FOT -
The 50th anniversary Sebring 12 hr race is history. I'm sure some
deserving European car dominated. But the really interesting event was
the excellent Triumph Tractor Motor participation in the vintage car
race! Both BeadyEye and Battle of Britain Racing had two cars in
attendance. In addition to my TR3 that towed a huge 90 miles we also
had Jeff Snook's Devin TR3 from Ohio, Bill Dentinger and the TR powered
Thunderbolt from Wisconsin and Bob Wismer's TR4 from Ohio. Also in
attendance having driven down in some funny looking German car was Joe
Alexander our hero organizer for Mid-Ohio and Uncle Jack Drews our guru
of upgraded parts. It was great to have them in the paddock to share
our sights and stories with. And of course, the Crew Chief, head
mechanic and designer of Battle of Britain, Glen Efinger. Man, he has
that Devin looking really fine. Jeff had to beat the women away, except
for that one blond of course.
For the last few years both Jeff and Bob have been comming to Florida
for an event or two and it was great to have them with us again this
year. Both the Devin and the TR4 ran well and both drivers had a good
time. I co-drove the Devin in the second half of the 60 minute race and
was able to diagnose a mixture problem that, when cured, enabled Jeff to
defeat me handily in the sprint race for fastest Tractor of the
weekend. I was able to follow him for a while and could see that he was
driving beautifully and that any hope of keeping up was not well
founded. Good job Jeff.
Bob's TR4 had a gearbox oil leak that was falling directly on the
exhaust in the first practice session. Having solved the mosquito
problem, Bob and Bill Dentinger's two brothers-in-law worked to solve
the problem and the rest of the weekend the 4 ran like a top needing
little other than fuel. Bob's next stop is the SVRA race in Savannah
after visting a few friends and taking some time off in the Florida
Keys.
Bill Dentinger bribed his two brothers-in-law into towing the
Thunderbolt down while Bill himself was on the fly-and-drive program.
All three clearly had a good time what with all the scenery at Sebring
and local sites such as the 14ft gator on display at the Watering Hole
bar and resturant. The Tbolt did little wrong all weekend, a new
exhaust manifold has cured a high speed miss that plauged the car for
the last couple of seasons.
The best news of the weekend was that all 4 cars went on the trailers
under their own power and all the drivers and crew went home with
massive sunburns from the 85+ degree sun in Florida.
We'll all see ya at Mid-Ohio if not before.
Mike Jackson
Oh yea, there was a 74 Spitfire out there as well. HSR is now
apparently accepting current production cars with flares and all. At
least it had treaded tires. Ran close with Bob Wismer in most sessions.
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