A Fun Weekend

Last weekend I went up to the TSSC International in Stafford, unfortunatly 1 adult (well in size anyway!), 2 kids and camping gear for a weekend don't fit in a GT6 so I had to take the Beemer estate. I must admidt it felt strange not having the GT6 there.... However the good news is tyhat there was room to take a lot of extra camping stuff and camp cookie was set up like a home from home!

It's 3 years since I last managed to get along to the Stafford show so it was good to be there again and for me this is as much a social event as a car meet so it was great to catch up with freinds. The show itself was a celebration of 50 years since the 1st Spitfire and Vitesse hit the streets so the hall was packed out with Vitesses and Spittys on the Saturday for a special display although there werea few other Triumphs.

 

 One car that caught my eye was a Herald that had been converted to Electric with loads of batteries undre the bonnet and in the boot plus an electric motor where the gearbox would normally sit. The owner told me that the motor is a type used for drag racing and can kick out 400 BHP but he has it set at 100 BHP to extend the range, still powerfull enough to power a Hearld, apparntly range is 70 - 80 miles if it's not pushed too hard but can be down to 20 miles at 80mph on the motorway! The other thing about the car is that I recognised the registration as it is Leon Guyot's old Herald which I remember well from my early day's in the club. Leon emigrated out to the USA in the 90s but took his rather nice Vitesse with him nd it;s still on the road out there...

 One car that caught my eye was a Herald that had been converted to Electric with loads of batteries undre the bonnet and in the boot plus an electric motor where the gearbox would normally sit. The owner told me that the motor is a type used for drag racing and can kick out 400 BHP but he has it set at 100 BHP to extend the range, still powerfull enough to power a Hearld, apparntly range is 70 - 80 miles if it's not pushed too hard but can be down to 20 miles at 80mph on the motorway! The other thing about the car is that I recognised the registration as it is Leon Guyot's old Herald which I remember well from my early day's in the club. Leon emigrated out to the USA in the 90s but took his rather nice Vitesse with him nd it;s still on the road out there...

For me the best bit of Stafford is always the party on the Saturday night, a few years back my TSSC area started making it an unofficial fancy dress and it now has become an official fancy dress do with a theme. This year it was a night at the movies with peoiple going as various movie characters. I went along as Haniball Leckter, a nice easy costume with a £3.99 mask off ebay and a pair of overalls, but very effective! There were plenty of really great costumes.

There were also bumper cars, which is great fun, especially after a few beers!

A few more pictures of cars at the show....

Steaming!

Had a great day out at the Club Triumph National. This year it was only about 25 miles down the road at Holycombe Steam Museum near Liphook. Although it is a local attraction it was somewhere I'd never visited before, but I'm sure it's somewhere I'll be visiting again soon.

I had intended it to be a family day out, however my 9 year old daughter had other ideas, got stroppy and refused to come along so it ended up with just me and my son.

The run down was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that it was the first time I'd used the new Hindhead tunnel on the A3. Good excuse to wind down the windows, drop the GT6 out of overdrive and press the loud pedal to hear the glorious 6 pot exhaust reverberating in the Tunnel!

I thought this sign was rather apt for a "Triumph" day!

As is normal for the Club Triumph national it's a pretty low key and informal event but there was a good variety of Triumphs to mooch around before going in to the museum and a few freinds to catch up with for a natter. 


Also to add a bit of interest there was a classic bus rally being held on the same day. In fact one of the Dolomite Club guys, Marty,  who attends our monthly meets also owns a really nice Routemaster Bus and he came down in that rather than a Triumph.

Marty's bus is the one in the foreground. 

There was a visit from 4 Bugatti replicas who were invited to park up with the Triumphs which added a bit of interest.

The museum was a bit quiet when we arrived, being a steam museum it takes them a little while to get the boilers stoked up and get things going and the steam powered funfair didn't really get into full swing until about 1 o'clock. However there was lots of things to wander around a look at, there was a traction engine pulled cart that we had a ride on as that was up and running early on. Then there was a nice ride on a Steam Train ride up the hill and through the woods. After lunch me and the boy hit the fun fair, great traditional rides mostly powered by steam, the chairoplane was the neaest to a white knuckle ride that was running, there was a steam boat ride, a merry go round, a ferris wheel that gave a really good view of the museum park and the local countryside. Add traditional stuff like a hall of mirrors, candy floss etc plus a miniture train ride and a great time was had by all.

3 Triumph Weekends on the trot!

It's been a busy month for me Triumph wise this month as I've had 3 weekends away Triumphing, all of them involving camping, beers and barbecues...

May day bank Holiday weekend was the Isle of Wight Triumph Club Weekend, even though the weather was a bit damp it was still a great event. We had quite a few of our local club area in attendance as usual. Once again we won the quiz, not sure how we manage that most years as we don't take it too seriously. Lots of the local Fuddle de dum beer was consumed so maybe that helped! A few pictures from the event below.

The following weekend was SEM (South of England Meet) at Leatherhead. The weather was dry thank goodness as the camping is very much out in the open there. Some nice cars there on the day, plus a Lightnin' McQueen (from the cartoon "Cars") themed GT6 convertible which people either loved or hated. Pictures from the event below:-

Then last weekend was my favourite Triumph Event, the Triumph Marque day at Prescott. I love the fact that this is an action packed event with Triumph's of all types from all clubs driving up the hill all through the day, some gently, some very aggresively, plus of course the chance to attack the hill in your own car. There was some lovely cars out on the track, including quite a few ex works rally cars, being driven hard like they are suppossed to be! Pictures and Video clips below, including in car footage of one of my runs up the hill

Video Clip of My Run



Video Clip of Works TR4 Rally car, very fast...