Ed:
Thanks for the background on Alan. I had the pleasure of meeting him last year
when he brought his 1948 MGTC into San Francisco for a photo shoot in Golden
Gate Park. While we discussed the plans for the photos, Alan had parked the
car across the street from the Buffalo Enclosure, a major tourist stop and
photo op. A tourist bus pulled up while we were chatting and people streamed
out of the bus to take pictures of the car, not the buffalo!
Alan is the original owner of the car (bought from Max Hoffman in New York
City) and it is the same one mentioned in your message, ie, the one he raced at
Sebring and over the city streets of Watkins Glen plus several other courses
way back then. Anyone interested in pictures of Alan in his very original
MGTC, find a copy of the March 2005 issue of MotorSport, page 48, the article
is "Track Test: Golden Gate Park", penned by yours truly.
Gary Horstkorta
1963 TR4
-------------- Original message --------------
> 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.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> To:
> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 7:54 PM
> Subject: Racing TRs
>
>
> > Perhaps one of you Triumphant historians can tell me: When did the first
> > racing TR2 appear in competition? (anywhere but especially in North
> > America, and
> > in any type of organized competition)?
> > Thanks
> > Gary Anderson
|