TR5 Racer to Australia

James Owen

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My Roadsports Triumph TR5 and I have been absent from the HSCC season so far, having made a trip Downunder to race at Phillip Island and in the Targa Tasmania. The Phillip Island Classic Festival, run by the Victorian Historic Racing Register, is the biggest Historic Racing festival in the Southern Hemisphere, attracting more than 500 competing cars in 45 races over 2 days of racing. The event attracted a record crowd of around 25,000 spectators this year. There were nearly 100 cars in the Group S classes, which approximates to our Roadsports, with whom we raced.

Phillip Island is one of those circuits revered by drivers around the world. Personally I had never been there before, and most of the times I had seen it on TV, it has been whilst watching bike racing. It really is a great circuit, there are two hairpins but the sections in between are very fast and flowing.

Despite turning up with a humble Roadsports car, the VHRR were very generous to me, giving me the bulk of the benefits given to overseas competitors that had brought headlining 250F, GT40 or Can-Am cars. I also got a lot of attention from spectators and fellow competitors, and even a little media attention. It seems there is a big TR community down under – a large number of TR owners / enthusiasts came up to say ‘hello’.

I arrived on the Thursday afternoon to be advised that overseas competitors could run a few familiarisation laps, which was a complete surprise as they had not told me about this before, in fact my racesuit was with my wife and family in the hire car, whilst I had such useful items as a full packet of nappies… fortunately I talked Nic into loading the kids back into the car and driving down to the circuit so I could get out on track. Very fortuitous that turned out to be too, as the car failed early in qualifying on the Friday morning, some dirt in the fuel destroying the fuel injection metering unit, so I missed both sessions on Friday. With a great deal of help, and having borrowed a metering unit (a remarkable ‘find’ in itself), I did get to start Race 1 on Saturday from the back of the 48 car grid. Unfortunately the new metering unit was not a great match for my cam, being set up for something much wilder; I had to back off the revs to protect the engine, so the overall results were less than I might have hoped for. Nevertheless by the end of Race 4 I had worked my way up to 20th overall, and had a lot of fun in doing so. More importantly my goal of finishing the weekend with a car that would be ready for Targa two weeks later was achieved.

There were a number of other TRs out with me, mostly TR6s, and it was clear to me that most cars are developed beyond what would be permitted in my usual UK Roadsports Championship – I strongly doubt that any of them would be eligible for an FIA Historic Technical Passport. I did not delve too deeply or ask about weights, brakes, engine specs or any of that stuff, I was only there for fun. Friendly bunch though, in particular I would like to thank TR3 racer, and Melbourne-based TR specialist Geoff Kelly who helped sort my issues out, and then sorted the car for Tasmania.

Despite my engine dramas it really was a great weekend, fabulous circuit, great weather (not always a ‘given’ at Phillip Island), an excellent selection of cars and a lot of real enthusiasts, many of who were only to happy to step up and help when I needed it so far from home. If you ever have the chance to get down there and race - DO IT.

A report on the Targa Tasmania will follow shortly…

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