Paul Richardson wrote:
Robson's official title was "competition secretary." As such, his duties were
general
administration - he was not even a member of the management staff, let alone
being a
Director. Bearing this in mind, the nearest Robson might have come to
'directing' at
Standard Triumph was possibly directing traffic in the car park. I've
undertaken dozens of
taped interviews with Experimental and Competition department staff (and works
drivers)
over recent years for their full stories. A common theme that runs through all
those
interviews is how gracious and self effacing (unlike Robson) all those people
are, and
how keen they are to highlight the achievements of their colleagues and point
me in the
right direction for information. Throughout those interviews the name 'Ray
Henderson,' who
was in charge of the preparation of those cars, is willingly volunteered as
'the man' who
undoubtedly did most to gel the team and its successes in the era in question.
This
accolade, I might add, comes from highly skilled experimental and competition
engineers
(like Ray) who each played vital parts themselves. It should also be noted that
throughout
all my
interviews, Robson's name was never mentioned once in connection with the
engineering or
development of any of those cars.
Thank you Paul, I thought the truth ran more or less along those lines. On that
basis and
as it relates to a certain event taking place later this year, perhaps the
promotional
material ought to be re-written? My current understanding is it's being
promoted as "two
very important figures in the Triumph history of automobiles" in which Mr.
Kastner and Mr.
Robson appear to have equal status? In terms of true achievement in competition
and other
related fields, I'd have thought that in the fame stakes it was a one horse
race in which
Mr. Robson wasn't even placed.
Competition Director? Pull the other rope and listen to the peal of bells.
Jonmac
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