The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

The Number One Club for owners of Triumph's range of small saloons from the 1960s and 1970s.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:23 am 
Not quite Dolomite related, but Southsea Motor Club's Towncross Engineering South Downs Stages will once again be held at Goodwood circuit on Saturday 6th February, with at least 7 TR7V8s out...
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The response to our first TR7 V8 challenge has been very positive. Amongst the seven entrants so far are three ex-works cars. Bert Smeets is our first foreign competitor and brings from Belgium Per Eklund's BP Rallysprint winning car of '79 which was also driven by Simo Lampinen on three World Championship events that year.

Dave Rayner will be bringing the last car ever built by the factory and which was driven in 1980 by Per Eklund, Timo Makinen on the 1000 Lakes Rally, and finally John Buffum on the RAC Rally. He will be co-driven by Stuart Harrold who was co-driver in '79 for Graham Elsmore who should also be at Goodwood.

Hopefully Tony Maslen will be bring long the car in which Tony Pond/Fred Gallagher competed on the Welsh, Scottish and Burmah Rallies. In '79 Irish driver Derek Boyd took it on the Galway and Circuit of Ireland rallies and after that it is believed that it was used by Graham Elsmore and Terry Kaby.

With more modern engineered cars from Alistair Flack, Stephen Hall, David Pedley and Paul Hunter the challenge looks set to entertain!

As well as TR7 V8s there are two other noteworthy cars to look out for.

One is the Aston Martin Rally GT of Alan Thistlethwaite. The Aston, which is a rare beast to find in modern day rallying is based on the baby V8 Vantage and is one of four such cars built by Prodrive for Aston Martin in 2006 and is prepared by David Appleby Engineering. Four of these cars were built for rallying in Europe where they cater for this category of car. They were also used at the 2006 Race of Champions at Wembley where this car was driven by no less than Former World Rally Champion and world favourite Colin McRae, six times and current World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb and seven times World F1 Drivers Champion Michael Schumacher.

In contrast to the sleek lines of the powerful Aston is the Morris Marina which will be having its debut outing after a ten year restoration by its owner and driver Trevor Godwin of Coventry Engineering. It is the ex-British Leyland Special Tuning car which their stalwart driver Brian Culcheth drove to a class win on the 1971 RAC Rally. Brian will be visiting the event to be reunited with his former steed.

Add to these the backbone of British rallying, the club drivers, with their many and varied machines which include two previous winners of this event � last years victor Adrian Brown in his 2.4 Escort MkI and his predecessor back to try and reclaim the crown, Simon Mauger, this time with a new Millington 2.5 litre engined Escort MkII.

So if you like variety in your rallying and you want to be entertained and be able to see these cars and competitors up close then Goodwood is the place to be on February 6th.
http://southdownsstages.co.uk/

I'll be there in an official capacity (part of the timekeeping team), but it is free for spectators...


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:05 am 
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Can I offer myself as a helper in any way Nick? (I used to marshal at Goodwood)

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track action maniac.

The lunatic is out................heres Jonny!


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:14 pm 
The more the merrier - Probably the best bet is to contact the chief marshal (http://southdownsstages.co.uk/marshals.html), as he'll know what he needs people to do...

Marshals usually get a free lunch as well :)

Are you a member of Southsea MC? If not, it's worth joining, they're a very good bunch of people and active in all sorts of motorsport.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 1:02 am 
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I have been meaning to join SMC since we got back in Hants 6 years ago (I have a couple of SMC trophys from my Goodwood sprinting days) I also had a great time go karting with them some years back too.

I will contact the main man thanks for the link Nick

_________________
track action maniac.

The lunatic is out................heres Jonny!


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:47 pm 
Did you go along then TJ? It was a good day, the dull weather brightening up for a nice sunny afternoon, and the TRs providing plenty of entertainment :)


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:32 pm 
I went along to this yesterday to support a mate in his mk1 escort. The tr's sounded the best by far. Was a very good day out.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:03 pm 
What did he break? It looked very poorly at the end of the first stage and we didn't see him after...


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:09 pm 
Really enjoyed myself, I'll be back next year


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:21 pm 
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Quote:
What did he break? It looked very poorly at the end of the first stage and we didn't see him after...
clutch cable and fork


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:28 pm 
As Steve says the cable snapped 100 yards off the start line of the first stage. Then the clutch fork fell off and they couldn't get it back on. So he is going to resolve this the simple way and buy a new engine and box lol.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:06 pm 
A few pics of the day.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:11 pm 
Image :eyes4u: :eyes4u: :eyes4u: :eyes4u:

I'd imagine that would be quite entertaining. :thumbsup:


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:55 pm 
Sorry Nick didn't see you already posted this topic anyway

great day i got some feedback from the organiser Southsea and Bognor Regis Motor Clubs

Re explaining how we decided to run this Challenge here is an extract from info which I sent to ‘Triumph World’ magazine and which was used largely in the opening article of their March edition:

‘February 6th 2010 will see the sixth annual running, by the combined team from Southsea and Bognor Regis Motor Clubs, of the South Downs Stages Rally at Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit. Over these years the event, now in its fourth year of sponsorship by Towncross Engineering, has grown in stature and has earned a reputation as a well run and very friendly yet competitive tarmac rally.

