Bill
I think we have to be totally honest with ourselves about the vintage
amateur racing. There are certain events, just as there are in almost every
other
type of hobby, that are primarily targeted to people who have extra-ordinary
means. And in fact, the social element of being able to meet and socialize
with their "peers" is a consideration in which events these people.
It is not realistic to think that the social status of Triumph is going
to change. The market position of Triumph was that of a sports car for the
masses, not one for the social elite. Old Triumph advertising is very targeted
-
an affordable sports car that just might improve one's image to the opposite
sex. It was a much more affordable image creator than a BMW, Corvette, Ferrari,
Maserati or Porsche.
In the absence of factory support, there is really no major publicity
machine that promotes the racing history of these cars in Canada and the United
States. Frankly, what I have enjoyed most about the FOT has been the education
that I have received about Triumph racing history. And in all due respect to
Mike Cooks past efforts, there is simply alot of history that has never been
documented and personally fear will be lost with us.
In the interests of promoting more emphasis on the history of Triumphs, I
would like to propose that FOT establish three traveling trophy awards for
the upcoming FOT events. One for a T2 or TR3 that has a documented history of
racing since 1972 and that is most correctly prepared and restored to represent
the preparation of racecars as of 1972. The other two categories would be for
Spitfires & GT6s and TR4s & TR6s.
The cost of the traveling award trophy ( meaning it get passed along from
year to year) and paper certificates (presumably with a couple extra
honorable mentions for each class) is already covered without use of FOT
funds. The
proposed purpose of these awards is to recognize those individuals who are
preserving the historic racecars from the "golden era" rather than to focus on
track performance. As anyone who owns a historic old racecar will tell you,
they
are simply not very competitive when restored correctly - but they are still
alot of fun to drive.
If anyone else wants to step forward with trophies for specials and newer
cars that would be great.
Cary
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