May 2006

Rain rain, go away.

Come again another day!

Members present

Andy & Jennie Holyoak

Tim & Kathryn Sharp

Sue Faulkner

Derek Bramford

Tim Jeffery - Porsche 944

Alan Fuller - Porsche 944

Paul Bowler

Ruth Richards - Stag

Mick & Linday Forey

John & Margaret Martin

Roger Guy - TR6

Reg Bowler

Barrie & Barbara Cooper - TR3A

John Edwards

Colin & Ann Skinner

Andy & Claire Moltu

Allan Westbury

Martin & Jenny Ward - TR6

Phil Gunn

Steve Lambley

Nigel Rees - TR6

David Guzzetta

Ben & Lisa Ward

Dick Goodey - TR4

Helen & John Kirk

For last month’s front cover debacle - oops! I’m sorry, Tim L

Meeting notes

May’s meeting was, as ever, well attended and, for once, the temperature seemed about right J

Some members went to Brooklands this year and said that, though damp, it was very highly recommended. It’s on next year - maybe we could make it one of our special weekends? In the sheds the displays were amazing. There were lots of TRs and other Triumphs - all parked under Concorde! There was a great air display. Visitors were allowed on the aircrafts to have a proper look round. The event was very well organised by the three TR Groups. One sad point is that it was considered unsafe to drive up “the hill” because of the fine moss and the slippery surface in the rain.

It was reported that there will be no more Triumph Days at Gaydon. There will be an alternative event, however, which will be called the “British Car Day”. The end of an era.

Wales

Unfortunately, no photographic evidence to support this - maybe next month? If you have any, please let me have your pics.)

Lots of the members went on the Welsh weekend. I have to say I got somewhat confused by the raucous laughter and many reports flying across the room at the same time but I did hear several mentions of sheep, wellies and Wales! I think I was to take it from those comments that a good time was had by all!

The members who donned those wellies were Terry & Sue, Reg & Irene, Sue & Paul Newby (our Liverpool-based LTRG members), Colin & Ann, Helen & John, and R&R. My notes have left me guessing her - it could even be T&R (Tony & Ruth). Will the mystery members please own up!

Sadly, Helen & John had a rather expensive trip. It was a long and complicated story - one which they said they might write up for TR Action J - but suffice to say £470 and a new UJ later, after 2½ hours sorting the car out, they followed the rest of the members to Wales. They said someone stopped to help them but they didn’t get his name - they’re hoping the article in TR Action will root him out so they can thank him properly. As they said, there are guardian angels out there on occasion.

Monthly raids

This month it was the turn of Trent. Martin Ward, Roger Guy and Paul Bowler represented LTRG and had a good evening.

Tour of Leicester

As agreed, all participants met up at Martin & Jenny Ward’s for a welcome Sunday morning coffee and croissant before setting off on the Tour of Leicester. Unfortunately, Dick, our weather monitor, was in Austria babysitting so there was no-one to keep the rain at bay. And, boy, did it make the most of Dick’s absence! It threw it down all day.

We all set off somewhere around 11 o’clock ready to face the elements and enjoy a whiz round the attractive countryside of South Leicestershire. Unfortunately, less than a mile up the road, John & Margaret’s TR5 stopped. In the rain. At the side of the dual carriageway. And nothing would get it going. (See the pic on the front cover.)

As ever, the LTRGers all waited with the sick car ready to offer support, help and spare parts, but to no avail - it was a job for the RAC. John kindly asked us all to get going at that point and leave him with the car - not something we did lightly as support for each other is our watchword.

By that point, there wasn’t enough time to go for the planned pre-lunch tour so we set off to the Nevill Arms at Medbourne for lunch - with just a few extra miles added on for interest. We were met with a roaring log fire, complete with extra large Great Dane, and very friendly service.

Our pre-ordered food was there in a trice and we all had a great time warming up and getting dry. The food was great - somewhere definitely to remember for future trips.

After lunch, some folks left for home and the dry but the hardy ones amongst us carried on to Owston and their Open Gardens. It has to be said that Open Gardens in the rain is an acquired taste and we all gave up after only a couple (rather nice ones). Fortunately, there were some really delicious cakes for sale with a cuppa - well, we couldn’t let them all go to waste could we?!

