At 9:46 AM +0000 1/26/99, Chris Lillja wrote:
>Did anyone notice the three INCREDIBLE Triumphs in Hemmings "Racing and High
>Performance" section this month?
>#2 John Buffum's(?) TR7 V8 rally car. A wild ride from what I hear... Once
>again, real history, certified... (Not sure of Price...) Between this one and
>the TR8 at TSI you could own the entire original R&T TR8 test! I just wanna
>hear it!
Allow me to inject a bit of Triumph competition history. At the same time
JB upgraded his TR7 to V8 power (yes, it started out as a 4-cylinder)
Jean-Paul Perruse was doing the same to his sister car in Canada. When
J-R-T stopped its support and Buffum started driving a Certain German Car
(with similar effect), the cars vanished. Sort of. Perruse's car is now in
the hands of John Shirley, in Knoxville, TN. I have had the distinct
pleasure of co-driving for John on several occasions in PA. There is no
good way of describing what the car is like, besides ferocious. The
steering wheel is useless; you steer the car with the accelerator and
correct the attitude with the wheel. It is noisy, no, make that LOUD.
Now then, regarding Buffum's car. He *may* have had several. One for sure
was utterly destroyed in Michigan at POR in 1980. I was there and helped
him from the car after the crash. Salty said they would hang it from a tree
and cut off any salvageable parts. At Sno-Drift at few weeks later, JB had
a TR7 V8 that had just run the RAC before being shipped over.
Somewhere I have photos from this era.
--Phil
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