October
2006
Moll
(aka gangster’s) arriving - ooops!!!
October
2006
Moll
(aka gangster’s) arriving - ooops!!!
Members present
Kathryn
Morris & Tim Sharp, TR6
Martin
& Sue Faulkner, TR6
Phil
Gunn, Triumph 2000 Estate
John
& Chris Day
John
Edwards
Colin
& Ann Skinner
Terry
& Sue Pruce, TR6
Tim
Oliver, TR4A
Reg
& Irene Bowler
Alan
Fuller
John
Martin
Ben & Lisa Ward, TR6 (hood down!)
Phil
& Sue Bywater
Steve
Lambley, TR4Pi
Mark
Field
Tony
& Ruth, TR6
Paul
&
Meeting notes
There
was a Triumph Sports 6 raid to check out the venue. Apparently only five, yes five went -
The team of five
reported it had a big car park, had food, 2-3 room options. They did say though that the neighbours
complain when an American V8 club meets there so that was a concern. They said it wasn’t dead yet as a venue but
other options are needed.
John said he didn’t have the foggiest idea about the
venue because no-one invited him!
Slot
car challenge
TSSC have challenged LTRG
to a slot car race at the Station Hotel, Loughborough. Dates are required but probably towards the
end of November.
Skittles
match
Wasn’t something
mentioned about a skittles match? I
believe that when Reg went to a
Phil’s
TR7
Allied
Carpets now do TR7s!
Phil
also reported that he had “self-changing” oil.
Hmm, the members weren’t convinced!
Overdrive
seminar
TR
Enterprises are holding another one of their great seminars. This time it’s in March 2007 and is on
overdrives. So far, LTRG members going
are Martin F (who’s never missed a seminar yet - I can feel the Guinness Book
of Records coming on),
Diesel driven?
Fortunately
not (driven that is)! Tony and Ruth
realised in time that they’d used the black pump and not the green one at their
local garage to FILL the tank up. A
quick call to the RAC (or whoever) sorted them out. Don’t worry, Ruth, you’ve been outbid for the
knickers on this one ……….
Spray
power!
Has
anyone ever opened an aerosol can with a screwdriver? Yes. Of course. We’ve all
done it. However, I don’t think we shall
be doing it in the future after Tim Sharp’s recent unfortunate misadventure.
He
punctured his matt black aerosol can as he was standing over his TR. Oh dear.
The only part of Tim and the TR which was out of the line of fire was
Tim’s eyes - which were hidden behind his specs.
We
hear Kathryn was very helpful J !!!!
However,
Tim, you’re also safe according to
TR
Register AGM
19th November, Gaydon. Details are in TR Action.
This
should be a lively one if all those who say they are going actually turn up.
Black
shirts and fleeces - order of the day!
Christmas
dinner
The last Saturday in January (27th) at Kibworth
Working Men’s Club.
More
details of menu, etc nearer the time.
As I was tidying up …
Trick
gear changing according to “How to Drive a Motorcar” published in 1914:
As a general rule, it is
safe to say that the clutch should always be partially or wholly disengaged for
gear changing. As a matter of fact,
however, gear changing can be effected without
disengaging the clutch, although the writer would certainly be the last to
advocate a general adoption of such a manoeuvre. For the sake of example, however, one can,
whilst the car is accelerating well, suddenly close the throttle, which causes
a very momentary over-running of the engine by the car, and this considerably
reduces the pressure between the teeth of the wheels in the gearbox which are
transmitting the drive, and so enables the lever to move them out of engagement
without undue force. xxx The movement, if properly executed,
will on some cars really make a thoroughly good change.
However, this sort of
gear changing should not be attempted by the novice or even an ordinarily good
driver and experts would be better advised if they left it alone as it must
inevitably put more strain on the change-speed mechanism than when it is moved
with the clutch disengaged…….
If
you can get that lot, then you’re a better man than I.
Note
from Jennie - hope no-one died from lack of breath from that fourth
sentence. Count the commas - 7!! Good grief
TSSC
Open Day
9th
and 10th December. Lubenham.
On
9th, it’s 9am til 4pm. On the
10th, 10am til 3pm.
Refreshments available on both days.
All
welcome.
Social
Scene
We
need a volunteer please. It’s not too
onerous a task - one article bi-monthly - but it is an important one.
Articles
Four
attached - thanks J
|
|
Restoration corner |
|
Trish Draycott - TR6 We
last reported that she had collected her car from the garage but,
unfortunately, there was reaction on the horizontal panels and it had to go
back again. I believe now that she is
very happy with it. Perhaps
now it’s been done, she’ll remember how to get it out of second gear and use
it more often, especially through fords in Derbyshire! |
|
Martin Faulkner Continuing
with his green TR3. With any luck, by
the end of the winter, he might have it running. Mind
you, don’t hold your breath! Some other project could very well get in the
way J |
|
Tim Collins - TR3A He’s
done it again. He’s now acquired
another wreck which, although complete, still is a major restoration job. Tim
says he is tempted to put a straight six under the bonnet with all the mods
and whistles so, who knows, it could be the first six cylinder
TR3A within the club. Watch this
space. |
Everflex
black roof and sun roof now fitted.
