In a message dated 06/09/01 9:04:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time, WMW79@aol.com
writes:
>
Spoilsport! I was wondering if anyone would jump in with something like that.
TR3s on a skid pad are interesting beast, BTW. Due to the cunningly planned
rear suspension and frame set up, they handle one way - fairly predictably in
and with a moderate sized front bar, quite controllably, UNTIL the rear axle
housing hits the frame which diabolically (much as in all but the last Austin
Healeys) passes below, rather than over the axle.
When the axle hits the rubber bump stop it lifts off the ground, sharply
reducing grip for both cornering and traction, and it can, if sufficiently
hung out in a corner at the time, look rather like a male dog in search of a
fire hydrant, albeit briefly, as it buggers off into the distant scenery
surrounding the track.
Removing the bump rubber, and using increasingly heavier bars to increase
roll stiffness in an effort to stay out of the 'danger zone' are the usual
approaches taken to try and ameliorate the situation.
While I have always been firmly of the opinion that it is easier to give an
MGA more power than it is to bestow really good handling (which the 'A'
already has) on the TR, and this has proven to be the case over the years
with many finishes ahead of the cocked-leg contingent.
This does not mean that I have not owned and enjoyed many Triumphs (and in
fact that is the only way that I can opine as to the relative handling
capabilities of the two with any authority). In fact, I even ventured out
onto the track once in a dead stock 54 TR-2 I owned. It was impressive for
it's speed on the straight - 110 mph at the old Westwood circuit in
Vancouver, using Brooklands screens (the passenger side of course folded flat
for that extra 0.5 mph). And 5500 rpm was all I really wanted to run the old
original unrebuilt engine, complete with Vanguard style cam running in the
block with no bearings, low port head, and rampaging 90 bhp.
Where the Triumph let the side down was definitely in the handling and
braking areas, although it truth be told, it did have a light front bar and
with the modestly sticky tires (well, street radials, actually, on TR6 wire
wheels), and managed to negotiate the corners without too much disgrace.
The drum brakes all around were another story. After 2 laps (Westwood was
hard on brakes with a very fast - I checked my MGA speed at going on 130 mph
once - downhill stop into a hairpin curve and lots of pea-gravel waiting for
the unwary) I had no brakes worth talking about.
As the TR is about the last car on Earth I'd want to slow down by chucking it
sideways without a rollbar (you never knew when it might decide to turn up
it's toes and go belly up on you in disgust), it meant for rather early
braking. In fact it meant that I was braking slightly before a pre-War MG
that had mechanical brakes - embarrassing!
Sure had a lot of fun, though
Bill Spohn
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