Good Run Bob!
I got invited to a Porsche event once, in my TR-3. Talk about
cross-cultural....
I wrote an article about the event for the local Brit Car newsletter. But
unlike your group, I was not invited back.
One thing I remember, was when I registered, the pretty blonde, with
perfect teeth, commented that "Well you certainly have won the oldest car
award" And followed with a big shiny smile.
It's great to beat them on their own turf.
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From: Bob Lang[SMTP:LANG@ISIS.MIT.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 1998 12:50 PM
To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: My Memorial Day Weekend
Hi,
Short version (this list is very quiet for some reason... could it be
related to it now being the driving season???)....
Our local Jag-You-Are club invited the local Triumph club to a "slalom".
Turns out that several memebers of the Jag club are also Triumph
owners... hmmmm. At any rate, they wanted to boost participation a bit,
thus the invite.
The weather was _perfect_. Blue skies, not a cloud in sight and temps
right around 80.
Now the Jag club uses a "standardized course" for their events. It was
basically exactly the same as the slalom that Jim Gambony set up for the
1997 VTR Autocross at Ft. Worth (except the total length was a little
smaller at the Jag event...). The reason for the standard course is that
they compile scores from all the local chapters at the end of the year
and all participants are rank ordered based on their performance at the
local events. Thus, they have national "champs" that have all run the same
course. I didn't ask about whether they count the road surface in the
equation...
Anyway, we got around 5 or 6 Triumphs there to "uphold the honor" of the
marque.
I wound up getting FTD, and the "hot shoe" guy was apparently not happy
that he got beat by a Triumph... my other Triumphini were "supportive" in
that while I was making my runs they were commenting within earshot of
"the shoe" that I would normally be much faster except that my "clutch
was slipping" and I "was running on only 5 cylinders" and that my vision
is "blurred due to an eye injury"... When I went to talk with the guy, he
was very terse...
FWIW, when they gave me the award, I commented that "at least the car was
made in Coventry", that was good for a "hear hear" from the participants.
I will say that the new XJ8 (or whatever it is called) really has some
serious power on tap. On one run, the driver was able to get up to 40
feet of tire spin on every straight section - apparently they had removed
the "traction control" fuse.... Lots of tire smoke! Oh, and they need new
tires on the back of that sucker.
But it was fun and one of the organisers indicated that we Triumphs will
be invited back.
Next time I'll hook up that other ignition wire... ;-)
rml
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