TR Action London Group report for issue 348
David Boucher writes:- I thought it had been a quieter couple of months since the last report until I started writing this report. But no, apart from the ever popular relatively spontaneous (subject to weather) breakfast drive-outs to the Plucky Pheasant at Newlands Corner on the second Sunday of September and the first one of October, the first event was the Egham Royal Show on August Bank Holiday. This is quite a big event with a huge amount of attractions and 6 members went along for the classic car element of the Show with an assortment of TR3A’s, 4A’s & 6s. We may have only had 6 entrants but Russell Newell came away with 2nd in class in the ‘Post-war’ category!
Several members made the early September pilgrimage to the Goodwood Revival with Alan Jones in full ‘cheeky chappie’ dress-code, Graeme Cole as a snappy US officer, and Dave Rackham doing a fine impression of a 50’s fruit & veg market boy!
In the middle of September, 5 of us decided to attend the classic car race meeting at Angouleme in southern France. The team consisted of TR-LG Committee with yours truly in my post-bbq’d TR3A, Mark Bulford in his TR3A, Steve Bamforth in his TR6, Alan Jones in his TR3A and also Simon Liefer (with his good friend Lee) in his immaculate TR5. We took a couple of days getting down there (apart from Simon who overnighted on the Caen ferry) via the Channel Tunnel and a motorway blast to our overnight stop in Le Mans, and then a gentle run down to Angouleme the next day including a lovely county village lunch stop. It was on this day that mechanical problems hit us - or Alan to be precise - with loss of water and overheating. However we all made it to Angouleme with frequent stops to add liquid (to the car, naturally!). Saturday was spent exploring the town which had put on numerous exhibitions and given open-access to the pits to look at all the race cars, followed by a fun night out at restaurant walkable from the hotel. Sunday was race day and we had excellent grandstand seats organised by Alan in which to watch some great racing, not least a full-on race with about 12 humungously expensive Bugattis! Another evening meal and sadly Monday came all too soon but we again had a lovely drive through France stopping at Saumur for lunch and a visit to the Le Mans Museum before checking into our hotel again. Alan had successfully made his way in the cool of the early morning and easily beat us into the Le Mans hotel. Tuesday and we had the slog back to the tunnel made longer by sticking to about 60 mph or Alan’s car overheated but we all made it in one piece (sort of!). I would highly recommend this trip (particularly if you have the lovely weather we did) as it’s a great drive down and a superb destination - photos are on our Flickr site.
Much excitement in late September when our very own Barry Rowe featured in ‘Classic Cars’ magazine in an excellent article about his ‘original’ TR6 and even made the front cover (just!). Barry has been poorly this year and rarely been able to get to our club nights so we wish him well as soon as possible - he is sorely missed.
There was much controversy at the first Club meeting of October at the Winning Post in Whitton when Graeme Cole, Dave Rackham & Ron Thorn and partners posted pictures of a breakaway meeting in a curry house in Surrey - our leader, Mark, is threatening retribution!
The following Friday, our leader, Mark and yours truly in a TR4A and Graham Baggeley with friend David in his TR3A joined 134 other Triumphs to set off on the Round Britain Reliability Run starting at Knebworth House and proceeding all the way round Britain in 48 hours, stopping only to refuel and at checkpoints all round the route. I should add that Graham had only just finished a complete ground-up re-build some 2 weeks before , and the car had only done about 600 miles when it lined up at the start. Why would we do that you might ask, and to be frank, I have no answer! It’s certainly a challenge and one that we completed this time (we failed two years ago breaking down at the last checkpoint) with much online support from members - Sadly, Graham & David’s car succumbed to the biblical rain in Scotland together with falling oil pressure. Once again there are many pictures on our Flikr site which give you the flavour of it.
The final event of this report was a pub run / annual conkers competition in mid October from the Star Inn near Leatherhead to the Punchbowl Inn in Ockley, Surrey. It was a beautiful day and the route took our 11 cars along some splendid country lanes to the pub for a very good Sunday roast. The only negative being that we chatted for so long at the meeting point and upon arrival at the pub, we ran out of time for the conkers competition - oh well, there’s always next year!
Finally (almost), I can confirm that the annual bonanza Christmas Party will be at
the Winning Post on the A316 at Whitton on Saturday, 9th December once again - this is always such a fun evening (and not too expensive!) that I urge you to come and join us. Details will be on your emails.
So finally (really!), come and join us for a noggin and a natter over a beer, you are most welcome. To see our upcoming dates, please keep an eye on your emails or on the web site http://www.tr-register.co.uk/group/london and don’t forget, it’s the Winning Post, Chertsey Rd (A316), Whitton, Twickenham TW2 6LS on the first Thursday of the month, and the Star, Kingston Rd, Leatherhead KT22 0DP on the third Thursday of the month.
Addendum: As I write this, the news is out that our Group Leader, Mark Bulford, is leaving us next year to become SE Coordinator for the Register. Mark has been an inspirational leader for some 10 years, leading from the front at all times, and will be truly missed. We all wish him well and guarantee to give him a merciless time when he deigns to visit us as our Coordinator!!