Those of us who went on the Tour were:

Jennie & Andy Holyoak, Tony & Ruth Richards & Cathy, Reg & Irene Bowler, Martin & Jenny Ward, Colin & Ann Skinner, David & Dawn Guzzetta, John Edwards, Barrie & Barbara Cooper, Kathryn & Tim Sharp, and Phil Gunn. And, of course, John & Margaret Martin joined us for coffee and breakdowns!

LTRG has always been proud of its reputation for using its cars. The TRs driven on this Tour of Leicestershire certainly were testament to that. They were absolutely filthy!!!

B

Believe it or not, despite only being around 10 miles from home, John & Margaret didn’t get home til after 4 o’clock. And for those of you who’d like to know what the mystery problem was - the brand new rotor arm which John had fitted was faulty, something which John found out only after he’d replaced virtually everything else once the car was back home!

Suggested events (no dates yet)

1. Cooks of Wigston - no more news yet. Watch this space still.

2. Skittles - Reg said that Coventry didn’t have a formal meeting when he went over there so he didn’t get to ask them if they’d be interested in a match. We decided we probably had enough members of our own to have a Skittles evening so we’re going to book something later in the year. Alternatively, we thought we might put a challenge in TR Action. Watch this space.

Planned events

Full calendar at the back. Some of the bigger/more complex events are listed here with more detail.

Derby Dales - Friday 16^th to Sunday 18^th June. The hotel is now full but I would imagine there is space on the camping field if you’d like to join us. Please let Tony & Ruth know if you’re interested.

Lakes - Friday 8^th to Sunday 10^th September. CHANGE OF ARRANGEMENTS - unfortunately, Jennie & Andy are NOT now going on this weekend because of family commitments. So would one of you who’d said you’d like to go please take over the organisation. Nothing has been booked so far. If you’re interested in going on this weekend, please email Jennie & Andy who will then pass your details on to whoever agrees to take over the organisation.

Goodwood Revival Weekend - 1^st - 3^rd September. Graham Ransome organising. Please email him if you want accommodation, Tim Sharpe also has some details on this weekend.

European Meeting in Holland -13^th - 18^th September.

Rachael’s next theatrical production - 19^th - 22^nd October, Rachael appearing in Joseph & His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

While I was tidying up!...

Part four

Just gone to scan in my little find but, guess what, our scanner is out of order so I’ll let you have this in next month’s TRipe. Technology! Andy

How Far in a TR …

Martin W has managed to source 5 litres of Classic Sport oil and a filter as the prize for this prestigious competition. Get those TRs out on the roads everyone J …..

Martin has also said that he will allow “other Triumphs” too now - but they will have their own separate competition. Not sure what their prize will be though - maybe 100 lines saying “I must use my TR more”?!

Sunday morning runs

John Martin said that he has often joined up with another car club and gone on Sunday morning runs where they meet up for breakfast and then have a run round. Be warned, though, if you’re interested in joining John - breakfast is usually at 7 o’clock! Speak to John.

Club teeshirts

Paul Bowler has managed to source some very good quality teeshirts for the club. They are black and will be embroidered with the club logo. The polo shirts are £12.28 + VAT, and the round-neck teeshirts are £9.38 + VAT. He is going to look into providing ladies’ shaped teeshirts and get back to us with availability and prices. Please will you decide if you might like one/more of these teeshirts so Paul can get the order placed fairly soon.

Christmas Dinner

Yes, I know we’ve finally got a bit of summer here now and winter is the last thing on your minds but we do need to look to the future if we want to book what we want/when we want it.

It was decided to have the TR Christmas Dinner at the Kibworth WMC again, but that it would be the weekend later than normal to accommodate Derek & Dani Bramford, who are regular members at meetings but non-attendees at the Christmas Party because they always go away on our “normal” weekend to celebrate Dani’s birthday.

It’s to be in January but I don’t recall a specific date being mentioned but I think it’s probably the third weekend - we will confirm this at the June meeting.

Invitation to BBQ

Colin & Ann Skinner have invited us all around to their house for a 2-course BBQ. They will provide all the food - we just need to pay £6 per head. They live in Badby in Northamptonshire so it will be a great run out on the way.

