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Re: Road Atlanta

To: FOT <fot@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Road Atlanta
From: Tony Drews <tony@tonydrews.com>
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 22:05:31 -0500
At 08:13 PM 5/1/2005, Larry Young wrote:
>Ok, how about some news from the Mitty?

Just got back in town from the Mitty.  I had a great time getting together 
with the Triumph group again.  While the Triumphs were outnumbered by the 
MG's, they certainly made their presence known!  As Henry reported, the 
Jeff Snook's TR-3 won the "early" car race with Randy Williams taking a 
strong second in his GORGEOUS TR-3 in 2nd.  They were sent to mid pack for 
the start by some interesting behaviour of the pace car in the prior race 
and still made their way to the front.

I don't remember MGB GT's having V-8's, but a couple of those were 
there.  Other than those ringers, the Triumphs ruled.  Babcock made the 
trek all the way from California, and we were very happy to be able to run 
with the Peyote.  Very cool car!  I have GOT to make a trek to sunny CA and 
run some of their home tracks (I've always lusted about Laguna Seca - the 
corkscrew is an experience I've got to have at least once in my life).  He 
had a minor brush with the wall in the rain, but was undeterred.  The other 
contact incident was between a TR-3 and a MG-NA - "one of those racin' 
deals".  Both drivers were a little chagrined but still in great spirits.

Road Atlanta is a cool track.  It's very flowing, easy on tires and brakes 
but rewarding of good precise driving.  There are enough high speed 
sweepers to keep the pucker factor high (very cool), and lots of elevation 
changes.  The Dolomite Sprint seems to have expired in my rear-view mirror 
(I chased him for 2/3 of the race and finally got by him...).  Too bad.

Other than the Dolly, I'm not aware of another Triumph which went home with 
major mechanical failure.  I can't say that of the MG's - one of  them blew 
up in spectacular fashion as I was chasing him down.  Had to wipe the oil 
off of my visor to see again.  Unfortunately he oiled down the track enough 
to cut that session short.

We did have a thunderstorm move through but, unlike in the midwest, it was 
over and done with pretty quickly.  Tom Strange had a great run in the rain 
with his "Dirt Stocker" rain tires, Bill had less success with the standard 
Hoosier Vintage TD's.  But, he was still smiling when he came in with a 
slightly dented Peyote.  He had a MUCH better attitude about that than I 
would have.  He's a true racer.

I didn't have any issues with the driving of the other folks, and would 
consider a return.  I wish Road Atlanta was closer.  It would be cool to be 
able to run in more than a few times in a lifetime!  Georgia is beautiful 
this time of the year.

- Tony Drews

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