Celebrating Ian's success

The White Rose Group welcomed one of its members, Ian Lucraft, after the
success of his TR3a at Stratford in being awarded the Ken Richardson Trophy
for 'the car that Ken would most like to drive home from the show'.

Ian was over the moon at the award and told us about how the weekend had
gone for him. "I never thought I would enter my car for a competition, because it has had
so much change during its conversion from a US car, that I knew it would
never be able to enter a Concours class. But the Pride of Ownership class
reflected how I felt about the car. I didn't expect to win anything, and
was perfectly happy to go home with the certificate of participation.
So it was a shock to be phoned on the Monday and told that the car had been
awarded the Ken Richardson Trophy. To be frank I didn't know about this
award, but on reflection realised that some of the interest in the car
during the day which had seemed not quite to be the Pride judges, but more
than casual interest, must have reflected the subtle judging process for
this award. I now know that you cannot enter for this award, but it is
given by the judges, usually to a concours winner, or a special car. There
is some real history in the cars that are listed in the engravings on the
trophy.
I am truly humble that the judges looked at the whole package of car,
presentation, history, development, photos, website and discussion about the
car, and decided to award it to this car. I feel that with this award I
never need to enter another competition. This is the best.

I want to say a big 'thank-you' to Chris Bowns, the White Rose group leader,
and all of the White Rose group members. They welcomed me from the start,
surrounded me with support and good advice as I got to know the car, and
encouraged me to tell the story of the car. Without them I would never have
had the confidence to enter the Pride, and it was a joy to celebrate the
award with them when we got back. I bought the car 50 years after I bought
my first car, also a TR3, rounding off a lifetime of family and work with
the joy of owning, fettling and driving again one of these lovely jewels."

If you want to see more of Ian's car you can read all about it on the car's
website: www.549yug.wordpress.com .