Plane v Car : the missing article.

[Paul Hogan]

A couple of years ago I posted about an event that took place in 1956 about an economy  'race' between a TR3 and Auster J4 from lands End to John O'Groats.  I discovered that both the aircraft and a sister car still existed and so I decided to see if I could recreate this challenge and raise some money for the Guide Dogs charity along the way as they benefited from the original event. 

Below is the article I submitted about the restaging of this event which took place in September at the Goodwood Revival and should have appeared in the latest edition of TrAction but it failed to make the editors cut and was to be held over to the January issue. Naturally, I was very disappointed about this having put two years of work into the project and given assurances that it would be in the 'next mag'. I cannot see the point of holding it over to January/February for by then it will be at least five month out of date and so I have reproduced it here on the web.  One would have thought that it it might also have been given some prominence on our web page as the TR Register very kindly made the donation to the Guide Dogs charity but that didn't happen either. In my opinion the Register wasted a wonderful PR opportunity because they failed to get on board with the project. At least it did make 'best article' in Octane magazine and 'The Auster' so it did reach a wider audience but it could have been so much more. 

If readers can detect that I am feeling rather disillusioned over they way this whole project has been handled by the club then you would be right. However, that wont change things so enjoy the read because it really was a great event even though it was beset with problems right up to the last minute. 

Hoges. 

History can and does repeat itself.doc

History can and does repeat itself.doc

[cvtrian]

Well done Paul, a great achievement and story, and as you say, a shame the TR Register missed out.
Ian

[TR NIALL]

Goodman Paul I’m sure that was a very interesting adventure and thanks for the Write Up.

[RogerH]

Hi Paul,

a wonderful achievement and typical bad handling by the club.

Sad to see you leave the club but your life will be enriched in pastures anew.

 

Roger

[Francois HENOTTR3B]

Congrats, very interesting !

 

[pfenlon]

16 hours ago, Paul Hogan said:

A couple of years ago I posted about an event that took place in 1956 about an economy  'race' between a TR3 and Auster J4 from lands End to John O'Groats.  I discovered that both the aircraft and a sister car still existed and so I decided to see if I could recreate this challenge and raise some money for the Guide Dogs charity along the way as they benefited from the original event. 

Below is the article I submitted about the restaging of this event which took place in September at the Goodwood Revival and should have appeared in the latest edition of TrAction but it failed to make the editors cut and was to be held over to the January issue. Naturally, I was very disappointed about this having put two years of work into the project and given assurances that it would be in the 'next mag'. I cannot see the point of holding it over to January/February for by then it will be at least five month out of date and so I have reproduced it here on the web.  One would have thought that it it might also have been given some prominence on our web page as the TR Register very kindly made the donation to the Guide Dogs charity but that didn't happen either. In my opinion the Register wasted a wonderful PR opportunity because they failed to get on board with the project. At least it did make 'best article' in Octane magazine and 'The Auster' so it did reach a wider audience but it could have been so much more. 

If readers can detect that I am feeling rather disillusioned over they way this whole project has been handled by the club then you would be right. However, that wont change things so enjoy the read because it really was a great event even though it was beset with problems right up to the last minute. 

Hoges. 

History can and does repeat itself.doc 15.52 MB · 55 downloads

History can and does repeat itself.doc 15.52 MB · 55 downloads

The new editor of TRaction hasn't been in the job for more than 5 minutes, I sent him a small article that I had submitted couple of years previously but wasn't deemed be of note to the membership, now in the bin I expect. He liked the article and said that he would try and include it in the next publication, but if not, in the next one.

Let's give the man some time at least to get his teeth into the job.

[Mick Forey]

Well done Paul. Shame that your article missed the latest issue but as Pete says Trev is still new to the role and still relatively new to the club, so please give him some leeway. It will still be news to 99% of the club when it hits the next issue.

For those people who didn't read the article: you would have read that the TR Register donated the £500 prize money. The club supported Pauls' efforts to the full extent that he requested. The MT made that decision back in June. Nice to hear now that the project did go ahead and was a success.

Mick

[Lebro]

Well done Paul.

I saw the TR at Goodwood on the Sunday, but was unaware of the significance of it being there - should have read the info board !

Bob

[Rod1883]

Couple of pictures from the Saturday

[iain]

Well done Paul, but I do think we should cut the new editor of TRaction some slack. It will make a great read in the next issue I’m sure.

Iain

[Hamish]

16 hours ago, iain said:

Well done Paul, but I do think we should cut the new editor of TRaction some slack. It will make a great read in the next issue I’m sure.

Iain

Whole heartedly agree.

It may even be the case that it has taken the wind out of his sales to have it released/printed on the web before TRAction can use? it becomes a second hand story ?

[RobH]

6 minutes ago, Hamish said:

it becomes a second hand story ?

Only for the minority of members who frequent the forum Hamish, including non-members who will not get the mag anyway. 

[cvtrian]

Cutting the editor some slack is appropriate, but surely it ought to have been actively promoted within the TR Register! These historical events are a significant part of the marque TR history/story and the positive PR potential within the classic car world from Paul's efforts was huge.

