The very striking bodywork for the TR250K was in fact designed by Pete Brock.
Kas was responsible for the mechanical end of things as well as spearheading
the whole project. I've had a chance to talk to both of these fellows about the
car and there is a lot of disappointment about how Triumph completely ignored
the project and its accomplishments. Pete Brock's best known car design was the
Cobra Daytona Coupes. He also designed bodywork for a number of early Can-Am
cars. One of my favorite designs was a little closed sports racer called the
Samurai. It was a very tidy mid-engined coupe with a high "basket handle" rear
wing. It ran at the first car race I ever went to, an SCCA Regional at
Riverside. It used the engine from a Hino Contessa which was (I believe) a
3-cyl 2-stroke. It was beautiful and it really screamed. Of course then in the
late '60's Pete ran BRE (Brock racing Enterprises) the West Coast Datsun racing
team that ran SCCA and the under 2.5L Trans-Am. How many of you had a 510 or a
240Z with BRE pieces? After the Datsun contract he started a company that made
hang gliders called UP. Nowadays he does writing and photography for a number
of magazines and he teaches at Art Center School of Design in Pasadena.
The TR250K had no influence on the TR7/8. Triumph completely ignored the TR250K
after it was done. A case of NIH (Not Invented Here). The "inspiration" for the
wedge design came from a Bertone show car called the Stratos. A truly bizarre
design where the top surface of the car is one continuous line. It is maybe 30
inches tall, the driver and passenger sit reclined nearly flat and the
windscreen extends almost to the drivers feet. If you do a web search you can
probably find a photo of it.
The TR250K is a really wonderful design. You can see how it could have easily
translated into a production car and really stood out. But of course, Triumph
didn't have the vision or the money and instead did a facelift of the TR5/TR250
into the TR6. Albeit, IMHO, that was probably one of the best sheetmetal
facelifts that has ever been done.
Cheers,
Kurt Oblinger
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