fot
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Sebring 2000

To: Bob Lang <LANG@isis.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Sebring 2000
From: Jeff Snook <jsnook@wcnet.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:57:04 -0500
Hi Bob,

The green RHD TR3 was one of the "Anglo-American" cars brought over for the big
weekend.  It is owned and driven by Mike Reason of England.  They brought over
about 24 cars which were dispersed between the Vintage and Historic GT Groups.
Paul Richardson's chum Tommy "Fireball" Entwhistle was driving a neat V-8 
powered
TRV prototype that went like "hell" in a straight line, but was a bit slow in 
the
corners.  I presented "Fireball" with an old bamboo cane and a note from Paul
saying "Tommy, Just to Keep You Upright."  He had to be the oldest driver on the
track and I understand he is in his late 70s so it was good to see him out 
racing.

The English chaps were at a bit of a disadvantage as the track time was quite
limited this year due to the inclusion of the previous mentioned TransAm races. 
 We
in the Vintage group got basically one 20 to 25 minute session Wednesday, 
Thursday
and Friday followed by a 1 hour enduro on Sunday.  So for those who had not 
driven
the track before it was quite a challenge to master this 3.7 mile track in just 
a
few sessions.

Fellow FOTer Henry Morrison was there in his cool looking Healey 3000 Hardtop,
along with his traveling buddy Tony Martins with his Volvo P1800.  Both had a 
great
time, but again, were struggling to get a handle on the track.  They and their
families were off to Orlando for some R&R before heading home.

Fortunately I have been driving this track numerous times (including the HSR
weekend a couple weeks ago,) so I had no problem learning the track.  The only
problem I had was getting into a "race mode" as limited track time and lots of
other visual stimulation kept my race focus on the back burner.  I was able 
however
to  beat 14 Porsches during the Dash Race on Friday, but 9 of those "Huns" were
able to stay in front of me.  An 18th finish overall and second in class was the
best the Devin TR3 could do.  The winner in my class was a 6 litre 1958 Lister
Corvette and the overall Group winner was a 1972 Royale RP4 Sports Racer 
followed
by a 1969 Porsche 911S!.

The highest finishing English car was a Jaguar XK120 driven by David Hinton who
finished 6th overall and first in class.  David's car has just undergone a two 
year
restoration and is immaculate.  He still is having some teething problems, but 
it
is blistering fast (how about 20 seconds a lap faster than the Devin!)

Next stop is Roebling Road in a few weeks where we hope to see many more TRs and
FOTers.

Vroom, vroom,

Jeff



Bob Lang wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I taped the SCCA Tran-Am race on Friday afternoon, and watched it later -
> sans commercials. At any rate, during the pre-race show, they were
> showing some live shots of the track, and the announcer - Dorsey
> Schroeder, I think - said something like: "He we see some historics out
> on the track"...
>
> The shot was of the pit straight looking from beyond turn 1 towards the
> "sunset turn".
>
> The next to last car to go by before the break was a Green TR3, looked to
> be RHD.
>
> I didn't get a number from the car, but I was wondering if anyone on the
> list knows that Triumph had a little exposure...
>
> regards,
> rml
> 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Bob Lang                Room N42-140Q          | This space for rent.
> Consultant              MIT Computer Services  |
> Voice: (617)253-7438    FAX: (617)258-9535     |
> 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>