Listers,
The following was on the FOT list. Thought it might also be of interest to
you.
Ed Woods
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Major" <ejmajor250@comcast.net>
To: <Editorgary@aol.com>; <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: Racing TRs
> The following excerpt was written by Bruce Stutzman for the Western PA
> Triumphs newsletter, in it Bruce claims (and is backed up by the official
> Sebring results) that Allan Patterson was the first in the World/US. Allan
> is seen racing at many vintage events in his red 1953 Allard that he
> bought new.
>
> Ed Major
>
> Alan Patterson, a native Pittsburgher, has the distinction of being the
> first person, not just in the U.S. but the world, to drive a TR in a road
> race. Alan did it not just in any old race, but at the 1954 12 hours of
> Sebring, an internationally sanctioned endurance race. I thought this was
> a story that needed to be told. At the time Alan was not a stranger to
> Sebring. He raced a MGTC there in 1952 and 1953. He later took a job
> working his way through college, at Price Motors in Coral Gables, Florida.
> Price Motors was a new TR dealer and had just received its first shipment
> of four brand new TR2's. Alan suggested to the owner (he doesn't remember
> his name) that they race a TR2 at Sebring. The owner liked the idea and
> asked the factory for authority to do so. The factory gave the OK but
> without financial support. They prepared one of the new TR2's to be the
> racecar but they took all four (the entire shipment) to Sebring for parts.
> As it turned out they needed them all. The race took place on March 7,
> 1954. Alan took a friend Jim Hendricks to be his co-driver and several
> fraternity brothers and their girl friends to be his pit crew. Alan
> remembers that the car was totally reliable (with one significant
> exception) and very fast. That exception - the engine blew, so they
> installed the engine from another of the new TR2's. That engine also blew
> so they took the engine from another of the new TR2's. When that one went
> they swapped their last engine. When the last engine showed signs of
> trouble Alan pulled into the pits, waited till the race was almost over,
> and then re-entered the race so he would be running at the end.
> Nevertheless, Alan completed 105 laps, finishing 24th overall and 4th in
> class. In 12 hours Alan had wiped out Price Motor's entire first shipment
> of new TR2's. So what was wrong with the engines? As Alan remembers it,
> when they dismantled the engines they found that they had suffered from
> oil starvation. He thinks, but is not sure after all this time, that it
> had to do with the location of the oil holes in the bearings. The factory
> no doubt quickly rectified this problem.
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