Jump to content

Recommended Posts

H31 was the personal plate of Harold Hamblin, who competed in various rallies with this registration on a TR3A and later a TR4 in the 1950s and 1960s. He competed in the 1962 Tulip Rally in a TR4 with Mr Johns as co-driver, finishing 69th overall and 5th in the GT Class (5VC, 4VC and 3VC finished 24th, 30th and 35th overall, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the GT Class). Harold's car was made to look like a Works TR4, presumably by arrangement with the factory. There's a very nice picture of the car cornering hard on page 31 of Tome 6 of Frédéric Reydellet's invaluable "Triumph en Compétition". Graham Robson commented to me that Harold "wasn't a very good driver", but he cannot have been too bad to have finished on the Tulip, and I feel sure he enjoyed his Rally.

 

As mentioned by Peter H, Harold competed in the 1963 Monte, but retired (picture on page 72 of Tome 6). The co-driver is listed as Mr John, but I wonder whether it was really Mr Johns? Although the car had 5 spotlights for this Rally, a pair were in a slightly different position from those of 5VC, but I'm not sure that planting 3 spots onto the grille is a good idea, as it obstructs airflow to the radiator quite considerably!

 

I am indebted to my friend Frédéric for a great deal of this information.

 

Incidentally, Triumph used a number of different arrangements of either 3 or 5 spotlights on the Works TR4s, but I have never felt like carving the grille or the bonnet of 4VC to mount a 3rd spotlight.

 

Ian Cornish

Link to post
Share on other sites
Incidentally, Triumph used a number of different arrangements of either 3 or 5 spotlights on the Works TR4s, but I have never felt like carving the grille or the bonnet of 4VC to mount a 3rd spotlight.

 

Ian Cornish

 

And the problem these days is that the MSA blue book will only allow four forward facing lights on Historic road rallies and the HRCR, CRA etc. all enforce this. Even with 3VC we are now required to remove the bonnet mounted spotlamp ....... ridiculous really, but those are the prevailing rules. Stage rallies are sligtly different but somehow I cant image 3VC, 4VC or even 6VC on a full on special stage event.

 

Another strange perversion of the regulations these days is that on the same car I could run a pair of plastic Lightforce XGT Dinner plates spotlamps, with next to HID performance. They look truly awful, but they prove their worth on the night sections. So I ask the question often, which should we use on a 'period' works rally car ? the original 5 (or 7 or 9!) lamp configuration or some awful Escort or Vauxhall Nova GTI stuff which complies with the letter of the rules, but certainly not the spirit. Sadly im always referred back to the blue book.

 

Regards

 

Tony

Link to post
Share on other sites
Another strange perversion of the regulations these days is that on the same car I could run a pair of plastic Lightforce XGT Dinner plates spotlamps, with next to HID performance. They look truly awful, but they prove their worth on the night sections. So I ask the question often, which should we use on a 'period' works rally car ? the original 5 (or 7 or 9!) lamp configuration or some awful Escort or Vauxhall Nova GTI stuff which complies with the letter of the rules, but certainly not the spirit. Sadly im always referred back to the blue book.

 

I must say that I agree. There was always the same kind of debate - even back in the late 80's/early 90's although it was mainly about tyres then. My thought was always that the rules should encourage PERIOD correctness (except for obvious safety mods - and yes, I'm aware that this already opens it up to interpretation). For example, feel free to run lower profile tyres, but that puts you into the "post-historic" (as it was then) 1970's class.

 

Shouldn't that also apply to lighting? Halogen bulbs are ok for 60's cars, but shells, lens-types, diameters etc. should reflect ('scuse the pun) what was correct in period. That would rule out the lightweight dinner-plate type lamps.

 

Obviously there are PR issues to consider which presumably drove the 4-light maximum in the first place, but I'm not sure the historic vs modern balance is right - especially if you have to make an ex-works rally car specifically NON-period to be within the rules.

 

Apologies for taking this topic further off-track...

Edited by TorontoTim
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please familiarise yourself with our Terms and Conditions. By using this site, you agree to the following: Terms of Use.