They have offered either Sunday 6^th or Sunday 13^th August. Please let Martin W know at the June meeting if you’d like to go along, and which date you prefer.

Possible MIRA trip

Phil Gunn is looking into this for some time in July. Watch this space.

Restoration Corner

Derek Bramford has sent us a report on what’s been going on with Jacob - his blue TR6.

“Nothing major done to Jacob, just little jobs to improve reliability.

Changed all the water hoses and clips, replaced water pump, new plugs and leads,

new coil, replaced a broken ignition switch, fitted K&N air filters to carbs instead of standard TR4 type twin filter assembly. 

These new filters seems to have make a noticeable difference to performance, however now Jacob is running with a slightly weak mixture.

I have never set up carbs before so I would welcome any advice / help to correct this.  Can you recommend a garage that can set up / tune TR6s?

Ever since I had the car, it pulls to the left and so last year I went to a tyre place in Loughborough to have it checked but they could not find anything wrong.  So I put up with it, but I decided to have another go last month.  So I went to M1 4 Wheel Alignment Ltd in Huchnall where they have a machine from the USA that can check for toe, camber and caster.  This is really accurate and shows errors to 0.01 of a degree on a print-out which is provided.  The main problem was only the front wheel toe was not set correctly, but it is nice to know that all 4 wheels are more or less in tolerance.

The car drives a lot better now.

Next job expected to be to fit an electric cooling fan ready for trip to Holland.

Will not be at next meeting (June) because the whole family are off to Florida for a short holiday.

Happy TRing, see you soon.

If anyone else has a report on their car they’d like us to include, please let us have it by email. We’re aware, of course, that most of the work is done over the winter which is why we’ve not included the official Restoration Corner for the past couple of months.

15^th June	LTRG meeting
29^th June	RAID - Coventry
4^th July	RAID-Staffs & Warks
7^th - 9^th July	Le Mans Classic Goodwood Festival of Speed
11^th July	Ashby Folville
20^th July	LTRG meeting
21^st - 23^rd July	International in Malvern
2^nd August	RAID - Camb Followers, Barnack
8^th August	Ashby Folville
17^th August	LTRG meeting
23^rd August	RAID - Cotswolds Vale
1^st - 3^rd Sept	Goodwood Revival
8^th - 10^th Sept	Lakes Weekend
13^th - 19^th Sept	European Trip to Holland
21^st Sept	LTRG meeting

15^th LAON HISTORIQUE – 2, 3&4 June 2006

For those of you who can remember back one year, (as opposed to those who can remember 30 years ago but not what happened yesterday, like me), you may recall that the first foreign trip that Kathryn and I did in OFV 147M was to the Laon Historique rally in North East France. I will not go into the detail again, all was covered in TRipe at the time.

This year we went a day earlier and, with no detailed knowledge or personal connection, went to the Great War British Memorial at Thiepval on the Somme. And what a moving place that is. I have attached a picture of the Memorial.

On it you will see that the lower sections are 16 pillars of white stone, all 4 sides of each pillar being covered in names of those who died on the Somme from the British forces. In total over 72,000 names. In the cemetery behind are rows of graves of unknown soldiers. Nearby, and set low into the hill to not be obtrusive, is a visitor centre which has a timeline of what happened at Thiepval and an overview of the Great War itself. Absolutely stunning and highly recommended.

On then to Laon. We did our own 75 mile tour south of the town on Friday, and, thanks to Kathryn’s navigation we found some wonderful roads, great sweeping curves and straight stretches with not a car in sight. Great roads for the TR and to check out the re-fettled suspension and new tyres.

On the Saturday we took part in two organised tours of the area, with a lunchtime break where a Buccali turned up.

This is a one off car, made in the 1980s in Holland by Bart de Vries. An awesome machine, 5.6litre straight 8 engine specifically built for the car with huge tyres made as one offs by Michelin.

Of the 500 + cars; a few other TR6s were on the rally, I spotted two from France and one from Belgium, a TR5, and a couple of TR3s. Quite a few Stags were also in evidence.

Sunday was the closed road parade of the town with Monday being the drive back, via the Wine Society to collect 3 cases of sensibly priced wine, and home. The rebuilt engine performed well and averaged over 28mpg with no light right foot.

Kathryn & Tim