[TR] Convention agenda

[TR250Driver at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/29/2010 7:53:34 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
Dave1massey at cs.com writes:

In talking to Darrell, VTR is quite aware of this effect and there is  talk 
of promoting a "Survivor's" class for unrestored cars.
 
Dave,
That could be the Preservation of Original Features Class. We have  
discussed it.  I believe it should be a non competitive class with Gold,  Silver 
and Bronze awards.  Not sure there is much interest but it is  certainly open 
for discussion.  
 
Also, judges are instructed:
 
To use the standard of new vehicle on the showroom floor. Many of  you have 
seen clean original Triumph's and they really were not that great,  Huh?  
The standard is NOT the pristinely restored car coming out of a  trailer.  
Over restoration  is neither rewarded or penalized.   Many times a driven car 
will score higher than a Trailer queen but not  always. Did any of you look 
at the last TR6 on display at Jekyll with  less than 1000 miles on the 
clock?  How about that orange peeled BRG  paint job?  
 
To only deduct for accumulated dirt, grease and oil not fresh dirt  
acquired driving to and at the convention so rubber shavings in the wheel  wells 
from the autocross is OK.  Since we drive our cars a certain amount  of 
minimal wear and tear is to be expected. Mishaps occurring driving to and  at the 
convention are forgiven.  For instance I shattered my drivers side  glass on 
the TR6 right after the Fun Rallye.
 
To make deductions for reproduction parts if they differ significantly in  
form or material from the original parts.  The deduction is one half of  the 
total points for the component in question. Consumable parts such as  
radiator caps, ignition wires (must be the correct color), fuses, etc are  not 
receiving deduction. We still like to see the original baby  tennax fasteners 
on early TR2's and the Lucas script on radiator caps but we  have made 
allowances for some parts that are not available anywhere such as  allowing 
stainless steel exhaust systems. 
 
At Jekyll I had and excellent crew of volunteer judges and they were  very 
kind to the cars. All the Triumphs received Gold certificates except  two 
that were Silver with no Bronze so the Triumphs presented must have  been in 
excellent condition. Some of the classes were very competitive.  The BOS was 
actually an original very low mileage original 80 Spitfire 1500  not a 
restored car. Second in that class was a lightly restored 1500 that was  formerly 
BOS at VTR.  If anyone really wants to know how we judge,  please attend 
the judges school.  All are welcome.
 
There always are really nice Triumphs that do not show in Concours and  
prefer Participants Choice. I often wonder why and that is something I  would 
not do myself. Perhaps they know the have a good chance to win by  popular 
vote. Truthfully I don't mind much because with 60 to 85 cars we have  a 
decent work load and a limited amount of time.  Lesser cars in Concours  by Rule 
may be visually judged with general deductions if a team has  several cars 
to judge.  The important job is to get the 1st, 2nd,  and third place cars 
correct.  
 
I am the one (perhaps the only one) who would like the toss the  driving 
requirement. So that talk may be coming from me  alone. I believe if a Triumph 
is driven on to the show field under it's  own power that is enough.  
During over 20 years of going to Triumph  national car shows I have seen exactly 
two cars rolled out of trailers onto  the show field..  Once at a TRA 
National Meeting and once at Canadian  Classic. The one at TRA got hammered in 
Concours. I have heard  of a few instances where Triumph owners drove to the 
convention and did not  realize they needed a driving event to show.  Should 
driving to the  convention be a driving event?  I had a TR8 beat my TR8 in  
Concours when he did the Gymkhana in reverse gear because he had  lost all 
forward gears driving to the convention and came in on a trailer. I  did not 
mind.  His car was better than mine and he was a fine person by  the name of 
Bill Wood.  This year a very good friend of mine drove his  TR6 850 miles to 
Jekyll with a leaking water pump.  He took it on the  dinner runs the nite 
before the Concours  to get a sticker but just  didn't feel like cleaning it 
anymore and left it out of the show. I was  prepared to wave the 
requirement if he asked. The requirement has been  waved before for good reasons.
 
Off my soapbox for now and yes I will now put on my Flame Retardant  Suit.
 
Cheers,
Darrell