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VTR Recap

To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: VTR Recap
From: Henry Frye <thefryes@iconn.net>
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 23:28:00 -0400
Bob Danielson wrote:
>
snip
>Henry, being less
>adventuresome then Dan, and obviously much brighter, jumped on the brakes
>leaving Fred with two choices: enter Henry's trunk or dive right off the
>road onto the dirt and gravel. Henry stopped. Fred dove right and passed
>him!! My wife was holding her breath, watching an accident in progress. No
>damage, faster heart rates and off we went again. 

Ah, yes, Bob has a flair for the dramatic as well... What happened to my
good friend Fred has happened to all of us. Fred handled the situation
expertly and in a cloud of dust all was well again. Lucky that frame is
powder coated Fred!

>When we got back to the Holiday Inn, Phil and Henry were off to do the
>serious TSD Rally. Phil was playing navigator for Bud Rolofson and Henry was
>doing the same for Brad Kahler.

As Helen was not coming into town until that evening, Brad and I looked at
each other and decided to team up for the TSD. The only problem is which
car to drive! Since I didn't know the next opportunity I would have riding
100 miles in a beautiful Mk1 Spitfire, I suggested Brad drive. He
graciously agreed. 

We had a blast. Those 1147 cc's were really getting a workout on the
mountains of Maine, as we were in second gear a few times trying to keep
the speed up on the steep, long hills. All the cars were started a full
minute apart, and on the steepest stretch we had two TR6's behind us! I
thought the engine timing was a bit off so at a checkpoint I played
assistant to the honorary Woods Brother Brad, and we popped the bonnet and
advanced the spark two clicks. Right out of the checkpoint was a long,
steep hill. The Spit bogged down and was much worse than before! It seems
HWB Brad listened to me and ADVANCED the spark two clicks, when retarding
was needed. So we pulled a true Woods Brother style pit stop, and Brad
retarded three clicks. The bonnet latches were secured and as we buckled
back in I looked at my watch. We had just burned one minute of rally time!
Oh boy, that means we get to play catch up again!!! As navigator I
instructed Brad to go as fast as he felt comfortable, and that Spit flew!!!
Brad piloted his freshly restored car as if he had been driving it for
years, and both of us were grinning ear to ear. Our best leg we came in 30
seconds off the pace! 

We finished 4th overall in the novice class, not bad for a truly novice team!

Andy Mace wrote:

>Anyway, my special thanks to Brad as well as Jack Brooks, Henry Frye, 
>George Haynes and at least 7-8 others whose names I don't remember but 
>who were just as instrumental in getting me running without my hands even 
>getting dirty!

Andy, you are quite welcome. I am sure it was my amazing powers of
suggestion that directed your "kingdom" to fix the HBRS4 in time for it's
second run. I was running the fun rally with Helen so I missed the
modifieds running the Autocross!  ;-)  

Michael Marr wrote:

>It's nice to put faces to names, also.  I'm glad to see that so many other
>listers have a goodly amount of ballast amidships, as I do!!!

My hat's off to Bob Danielson for getting my best side!  ;-)  Great
pictures, Bob. Thanks for posting them. 

As everyone has already said, the New England Triumphs did an amazing job
at organizing an event that always had us busy doing something fun. I
expected to have a good time, but the 5 days exceeded my expectations
immensly. It was super seeing old friends and putting faces to many names
on the list. I was always running into people who I knew by name and
vice-versa. It was a really neat. Coming home with two trophies wasn't so
bad, either! 

The best part for me was the autocross. The autocross experience was a real
thrill. It is really what this hobby is all about. We spend all kinds of
energy and money to make our cars roadworthy and pretty. I spend most of
mine on the former...  ;-)

But Triumphs were meant to be driven, and driven hard. Many people came up
to me after my runs and complimented me on driving the car as it was
intended to be driven. My last run was pretty much all out. I was heavy on
the pedal in the  hairpin and really smoked things up a bit. It was a
blast. I highly recommend the experience...  ;-)   Go for it, guys and
gals, you'll thank me!   
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Henry Frye - thefryes@iconn.net - Connecticut, USA
 Stag MkI       Getting Sorted Out
 TR3B           Driver          
 TR250 X 3      The BIG Project - Will Be Worth the Wait
 Homepage       http://members.iconn.net/thefryes/

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