Leicestershire Group on a high
Another well attended meeting in July. Tony began by welcoming all our visitors, some of whom came from as far afield as New Zealand. Others were more local, from the Nene Valley group, who just turned up on a 'raid'. It was very good to have you all with us for the evening.
Report on International Weekend
It was another fantastic weekend with good company, good food, excellent weather and loads of cars to look at. What more could we ask for? We set up camp in our usual spot, ready for the Friday evening meal, which was an excellent chicken tikka, prepared by Girish and his wife. Saturday evening saw us all enjoy a lemon chicken starter with salad, followed by lamb kleftiko, then strawberries and raspberries with meringue and cream. Thanks to Girish, Paul, Andy M and helpers, for doing their usual excellent job of cooking. The breakfast rolls prepared by Andy H both days contained almost a full English breakfast, and did a good job of setting us up for the day. As usual, we all enjoyed the various activities on offer over the weekend, from the arena events, to looking at cars, and looking round the trade stands. Some of our members also took part in various activities. Martin, Sue and James went into the arena to talk about their experiences at the 2007 International – the year of the flood, one we will all remember. Tony helped out with marshalling for the Autosolo, and Andy H organised the Bring and Buy. Mick F was very busy on the TR Register stand, amongst other things, and Linda F was involved in transporting all the props for the photoshoot. Once again, it was a very memorable and enjoyable International Weekend, this time for all the right reasons.
More photos from the International can be found in our Group Gallery on out web pages: LTRG at the International
Braunlage June 2017 – 40th Anniversary of the Hannover TR Register Group Tony and Ruth
Our previous visit to Germany with Leicester TR Group was the amazing 2010 European TR Meeting lead by the IG Sudwest TR Group at Rust in our TR6. So expectations were high.
Braunlage June 2017 German TR Meeting lead by the Hannover TR Group at Braunlage was nothing short of spectacular. We travelled with the Derbyshire Dales Group lead by Dave Burgess our East Midlands Director and Roger Guy, LTRG. We could not have been made more welcome and enjoyed a pleasant journey travelling via the Hull to Rotterdam Ferry overnight. A few beers were sunk of course plus a great meal at Kassel. The only event on the journey being a failure of the BMW diesel powered TR6 belonging to Alan Wilkinson. Rather an irony that the root cause was a BMW Engine Crankshaft detector fault. So perhaps Triumph Engineering rules after all!
We arrived with a fanfare of British flags and horns to be greeting with smiling witches riding their broomsticks and of course a shot!
Sunday heralded another day of action. Ruth and I chose the walk around a mining museum and reservoir. Clever stuff the engineers had used natural drainage to drain the mines by tunnelling horizontally into the mineshafts.
We returned in the evening to take the ski cable car to the summit of Brocken the highest mountain in the Harz mountain range at 1141 Metres. The views were spectacular and once again the meal and entertainment excellent.
Monday morning Ruth and I made our own way for our first visit to the City of Berlin. One could not help but feel that it is a city still recovering from the Second World War eg Brandenberg Gate (below), East-West Berlin Wall, Jewish Holocaust Monument and many East Berlin buildings being completely refurbished. We took the cycling tour round the city which we would recommend to anyone wanting to get an overview of the city and it's history.
Time to hill out in a Natural Park near Hitzacker, Lower Saxony on the River Elbe. First a 40km electric cycle ride along the river banks. Ruth is well impressed with electric cycles! Then a relaxing soak in the Bad Harzburger Thermal Spa Pool and the Sauna and Steam Rooms.
Next highlight was the Dutch Alfsluiddijk (Dyke) below some 32 kms long and finished in 1932. The water to the south of the dyke is now fresh water. Incredible!!
Finally North of Amsterdam we stopped at the Zaanse Schans Living Windmill Museum. The application of windmills to cutting timber, paint pigments and of course grinding flour was fascinating. We thought you might like to see typical working folk from that time!
I am happy to report that the TR3A 184 XUN behaved impeccably. Although it was a fairly short tour at 1600 miles!
