Someone asked for this... ;-)
A great showing for Triumph at the event, we had 3 TR4's, 3 TR3's, 2 GT6's,
at least 6 Spitfires, the Tornado Thunderbolt and the (or is it one of
the?) Kastner/Brophy Vitesse(s). The weather was dry and comfortable, but
by the time the Sunday feature race came around it got quite hot, like the
mid-90's. Obviously the hot Triumph at the event was the Vitesse, I do not
know how it fared in the feature.
Fantastic event, remember this is the one where the race cars drive into
the town of Watkins Glen, park on the main drag for a while, then we get
escorted for two laps around the original road race course at speed with a
passenger. No passenger seat or belts are required, and the pace very
acceptable. One could even call it pretty fast. Helen had a great time, but
next time she says I need to bring her a helmet. She didn't like the road
grime on her face after the run!
Rookie Spitfire pilot Andy Konopka burned a hole in his #3 piston on test
day. Refusing to accept defeat, Russ Moore came to his rescue. Russ, Andy
and I took the ailing Spit to Russ's shop and it was revived with lots of
TLC and a few parts from Russ's stash. We arrive back at the track around
4AM only to find the gates are closed and no security around to let us in.
The sight of Russ and I jumping the fence was not pretty, but we made it
back to get a few hours sleep before the sounds of race car engines snapped
us back to reality. Then Andy's gearbox gave up the ghost during the
qualifying race, and Donny Sopp came to the rescue with a good spare. Andy
was rolling again by the Group 1 feature with time to spare, and ran a
great race. He boiled over on the cool down lap, but took the checker and
will enjoy removing his rookie stripe!
None of the Spit pilots were running happily after the feature, so the heat
did take it's toll.
I am still having hot starting issues with my HS6's, for the qualifying
race the grid workers had to push me out. The false grid exit is slightly
downhill, and it took a while for me to build enough speed to fire. The
drivers behind me got tired of waiting for the TR4 to move under power and
started filing their way past me. The engine finally roared to life and
away I went, gridded in 27th instead of 10th. By the end of the session I
worked my back to where I belonged, so I had a great time. The last car
that gave me trouble was a Yenko Stinger Corvair, and I never shook him
after I got around him. I was looking forward to seeing him in the feature
for some more good dicing, but he didn't show up on the grid. My run
through the feature was pretty much a solo effort until someone caught up
to me the last lap or so. After taking the checker and feeling pretty good
about everything my throttle linkage fell off going around turn one. I
snapped it back in but it was too hot for a restart. I had to come in on
the hook... Oh the humility!
Only Triumph carnage I heard of was Bud Babcock (that's Cornell "Bud"
Babcock, not to be confused with Bill Babcock of the left coast) spun
entering the boot and glanced off the tire wall leaving some tail light
pieces etc. in a precarious place just past the apex of that scary downhill
left hander. He drove it in, so probably only superficial damage.
Other item of note is our friend Burt Levy mooched a ride for the weekend
in Group 3 in a 100-4. Unfortunately the clutch stopped disengaging so he
was done Saturday, but as we all know, that's racing!
Next stop, VIR.
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