TR Register Track Day at Castle Combe - 5 October 2016
This second outing at Castle Coombe was another very successful day, near Bath and those attending to test their Triumph to their own personal limits were treated to a day of glorious sunshine. Castle Coombe are true professionals at processing batches of cars for track laps, as was the event organiser Kevin Bryant to whom we owe a huge vote of thanks for putting on this event.
Tim Carr and Dave Green represented Brunel Group out on the track and Andy Dall provided support, with Tim's son joining the team for this event. Photos are in the gallery.
This was another "mainly" Triumph track day.All four wheel Triumphs or their derivatives were welcome, but in addition TR Register members were able to bring their other classic along should they wish.And the definition of classic used here was anything over 25 years old.So Kev Bryant's tuned up Porsche 911 Turbo (930 for those in the know) was demonstrating what 330+hp can do.
Once again there were special sessions for the less confident drivers and this time there was free tuition from the more experienced drivers should anyone want it.So this was an excellent opportunity to let your partner, family or friends have a go.Tim's son came along (as in the gallery) and had a great time hurling his dad's TR4A around the track
Sensibly, the marshals lead each group out on their first sighting lap of the day to demonstrate braking points and best lines through the corners for those willing to take note.For the very first time ever Dave actually took note of the marshals guidance and had a chat with one of them after the first session, the results were dramatic, with far quicker corner taking.
Towards the end of the day as we were milling around the paddock as you do, Kev Bryant offered Dave a ride around the track in his Porsche 930, not one to miss out on an opportunity like that he leaped back to his car for his helmet and they were away in this amazing Porsche 911.Apparently the first couple of laps flying around were just a warm up!We then really pressed on, passing anything and everything with ease.It flew.He demonstrated what happens when you floor the throttle from low revs to show what happens when the turbo comes alive, the result was quite frightening, the increase in power is quite sudden and is a major factor in the 911 Turbos reputation for being a bit of a handful.After ten or a dozen laps we came in and I was, shall we say, perspiring, and had a back that knew it had been thrown into seat side supports for a lot of corners.What an experience, and many thanks to Kevin.Sadly when he went back out on track shortly after to check something on the car the fierce reputation of the 911 Turbo took its toll and the car left the track, span, and hit the barrier quite hard, unfortunately back end first.The driver was OK but the Porsche will need some repair work, hopefully it wasn't as bad as it looked.
As always the event concluded with everyone who had been out on track leaving with aching faces from all the grinning! Thanks to Kevin Bryant once again for organising such an important event in the annual TR diary.