Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Mosport, it was my pleasure to
share my favorite event of the year. It was pretty amazing on so many
levels, the track, the Canadian hospitality, having all our friends
together again to race for the Cup.
Our neighbors to the north always put on a great event, and this year
was no different. Being the featured marque, we had no less than 10
sessions available to us, but I was only able to do 9. By the time that
last race of the weekend came around, I was spent. The car seemed ready
and able, my mind was all in, but it was my body that that convinced me
I was done! I was literally sore from tossing the car around all those
laps at speed!
I wish I could have been more effective setting the schedule a little
better, I did push back but we got what we got. One of the problems when
we get so much track time having cars that run in 4 different groups is
getting that track time spread out enough to be comfortable.
I feel our racers who were seeing the track for the first time at speed
did a wonderful job. Congrats to all first timers for surviving turns 1,
2 and 8, plus figuring out how to get around 5B. It takes a very special
person to be able to grow that third testicle on their first visit to
Mosport, it took me years to be able to go all out in 1 and 2. I know
there is still more speed for me in turn 8, but that risk to reward
buzzer in my head goes off every time I try to find it!
A heartfelt thanks to Keith Files who came over from the UK to be our
Grand Marshal, job well done Keith. It was a privilege to meet the
lovely Louisa as well!
Kudos to Kallie Sukey, what a great job she did with only a handful of
races under her belt. The former Bill Rampe Spit was looking great out
there, I have no doubt Kallie will be mixing it up with the best of us
soon!
The Darrow brothers came with that incredibly fast pair of matching
Spits and put on quite a show. They Triumphed over adversity all
weekend, great fun to watch.
Then there was Fireball Bob Kramer. Surviving the epic tow from Texas,
he came trying to break the jinx of Mosport. He was unsuccessful, I am
afraid. He just earned another nickname, Oily Bob! Sorry Bob, hopefully
your next event goes better!
Then we have the luckiest person at the track, our most recent Kastner
Cup winner Dave Gott. In one of the group races, we are circling the
track under double yellow for an unrelated incident when I come around
and see Dave's TR4 beached in a very peculiar place. I think nobody
would pull off there if they had a choice. Next time around, the flatbed
was there pulling the car backwards and I could see the left front wheel
flopping down, it looked like he broke a ball joint! I shuddered
thinking how the heck did that happen under yellow in the ONLY slow
corner on the whole track when only moments before I know he was running
right hand corners at full chat where that failure would be
catastrophic. I suggested he buy a lottery ticket... Of course I have no
clue if Canada even does the lottery thing! Turns out it was a snapped
upright, it broke just above the threads that screw into the trunnion.
Unfortunately, Dave was done for the weekend.
We had our share of mechanical issues on top of Dave's near calamity, I
saw at least 3 head gasket replacements, a diff failure, a gearbox
shredded some gears, and a blown out bespoke shock just to name a few.
Most persevered to get things fixed, some became spectators not by
choice but by necessity. A pretty typical showing for our group, as we
know attrition is part of the sport.
Thanks to all the non-racers who showed up, we had no less than 10 of
our Western Pennsylvania Triumph buds, plus our friends Irv Korey and
Jay Holecamp came from Illinois. Dave Amys and his wife drove their
beautiful TR6 all the way from Minnesota to be with us! Plus more I
can't think of at the moment, sorry about that folks!
I'll post a couple of race reports shortly, and call it a wrap on my
time as your race chair. I am thrilled that Jason and Brian are back on
the task for Grattan next year, it's on my calendar for the middle of
August, 2027!
Cheers
Henry Frye
#29 TR250
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