New smart black seats, courtesy of ebay and a trip to The
car was already fitted with new sills and it won’t be long before it’s ready
for its MoT. TR6 Winter
work will include front suspension overhaul, new rear drive shafts and
general overhaul all round with continuing refinements. |
Le Mans Classic Trip
On the Wednesday
evening when the intrepid duo (alias Ann and Colin) left home there was a
tremendous storm in
As we were late
arriving the four musketeers !!!!! were
already in the bar playing spoof - most of the money seemed to be going to Bob
( must say something ).
The following
morning after a hearty breakfast we all set off to the port to check in and
board. The sea crossing to Boulogne and journey down to the hotel at Alencon was uneventful apart from Rog`s
sat nav throwing a wobbly around Rouen and trying to
send us back to Boulogne. The detour was untimely as we were all looking
forward to some lunch; however, as it turned out we struck lucky in finding by
chance a small restaurant that despite being late afternoon was prepared to
serve eight hungry travellers. The meal turned out to be excellent and quite
cheap.
On the evening we
arrived in
The hotel was
situated close to the town centre and was a natural mecca
for the jollity.There was a continual hooting of
horns, motorbike wheelies and backfires on the main street and general cheering
and waving. This continued unabated until the early hours of the morning,
needless to say the noise prevented much sleep.
On the Thursday we
were joined by the rest of the Leicester contingent who had disembarked from
On arrival the chalets
which were individually located were
allocated and we all dispersed to unpack prior to visiting the Chateau location
some 20 miles away. The chalets, which were interspersed within trees and
heath, were likened to large garden sheds with a small veranda on the front and
a covered carport to the side. The accommodation was basic
and in need of refurbishing but at least the cars were well catered for.
Finding the
Chateau became somewhat of a problem as after many abortive attempts it became
apparent that the directions sent to Chris Hale were incorrect.
Eventually we
arrived to be greeted with the sight of a typical small chateau set in acres of
parkland at the end of a long driveway, all bathed in sunlight.
Again the
unplanned excursion had eaten (no pun intended) into time allotted for lunch.
We were advised to visit the nearest town where one of the hostelry`s
was still open: we ended up with cheese, ham, olives and fresh bread washed
down with beer.
On Friday,
Saturday and Sunday the circuit was visited to both watch the racing and visit
the pit areas. Saturday was especially enjoyable as those that had booked were
able to do a couple of laps of the circuit. Ann was hesitant about being a
passenger but had
been assured that it was going to be a gentle drive around behind the pace
car - a gentle drive has taken on a
whole new meaning when hurtling around an unknown circuit amongst many other
cars whose drivers were also trying to
find the limit of their cars and their driving skills.
Saturday night was
hosted by the French TR register who organised a gala dinner in a restaurant
next to the chalet site – we knew there was a reason why we had opted for the
chalets!!..
Sunday night a
table was booked for dinner
in Arnage for the
Monday came all
too soon for some as they loaded up for the return journey. The intrepid duo
made their way towards the
Colin and Ann
Le Mans Classic - The
Non-Camping Version
Having visited the main
The classic however was a lower key event. The competitors were there because they wanted to take part in classic motor racing. They wanted to be there, to drive and to race. Not all were deadly serious or had a win at all cost mentality but never the less they wanted to take part. Not like today’s parading corporate adverts.
The same could be said of the spectators who were there because of the cars rather than the corporate hospitality.
I picked up Chris Hale on the way to
For me the
We were staying in a chalet park a few
minutes from the circuit however it was across a railway line at the end of a
minor road. Finding it was a challenge – we had the name of the place but not
the address so Sat-Nav couldn’t help us. Eventually
we found it after a while meandering through housing and industrial estates.
When we arrived, the grounds were lovely; the chalets themselves were clean if
a tad basic. Roger, used to his luxury apartment in
Chris decided that we should check out the Chateau where some of the others were staying so we spent the afternoon driving around in the countryside working out the directions we had been given by the TR Register France had lost a few vital details in translation. So Chris, as overseas coordinator spent a fraught time trying to call those booked in at the Chateau with the revised directions.
Roger was miffed when he saw the chateau, having spurned the chance to stay there rather than the chalets!
The rest of the weekend was spent milling around the trackside looking at the classics. Being a relaxed event you could get up close to the exotica in the paddock not to mention the more humble race cars.
There were quite a few TRs participating although the majority of the TR interest was focussed on the Replica TRS (Some would substitute the term TR based kit car as it wasn’t a genuine TRS and had a TR3a engine rather than the Sabrina engine the TRS raced with at Le Mans) There were also some TR derivatives racing too such as the Peerless
Saturday was the highlight for many with the opportunity to get in a couple of laps of the full circuit. The drawback was the track was shared with 140 or so other cars, some of whom were oblivious of the presence of the other 139 assuming that they could pootle along at 30mph though the bends hogging the racing line. Some discovered their brakes were not the same after the first lap! I discovered that the 6 was a tad down on power (about 50bhp as subsequent trip to the rolling road was to reveal) and Dick & Dave in the 5 behind me pointed out the 6 was a mobile smoke screen, chucking out clouds of black smoke & fuel vapour – James Bond eat your heart out!.
Tony lacked a gas mask & departed past at the first opportunity.
That evening many of us attended a meal
hosted by the French TR Register sporting the new Leicester Group shirts making
our presence felt around
Sunday saw us back at the track, except for a blue 6 who’s driver maintained his reputation for going home a day early!
Sunday night we met up again for a meal at Arnage only to be stranded there when the taxi to take us
back didn’t turn up, presumably as a protest because
And for those of you who aren’t politically correct the car of the event:
