NEWS FLASH!!!!!
Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA
TRIUMPH TR4 WINS CLASS AT ANNUAL WALTER MITTY CHALLENGE
With over 60 cars on the starting grid for the Group 3 Feature
race last weekend the Triumph TR contingent made a strong
showing.
George Wright in his quick, yellow TR4 won class 2H, beating out
a well prepared and MGB. Wright's car, was showing just a
"touch" of red Georgia clay due to a little off road excursion
trying to find the right line in the new section of the track
during practice on Friday. Right behind was Allan Pinnel in his
red TR4 which had been hauled to the shop after qualifying on
Saturday to have the engine rebuilt. The rebuilt engine and
Allan's experience driving Road Atlanta kept him just ahead of
Jeff Snook's white TR3 the whole race. Snook's car having been
lovingly rebuilt last winter by Glen Efinger won the "Judges
Choice" trophy at the Mitty's Race Car Concours held before the
Feature Race.
A few cars back was Barry Rosenfield's (an Atlanta area English
car shop owner) TR4 driven by his business partner Alan Taylor.
The street car TR contingent was led by Mike Blair in his red TR3
followed closely by Richard Taylor in his red TR4. Last year
Richard ran with the top up because it was raining, but this year
the sun Gods prevailed and his top stayed under the tonneau!
Phil Bradburry's pretty green TR3 was side lined during the race
with a broken timing chain discovered during his lunch time cook
out on Saturday. (This is the first timing chain ever heard of
that got broken in the paddock!)
The 1957 Devin TR3 co-owned by Jeff Snook and Mike Jackson had
it's maiden race at The Mitty. Snook got some seat time during
the test day on Thursday, and Jackson entered it in the race.
Due to a previous commitment, Jackson left Sunday before the
Group 3 race (but right after he won FV class race), and we can
only guess how it would have finished. With "Fast Mike" behind
the wheel, lap times gridded him right up there with the quickest
TRs. The Devin headed to Florida with Glen Efinger after the
weekend for some further improvements, but will return to the
track in June for the SVRA Mid Ohio vintage race.
The Mitty was it's usual "Mega Event" with over 370 cars. The
paddock area was so full by Thursday morning that rigs were
forced to park (and get stuck) literally "out in the boonies!"
Those showing up the usual afternoon before the race were out of
luck and were soon begging "friends" for just a little space to
park their race car. At least the weather cooperated with the
sun shining and temperatures soring into the 80's during Sunday's
races.
That's all for now from your humble roving FOT reporter Jeff
(Vroom, vroom) Snook.
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