Our Year in Pictures: 2026

Some clubs measure a year in miles. Some in trophies. Ours, it turns out, is best measured in WhatsApp photos. Since the group chat started, it's become a lively hive of questions, banter, advice and pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

What follows is about fifty of them, from March to October. They aren't calendar shots. They're road runs and rescues, lunches and line-ups, Alpine passes and Daleks. In short, it's all the general silliness that makes this group worth turning up for. Thank you to everyone who pressed the shutter, and to every organiser who gave us something to point the camera at.

On the Road

The year properly woke up on 26 April with Drive It Day, a 30-mile run from Holme for Gardens through some of Purbeck's finest, lunch for the humans, and first-class treatment for the canine contingent. From there it was evening runs on roads rarely travelled, a June Treasure Hunt that sent us down lanes we'd never have found on purpose, and a Yorkshire Dales weekend that came home with glowing reviews.

Drive It Day, 26 April: Dorset landmarks and gorgeous greens.

Purbeck lanes doing what Purbeck lanes do best.

Regrouped and all accounted for: the Drive It Day car park.

The evening run, 8 May: roads rarely travelled, and plenty of TRs to travel them.

Late May. Hood down, not easy to improve that view, but we did our best.

Mid-June: Dorset's Avenue of Trees, viewed the only proper way, over the graceful curves and powerbulge of a TR.

Treasure Hunt navigation: "No, honestly, it's definitely down here."

We may not have any motorways in Dorset, but we do have our own particular form of traffic.

Yorkshire Dales weekend: drystone walls, big skies and a warm welcome from the Red Rose TR Group.

The Dales, framed by Michelotti.

Lined Up

Put a dozen TR owners in a field and, without a word being said, they'll park in a neat row. This year gave us plenty of fields.

The Treasure Hunt lunch stop starts to fill up.

Red and Blue and Burgundy, Green and White and Yellow. I can sing a Rainbow.

Noses in a row.

We do welcome other Triumphs. We just left a healthy gap between the six and that Stag.

Early July and show season is in full swing. There are TRs in the field. And my other half, somewhere. Always somewhere.

Mid-September: Give them a strip of grass, and they'll self collate.

October sunshine on a  member's stag. I've had the privilege of following this car, and can tell you it sounds as good as it looks.

Long shadows, green TR. Autumn has arrived.

More than holding its own among the moderns (and a sneaky Vitesse)

Spanners, Shine and the Occasional Recovery Truck

Behind every glorious road run is someone lying on a cold garage floor, muttering. The group chat has been a lifeline this year for advice, parts, moral support and the occasional "rather you than me". And when things do go wrong on the road, at least we go wrong together.

30 March: Diff became fundamentally fed up with its innards. Advice and sympathy arrived in roughly equal measure.

The evening run's surprise guest star: one recovery truck. Names withheld. Your secret is safe with us. Mostly.

Show and Shine at Bloxworth, 11 June: polished, parked and quietly hoping for silverware.

Further Afield

Plenty of TRs went a long way from Bloxworth this year. One pair crossed the Alps to Italy in June, returning with tales of heat, a car that behaved beautifully, and exactly one more pine marten than anyone expected. The European trip came home safe and full of racing stories. And in September, TS2, the Register's 1953 TR2, set off on the Ten Countries Run: roughly 2,500 miles, ten countries, and more goodwill than any one car could expect.

7 June: luggage strapped down and pointed at Italy.

An Alpine car park on 11 June. Note the snow. Note the month.

September: a rather grand overnight stop.

A room with a view.

The château every road trip promises and very few deliver.

Evening falls and the crowds come out.

The Register's 1953 TR2 sits for its portrait at the end of the 10CR, 12 September.

The Daft Bits

This is where the club really earns its keep. Some of these need context. Some are beyond it.

Drive It Day's most relaxed passenger always gets the best view.

The Giro di Martora.

Verwood Classic Fayre, bank holiday Monday: not everything at a classic show has four wheels.

TwinsFX, 2 September: our visit to the prop wizards. Always pet friendly.

Also at TwinsFX: the Daleks. Sure, the threat of extermination is there, but is that Inca, Mimosa, or Jasmine?

Dressed for the occasion. Whatever the occasion was.

Red carpet, 9 September. Some of us were clearly born for the limelight.

Around the Table

Cars run on petrol. A club runs on its lunches.

Treasure Hunt lunch: chandeliers, white tablecloths and the serious business of checking answers.

Far too many empty glasses for the end of a long day.

Why take a car, when you can have a dining car? Add a glass of fizz and two people who know exactly how to travel.

The (Not Actually) Last Road Run

Billed as the Last Road Run of the Year, 25 October began with coffee and home-made shortbread at Athelhampton House, carried on with a 40-mile run through our prettiest lanes, and finished with lunch at a dog-friendly pub. Twenty-five of us joined in and the WhatsApp group duly lit up. It also turned out not to be the last run at all, but nobody's complaining.

A little close to halloween for this  aesthetic.

Parked up beneath the autumn trees.

The full line-up, from sunshine yellow to gunmetal grey.

Lunch, at last.

Wood, warmth, and plenty to talk about.

The naughty table, clearly.

Yes, its dog friendly. Its always dog friendly. The Dorset TR Kennel Club continues apace.

 Full of cheer with emptied glasses and good company.

Don't be fooled. That's definitely a dog bowl. 

Coming Up

The year isn't done yet. There's a winter pub lunch on Thursday 19 November, departing from East Farm Shop. Then, on Thursday 10 December, it's our Christmas Extravaganza at the Cumberland Hotel. Dress code is festive and upscale, though big hair, sequins and plenty of rock-star energy will also do nicely. A week later, on Thursday 17 December, it's Christmas Club Night at Bloxworth, with a buffet, skittles and Secret Santa.

Simply the best way to finish the year.

Here's to next year. Bring the car, bring the camera, and keep the photos coming.