Triumph TRs on the drivers parade for the British Grand Prix, 16th July 2017 - Linda Forey
A long time ago Ian Smith, a member of the Chiltern TR group, watched the F1 drivers being driven around for their parade lap in classic cars and thought "we could do that!" Ever hopeful, he sent an email off to an aquantace in the next village who worked for Silverstone and wasn't surprised to get no response. That is, until late May, when out of the blue he got an email inviting him to organise a group of TRs for the Formula One drivers parade at the British Grand Prix 2017.
As a Chiltern group event he invited several drivers from his own group, then extended the invite to the Wensum group and a few others, including Wayne from the TR Register. Mick was lucky enough to join this select group, though only as a reserve driver. The event was only fully confirmed two weeks before the Grand Prix, and even then many details were very vague. We were given 'contractor' wristbands a week before, but even as we arrived on the Thursday we had no idea of where, or even if, camping had been arranged for us. As for which cars were allowed into the site, and where they would be parked, this seemed to change on an hourly basis.
In the end all went well. I accompanied Mick onto the site, driving the Volvo full of our camping gear and the Leicestershire group BBQ and event shelter, with no problems at all. We were then given camping passes for the marshall's campsite; a short drive away, but only five minutes walk from our cars. There was plenty of room for everybody to camp together, and it was easy to walk back onto site to watch the evening's entertainment.
25 TRs cars were parked in a display area from Thursday to Sunday morning, including TR2 and the Jabbeke car. Friday was spent polishing the cars, though I wandered off to investigate the best places to watch qualifying on the Saturday. Our contractor wristbands allowed us almost everywhere on site, though sadly not into the international pits area. Friday and Saturday were 'free to roam' days, meaning we could watch from any of the grandstands around the track, so I watched the second practice session from just opposite the Mercedes pit area!
On Saturday Mick and I watched third practice from the Abbey grandstand, then moved further along the stand ready to watch qualifying. A very exciting finish, but a perfect result in our eyes, Lewis Hamilton on pole!
Sunday was the exiting day! Everybody was up early, though that was very easy camping with the race marshalls - they all started working at 6am! The excitement was intense as the special stickers were delivered and everyone finally found out who their driver was to be. Sadly no one has had broken down so Mick had no F1 driver, but he was still going to drive round the track as part of the parade! At 10am the cars were lined up in grid order and the drivers given their instructions. Two cakes were cut in celebration and the excitement and tension grew even higher. Then at 11 am the cars moved into the national pit lane ready for the parade, and everyone else was allowed onto the pit wall to take photographs.
As the TRs drove round to the start grid they formed up in two rows either side of the red carpet and the Grand Prix models. The drivers emerged to cheers from the fans and were immediately interviewed by many reporters. Mick was in an excellent spot to see Lewis Hamilton wave to the crowd, while Dave Burgess was seen on the big screen as his driver Kimi Raikkonen, was interviewed. Derek was driving Sebastian Vettel who was probably the most chatty of all the drivers.
Photos from the TRs on the F1 Drivers Parade can be found in our Group Gallery on our web pages: F1 British Grand Prix
Future Events:
13th August Oadby Motor Fest
This is a classic, sports car, bike and vehicle meet in Oadby Parade from 1030-300. Entrance is free. Martin Ward is leading, so please contact him if you wish to go.
6th-10th September Euromeet in Dijon
The following people will be going – Colin and Ann, Mick and Linda F, Tim and Kathryn, Andy and Clare, Allan and Gail, and Chris and Jacky.
26th September – 1st October - Ireland Tour
Mick and Linda F are leading this as part of TR Tours. There are still places available if anyone is interested.
13th-15th October Bournemouth weekend
26 people are signed up. The weekend costs £186.00 per couple, which includes a room at £39 pp per night and the Saturday evening meal at the hotel. The Friday meal will probably be at a nearby Italian restaurant, but Tony will confirm this after his visit there next week. The full amount will need to be paid into the LTRG account before the 12th August.
28th/29th October – Last Runs out
Martin Ward may be organising one on Saturday 28th to Wells.
Andy offered to organise a run on Sunday 29th to Chatsworth.
If any of the above sounds like fun and you want to join in then give Tony a call on 07768 558 824 or drop him an email at leicstrs@gmail.com