
Joe Guinan
Fremont, NE
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I purchased my first Triumph 25 years ago this month, as a matter of fact.
It was a 75 Spitfire. I was in the Army at the time and bought it from a
young lady, whom I was dating, in my English Lit. class at K-State (night
school). My second Triumph was a 76 TR6 purchased in Hawaii in 1983 after
finishing Flight School and posting at Schofield Barracks. My Spitfire was
several months in arriving owing to the Panamanians closing the canal to US
ships. My Spitfire literally had been "around the Horn" as it were.
Unfortunately, it met an untimely end when I was hit head on by a drunk
driver on the North Shore. I returned from Hawaii with the TR6, a
replacement 73 Spitfire, and a Hula Girl.
The last few years I have been interested in Spit6's and have built three of
them. Two, a 74 and a 77, I still have and drive daily. The third I sold
to a friend who just had to have it and still does. Additionally, I have
three GT6s, two 66 Mk 1s, and a 73 Mk III. I intend to build one of the Mk
1s into a race car this winter to campaign next season with RMVR.
In January of this year I was browsing Ebay for parts when I noticed an SCCA
full prep 64 Spitfire for sale for less than I paid for my last paint job!
I put it on my watch list and on the day it was to end the price was the
same as it had been two days before with no new bidders. As a lark I put in
a bid which I thought was reasonable but still somewhat low. I went to work
and forgot about it until checking email that night, I noticed an Ebay item
won notice. I thought I had lost my mind. I was now going to enter the
exciting world of racing which had never interested me before. I brought it
home and set about reworking several items on the car. Being an old
aircraft mechanic there were many things I thought needed cleaning up and
upgrading. I figured I just about had it ready for competition before the
start of Driving School.
As you might guess, I spent more of that weekend under the car than I spent
in it on the track. I don't think I once made it to the grid with more than
one minute to spare! None the less, I managed to make and complete each
session. WOW! What a freaking blast! The car was amazing! Like no
Spitfire I had ever driven! I immediately fell in love with the car and
have been bitten by the bug, hard.
Next year I plan to race the Spitfire in SCCA events and a GT6 in RMVR
events. The Vintage folks didn't appreciate the full prep SCCA mods and
accordingly will only allow the Spitfire for one year without major
backdating modifications. The car is very fast and was in the runoffs in
2004. I don't have the heart to change it so I will take it back to SCCA
next year while continuing to make improvements.
I currently own and drive the following Triumphs:
73 Stag
76 TR6
2 66 Mk 1 GT6's
73 Mk 3 GT6
62 Spitfire
64 Spitfire
73 Spitfire
74 Spit6
77 Spit6
79 Spitfire
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