Nice write up.
Does all of this mean that you are coming to the MG/Triumph Challenge in
June?
BTW, my recently destroyed 'coast to coast' TR3A was driven to the track,
albeit only raced twice in one year.
This TR3A sported a hitch from the beginning of my ownership and was the
subject of a lot of comments. I have had this same hitch on a Triumph since
1970 ( a TR4A) and it will go on the replacement TR3A as I build the new
chassis, this winter.
I have two trailers that fit this car....one is for sand, gravel, firewood,
etc. The other is for on-highway travel with camping gear, spare parts,
and large cooler......
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Taylor [SMTP:n196x@mindspring.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 16, 1998 5:47 PM
> To: fot@autox.team.net
> Subject: Race Car Trailers
>
> The subject of race car trailers is seldom very high on the bench racer's
> agenda, but I have just fashioned one for my TR-4 vintage racer maybe
> worth
> a little discussion. Although it's a bit unorthodox, it rolled smoothly
> to
> the HSR race down in Savannah a couple of weeks ago. We cruised the 200+
> miles each way at a steady 72 mph (3000 rpm, 4th gear OD) with neither a
> wiggle nor a citation.
>
> My friend Bob Wagner designed and built a custom hitch on the car so that
> it could be removed pretty easily. However, at the level I competition I
> have to offer, the few pounds it weighs doesn't make enough difference to
> warrant the dismounting exercise; so I just raced, trailer hitch and all.
> Incidentally, there were four big Triumphs there and mine was the only one
> to finish the endurance race. Two of us finished the sprint race but of
> course I was pretty far behind. My best-posted time was a 1:34 and the
> leaders were turning low 1:20's. Maybe it was the trailer hitch after
> all.
>
> Loaded on my race car trailer was a fresh set of sticky Hoosier race tires
> plus my trusty '74 Triumph Triple motorcycle.
>
> For three hours of track time, the TR-4 performed flawlessly, but I spent
> all weekend tinkering with the bike. It kept fouling plugs. My purpose
> for
> taking it, obviously, was to have transportation back and forth to the
> motel after the car was set up to race. A true purist, on the other hand,
> might have raced with the windshield on as I did last year at Daytona.
> But, for this blatant disregard for protocol, I was publicly castigated in
> a Vintage magazine last month. I will be forever memorialized as
> representing something of the lunatic fringe of vintage racing.
> Parenthetically, I also raced last year at Savannah with street tires but
> this turned out to be an unpublicized yet thrilling experiment in
> un-safety.
>
> Let's be honest. The competition these days is not sports car racing. It
> is racecar racing. True, the cars are based on a chassis, which, at
> birth,
> was a real live sports car. But they are not that any more. However, trust
> me, I have no quarrels with this. Especially if you real racers continue
> to permit me to tag along and bring my small whiff of nostalgia with me.
> I
> have a great set of mirrors and a serious sense of respect for those of
> you
> boring through the Red Mist. I've been there, paid my dues and still
> remember how to keep a predictable line, but that is another story
> entirely.
>
> As with many of us, I have consciencely tried all my life to be a
> conformist; to center myself agreeably within the boundaries of the
> acceptable norm. And, like most of us, most of the time I'm reasonably
> successful. Now, however, using a quasi-race prepared sports car to tow
> an
> old motorcycle to a racing event might raise a measure of speculation.
> And
> perhaps it should. But, on the other hand, maybe we all ought to pause a
> moment and re-evaluate what sports car racing is really all about. But be
> forewarned, I may be at a stage of my life where I might actually be
> comfortable being the only person right and the rest of the world in left
> field.
>
> It could be easily argued that if a car is so modified that it must be
> drayed to the racetrack on a carrier, it is no longer a sports car but
> rather a racecar. It's kinda like NASCAR where the manufacturer's marque
> is no more germane to its origin than its color. Its association to its
> heritage is diluted to such an extent as to be irrelevant. What
> difference
> does it make whether it's a Triumph or an MG once it becomes transformed
> into a piggybacked racecar. To me, at least, the car has simply lost its
> relevance to its Marque. The difference between a winning MG or winning
> Miata race car is ultimately a function of the quantity of the godalmighty
> dollars pumped into it. As they say, "It's not cubic inches, it's cubic
> dollars." Given an unlimited budget, let's say 25 million dollars +, maybe
> even my old TR-4 could be built into the quintessential class
> whatever-it-is competition winner. Am I wrong? If I am, then let's raise
> the dollar threshold. Ultimately I'll be right. And so what's new?
>
> On the other hand, when I drive my el-cheapo, race-prepared bright red
> TR-4
> down Peachtree Street I sense that I am carrying something of a banner; a
> symbol that has something to do with that era in history when automobiles
> were a form of art, mechanical achievement, imagination, identification
> and
> personal satisfaction. Creature comforts, reliability and economy played
> second fiddle to exhilaration and fantasy. Station wagons, big
> convertibles and fourdoors were a bore and SUV's not even imagined. But
> still the Walter Mitty in each of us (then and now) simmered and surfaced
> with neither shame nor excuse.
>
> I'm sorry, group, but my arrested maturity never outgrew those beautiful,
> wonderful and harmless images.
>
> Now, back to the racetrack. Would I like to be the fleetest amoungst the
> fleet? Of course I would. But I'm burdened with this nagging image of
> what sports car racing really is. And, to me, that means driving to the
> race, racing, and then driving home in the same machine you take to the
> DQ.
> So where does that leave me? Two places. First, in the back of the race
> pack and second, in a pretty exclusive class of unknown (and largely
> unappreciated) enthusiasts. There would be a measure of comfort if I could
> hear a whisper of support from just one other brethren or kindred spirit.
> Where are you all?
>
> So this begs the big question: does this ideological burden leave me out
> of
> the fun? Not one whit! Moreover, by selectively re-evaluating the
> ambitions and motives of my fellow racers, I have found that I have WON
> nearly all of the races I have entered! Was it the Oracle of Delphi who
> stated, "To thine own self be true." I don't really remember, but
> somebody
> did and I happened to be listening. And by damn, there is not a
> competitor
> out there who drives home on Sunday evening with a warmer glow in the
> belly
> and piece of mind between the ears left by the adrenaline draindown than
> I.
> Period!
>
> Plus, I drive home in with the one I brought to the dance.
>
> But all this makes the whole issue of racetrailers far more interesting
> than one might imagine. Mine is a featherweight, $200, three-rail
> motorcycle trailer with the two outside rails removed. Add $20 worth of
> red spray paint and I guess that the whole thing weighs in at a little
> under 300 pounds. The TR-4 race tires are paired two on each side of the
> motorcycle and everything is bundled together with a bunch of tie down
> straps. And it tows effortlessly!
>
> So now you've got the picture. This grey bearded bespeckled 'ole guy
> cruising along in these pretty English toys of some bygone era feeling
> smug
> that he is obediently complying with some invisible "norms" of conformity.
> But let's not tell him that his world is but an illusion. And certainly
> don't mention that the rest of his motor-head friends still have blood in
> their eyes and a burning fire in their belly to be Numero Uno. No, let's
> just leave him be and pass him with a fair berth in the turns. He'll be
> all
> right. He's just having fun.
> Richard Taylor
> TR-4 #96
> Atlanta
>
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