If the TR Register stumped up the £500 prize (imho highly commendable) surely members were entitled to know about this before the event, and get behind it as it was happening, not reading about it more than 6 months after it happened, and even worse, some members seeing the car at Goodwood and not knowing anything about it......

The club has an active email/newsletter system to all members, not just TR Action, as I was rightly reminded when I commented about next years gathering at Malvern.

A TR beating an aeroplane in a race is a great story.
Ian

[stuart]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:39 PM, Rod1883 said:

Couple of pictures from the Saturday

Hmm that old chestnut again

Stuart.

 

[iain]

2 hours ago, stuart said:

Hmm that old chestnut again

Stuart.

 

:-)

[Paul Hogan]

On 12/6/2023 at 2:59 PM, Mick Forey said:

Well done Paul. Shame that your article missed the latest issue but as Pete says Trev is still new to the role and still relatively new to the club, so please give him some leeway. It will still be news to 99% of the club when it hits the next issue.

For those people who didn't read the article: you would have read that the TR Register donated the £500 prize money. The club supported Pauls' efforts to the full extent that he requested. The MT made that decision back in June. Nice to hear now that the project did go ahead and was a success.

Mick

You are missing the point Mick. It's not a question of giving the new editor some slack. I was assured that it would be in the next mag  and that assurance turned out to be worthless. I see little  point  in publicising something  which will now be five months out of date. We should be advertising up coming events. 

The other gripe I have is that  the board knew what I was trying to achieve for the best part of two years but not once was I asked how it was going. I really appreciated the donation to the guide dogs charity as did they but what PR did the registet get out of it? Absolutely none. And yet we employ a PR professional who didn't/ couldn't be bothered to get in touch with me about it when I asked him to. 

Having this event staged at the Goodwood Revival where over 100,000 people were in attendance at arguably the most prestigious classic car event in the UK just goes to show how out of touch the board are.  After all, you told me in June when I was in Holland with you that the register would be putting up the £500 donation so the club had plenty of time to organise something. 

At the very least this should have appeared in Classic Car weekly and Practical  Classics or been circulated to all the other classic car mags. It was only by my own efforts that it appeared in Octane, the Auster and the Guide Dogs magazines. 

Hoges 

[Chris Glasbey]

Well done Paul....a great story.   First I knew about it was your letter in Octane, after the Goodwood event.     TR Register should have promoted this widely before the event !

Chris.

[Rod1883]

On 12/8/2023 at 2:48 PM, stuart said:

Hmm that old chestnut again

Stuart.

 

OK - I have to bite, what is an old Chestnut?

[roy53]

29 minutes ago, Chris Glasbey said:

Well done Paul....a great story.   First I knew about it was your letter in Octane, after the Goodwood event.     TR Register should have promoted this widely before the event !

Chris.

+1  the first i knew was now here on the forum.

I think you will find that the Revival is the largest event in the world, what an opportunity for global exposure .

Why oh why do these people keep making these mistakes ?

The same as not contacting the NSF re the donated TR7/8 parts.

Roy

[cvtrian]

14 hours ago, roy53 said:

+1  the first i knew was now here on the forum.

I think you will find that the Revival is the largest event in the world, what an opportunity for global exposure .

 

The same as not contacting the NSF re the donated TR7/8 parts.

Roy

Hi Roy, in the background, Neil Revington did offer the TR7 parts to the SDF well over a year ago. After referring to our marque experts (from the TRDC as well as TR Register) the decision was that the majority of the parts were used items and none of them were particularly rare, and that those that were of interest were already held and available in the SDF orbit if needed.
Neil Revington is a great supporter of the SDF and its efforts, indeed was an integral part of the redesign and manufacture of the TR4A/5 front sidelight/indicator repeater units along with getting a batch of OE spec TR6 engine bearings made by the original company (all now sold). 
His very generous donation to the TR Register ought to be more widely acknowledged, along with the detail of how much money was raised and for what purpose these monies are used.
Ian

[Mick Forey]

17 hours ago, Chris Glasbey said:

TR Register should have promoted this widely before the event !

Chris.

Yes, I agree. Having personally advised Paul of the club's decision to provide the prize money back in June, the next I hear of this project is reading this thread. This was clearly a surprise to too many people in the club: a missed opportunity.

Mick

[roy53]

5 hours ago, cvtrian said:

Hi Roy, in the background, Neil Revington did offer the TR7 parts to the SDF well over a year ago. After referring to our marque experts (from the TRDC as well as TR Register) the decision was that the majority of the parts were used items and none of them were particularly rare, and that those that were of interest were already held and available in the SDF orbit if needed.
Neil Revington is a great supporter of the SDF and its efforts, indeed was an integral part of the redesign and manufacture of the TR4A/5 front sidelight/indicator repeater units along with getting a batch of OE spec TR6 engine bearings made by the original company (all now sold). 
His very generous donation to the TR Register ought to be more widely acknowledged, along with the detail of how much money was raised and for what purpose these monies are used.
Ian

I was responding to Ian C s post re 7/8 spares