Each year the organizing team looked at ways they could improve the event. Their main criteria was to ensure enjoyment for both competitors and spectators as Goodwood is one of the few tarmac rally venues in the South which can be accessed by members of the public, rather than being on military property with associated security issues. A key consideration is that the event remains a ‘stand alone’ event and not part of any championships so that the competitors focus is solely on enjoyment on the day and not having to worry about championship points.

The size of the venue and winter time conditions mandated by Goodwood dictate that the event cannot grow physically any more. Therefore the team, anxious to attract more spectators and rally enthusiasts generally looked at how they could increase the entertainment value of the event without losing any of its previously stated criteria. For the past two years they had had some TR7 V8s take part and these proved to be popular amongst everyone involved with the event, so they hit upon the idea of attracting more of the rumbling beasts.

‘A TR7 V8 has a particular presence about it’ said Phil Collings, Event Manager. ‘The iconic shape mixed with that special V8 sound, plus the fact that the car holds a place in the heart of British rally fans, both those who are old enough to have been involved with them originally or watched them on the top British and sometimes World Rallies, but even amongst some of the younger generation who have heard about the ‘people’s rally car’ as it was once referred to and some of the legends who drove it, particularly Tony Pond’. The fact that the car was a pig to drive on the loose, especially in its early days and compared to a MkII Escort, which was always known as a forgiving car to drive – hence its prolification throughout all levels of rallying. So it took someone of the caliber of Pondy to get the best out of the beast. All of which creates the legend that is the Triumph TR7 V8’.

The answer to what we do in the future is open to debate currently and we would welcome feedback and ideas from anyone as the event is for cmpetitors and spectators alike. The feedback received so far, especially from the TR7 competitors has been very positive and encouraging, so we will clearly want to build on this. Exactly what form this takes will be a decision made after much research, listening to comments and taking into account some potential improvements to the condition of use of the venue.

The general opinion of those club members and competitors that I have had a chance to speak to since the event is that this was our best event yet.

The best place to keep up to date with the news during the year is the event website http://www.southdownsstages.co.uk, plus I will try and keep all interested parties abreast of what will happen.

WATCH THIS SPACE………..


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:33 pm 
Quote:
Sorry Nick didn't see you already posted this topic anyway
No problem! Are you a member of either club?
Quote:
The size of the venue and winter time conditions mandated by Goodwood dictate that the event cannot grow physically any more.
Indeed so - Even with only 40 cars it is is still a challenge to squeeze it all in. When the red escort above went off, someone stopped the entire stage even though the car in question was quite able, and willing, to continue under it's own power - That short, 5 minute or so delay, resulted in the entire stage 4 being cancelled.

The main problem, however, is the incredibly tight restrictions imposed by Goodwood - there *has* to be a lunchbreak between 12 and 1 (hence the loss of stage 4, as had we run it, it would have finished about 5-10 past 12 - at most venues you'd simply have 5 minutes less lunchbreak...), and you *have* to finish by 4 (which we managed by about 10 minutes) They also have serious noise restrictions with fancy meters to enforce them... Unfortunately I believe these are council-imposed rules, so nothing Goodwood can do about them...
Quote:
The general opinion of those club members and competitors that I have had a chance to speak to since the event is that this was our best event yet.
Indeed, it flowed very well, we had less interruptions than most years, and a very good selection of entries. From my position in the timekeeping crew, everything worked pretty smoothly (bar one cock-up that we had to deal with, and hopefully managed to cover up without anyone noticing ;-) )


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:10 pm 
Unfortunatly not Nick

I basically belong to most of the Triumph forums and when possible try to intereact the clubs, especially on events like this.

And being an active member of two clubs i know how dissapointing it can be when someone takes the time to organise a run or treasure hunt say and on two people turn up on the other hand twenty people might turn up.

So like with say the New forest run i'll cross promote it and your very own London to Brighton run Brilliant idea's that need to be attended otherwise these and other Triumph events will die..

Now i own TR but seeing TR week in week out the same one's can be a bit of a bore my sister had a Toledo my Brother a Spitfire and my mate a Dolomite so nothings better than meeting new like minded people.

so if you fancy inviting other triumphs along to your monthly meet or run i'm up for it


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