Hello Sunbeamers:
It's my honor to send out the first announcement about next year's
Tigers United 2002. Bill Graf of CAT has taken on the "highly paid" task
of organizing the event. I'll be handling publicity, and Jane (Sage)
will again handle registration. I'll be contacting as many Rootes clubs
as I can over the next few weeks as more detailed information becomes
available.
In the meantime, Tigers United is definitely set for Mammoth Lakes,
California, on either the third or fourth weekend of June 2002. Bill is
getting final bids from a couple of hotels there, both of which are
anxious to host the event.
For those who attended Tigers United in Mammoth a number of years back,
as Jane and I did, it was an awesome location, a great hotel setting,
and just plain fun all around. Just as importantly, from almost wherever
you're coming from, there are some great winding mountain roads leading
to Mammoth that will be sure to give your Tigers, Alpines and other fine
Rootes vehicles a serious workout.
When United was last held at Mammoth, it was in the 55 mph speed limit
days. Jane and I drove up in our Tiger, leading a caravan of eight or
nine Tigers from the Los Angeles area. I thought I was pushing it at
65-70 mph but I got a few complaints about our lack of progress
(something like..."is there something wrong with your Tiger??") so I let
someone else take the caravan lead. Suffice to say, speeds quickly
escalated way beyond the realm of sanity. I'm sure my speedo was off,
and all of us passing cars at well over 105-110 mph on stretches of
highway 395 (just one lane going each way!) couldn't have been the case,
could it? I can still hear Jane's screams of "We're going to get
killed!!!" in my ears. That said, the Tiger handled better and was solid
as a rock at those speeds, and felt like it still had plenty of RPMs and
miles per hour to go even at those exalted velocities. That was more fun
than money could buy!
In my nicer current Tiger, and being a bit older (if not wiser), I would
of course never exceed posted legal limits. On the other hand, with my
hi-po 289 and 5 speed, I wonder just how fast it would actually
go.......Let's see, I cruise at 75 in 5th at about 2300 RPM, and my
redline's somewhere around 6,000 RPM.........Hmmmmmmmm!!!!!
Start making your plans now for a great event next summer.
Steve Sage
1967 MK1A
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