Hello.
The event at Mid-Ohio was a resounding success. The turnout was a bit
different that we might have expected, but awesome nonetheless. The
Triumph feature race had over 50 cars take the green, and I recall from
the time sheets that about 45 took the checkers. So - it was awesome.
There were so many highlights, that it's hard to summarize. But a short
list of highlights would have to include Triumph over adversity, folks
chipping in to help fellow competitors and in some cases just plain bad
luck.
On the serious side, one of the British drivers in a TR5 (not injected,
but Weberized) that can only be described as "wicked fast" looped his car
during a Friday practice and crashed pretty hard into the wall after turn
14 - with the front of the car. The driver was uninjured and with several
well known Triumph "friends" pitching in was able to take the car to a
local frame shop and get everything in order to make the all Triumph
feature _and WIN_. WOW. There was a TR4 rollover in one of the Friday
practice sessions, but that car made the feature. And there was another
rollover during the all Triumph practice session on Friday (George Wright)
that was a bit more serious in nature as an axle broke in turn 8. Various
circumstances surrounding that episode led to an early departure by the
participant. There were no bodily injuries to the drivers, to the best of
my knowledge.
On the lighter side, the Brits were really fun to have around. The
preparation of their cars is amazing, and they were all really good
drivers. They like to have thier fun too, so there was lots of fun.
Stateside TR3 driver Mike Jackson was fast as usual - perhaps a bit too
fast for an unsuspecting skunk who happened onto the track during a
practice session. As the announcer related - the remains were left at turn
10. And 11 and 12. The corner workers rewarded Mike with an autographed
checkered flag and a salute to the car now named "Petunia" by holding
their noses as he drove by.
Kas Kastner seemed to be enjoying himself going around talking to all the
Triumph racers as well as signing autographs etc. ADU 4B made the scene in
the exact livery as the car was raced at Sebring in '65 - by Mr. Kastner.
TRF brought the #25 TRS LeMans prototype, a fitting reminder that this
weekend was shared by the 2002 edition of this famous race. A kool car,
indeed.
Crabtree was there taking panoramic pictures, one of all the racing
Triumphs assembled at the infamous "keyhole" and one of all the cars on
the show field for the participants choice on Sat. I'm sure these pictures
will be hot sellers.
Oh, the car show! I lost count of the Triumphs. There were at least 200 on
the show field on Sat., and that was a minor miracle owing to the
"delightful" weather, if wind-driven drizzle is you idea of delightful.
The temps. in the lower 50's didn't help much either, but it was an
impressive array of Triumphs large and small. I'll bet that there were at
least 65 TR6's and a similar number of TR3's/TR2's/TR3A's/TR3B's as the
TRA National was held nearby the week prior and many caravaned over to the
Mid Ohio Sports Car track for the Sat. show.
There was so much more too! This writer had difficulty calling the event
over and was seen pushing Triumphs bound back to Britain into the
"articulated lorrie"... the spinning TR5 was not the only British casualty
of the weekend. One chap was unable to get his TR6 to fire after the
feature, some sort of ignition problem, one Spitfire had a piston
dissapear from his 1296 motor and a TR3 had a connecting rod ventilate the
engine block. Several other folks including Dave Massey were also pushing
cars back onto the trailer.
And then it was over. Driving back out to the interstate for the 750 mile
drive home was sort of surreal... the sun was shining, the shadows growing
longer the smell of fresh-cut lawns. Ah the joys of driving a Triumph!
This event was "one for the books". I'm glad to have been part of it.
respectfully,
rml
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Lang Room N42-140Q | This space for rent
Consultant MIT unix-vms-help |
Voice:617-253-7438 FAX: 617-258-9535 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe triumphs
///
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
|