Hello Everyone:
As someone who has chaired (along with husband Steve), a Tigers United event, I
would like to answer some of the comments that have been offered. These are all
valid and in an ideal world and the perfect venue with a lot of time available
and unlimited budget they could probably happen. But, this is not the case. My
answers are offered only as an explanation and are not meant to be critical.
Furthermore, those of us that work year after year at putting together these
events could use some new suggestions and volunteers. I apologize in advance if
this information is redundant to any of the members of the list.
The West Coast Tigers United has been mostly alternating between STOA and CAT
for many years. By tradition, the center piece of the event is the awarding of
the Lord Rootes trophy to a Tiger. The scores to award this trophy are from 5
events that must be held: Concours, Rallye, Quiz, Most Popular Vote and
Autocross. This all must take place within a 2-3 day period and includes
registration, banquets, lunches, parts swap, set up, tabulation of scores, etc.,
etc., etc., There is an incredible amount of detail that goes into it and could
not be done without the volunteer help of many members who do this in addition
to living their normal lives. Also, the event must pay for itself and in order
to make it feasible for members to attend we try to keep the costs reasonable,
therefore the budget is tight.
1. I have forgotten what the altitude is at Mammoth, but not too many people had
problems in 1990. Big Bear was ok and it certainly was not as bad as SUNI I at
Snowmass in 1989. Just a little jetting adjustment if necessary....and for the
couple of owners that have gone to fuel injection, so much the better.
2. Concours. I have not seen the Shelby Club or SAAC judging and therefore
cannot comment on them. But we only have one half to two thirds of a day to put
it on. The event would just not be able to afford paying professional judges
and there are too many cars to spend that much time. It is incredibly difficult
to get people to "volunteer" to judge (Steve Alcala bribed people with a pizza
dinner at Big Bear), much less chair the concours. And chairing includes writing
the concours forms, tabulation, answering questions, etc., etc., etc. Also,
again by tradition, the concours has been open to all Tigers whether they are
Stock, Personalized or Modified. The concours judging and scoring is suppose to
take these differences into account so that the final tabulation for the Lord
Rootes trophy is as fair as possible. Maybe a good compromise would be to
publish the concours criteria 4 months in advance, but that is just a
suggestion.
3. STOA sponsored events usually are only Tiger oriented and TAC is required for
trophies. CAT sponsored events are a little more open and usually other Rootes
cars are welcome with separate class and trophies for them. They do not compete
with Tigers in Concours or Autocross and are not eligible for Lord Rootes. As
far as TAC requirement is concerned, that will be up to this year's chairman,
Bill Graff and CAT. I remember at Big Bear that although we did not require TAC
we did request that only original Tigers should compete for Tiger trophies.
4. I believe that TAC does offer classes on a limited basis and you should
probably contact Tom Hall if you are interested.
Tigers United has been a very traditional, wonderful event. It came about almost
30 years ago and took on this form with the help of Ian Garrad. It is generally
an informal opportunity for owners to have a perfect car weekend where it is all
you talk about with like-minded people. That is not to say that it isn't time to
look at making some changes and I believe that some fresh opinions and
VOLUNTEERISM would be appreciated. Sorry for yelling that word, but I think
everyone will get my point.
Regards,
Jane Sage
Tim Jordan wrote:
> Dave,
>
> Add to your wishlist:
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