the ragtop - hill country triumph club · together the owners of triumph automobiles in the central...

The RAGTOP 1 July 2004

Monthly Newsletter of the HILL COUNTRY TRIUMPH CLUB

The RAGTOPVolume 17, Issue 7, July 2004

www.hillcountrytriumphclub.org

Triumph Familyby Bob Skewis, President

Triumph Family Barbeque

After many delays waiting for the guest ofhonor to be there, a date certain was

chosen and the faithful arrived. The weatherin June was not cooperative at all and it heldtrue to form this night also. Despite our hopesthat we could park and display our cars in theyard and enjoy the deck and the outdoors, therain started at 5:00 and I gave up the idea.We had a good turnout of some 20 heartysouls, but there was only one thing missing –not a Triumph in sight. In fact the only Britishcars there were Marilyn’s Mini snug in thegarage and the beautiful Morgan +8Morgan +8Morgan +8Morgan +8Morgan +8 driven bymembers Duncan and Lee CharltonDuncan and Lee CharltonDuncan and Lee CharltonDuncan and Lee CharltonDuncan and Lee Charlton. The foodwas plentiful and delicious and the close indoorquarters only lent to the family reunionatmosphere. Good conversation and a fewgames on the free-play pinball machine kept ustogether until after 10:00. As for our Guestof Honor, I have it on good authority that ArtArtArtArtArtGravesGravesGravesGravesGraves spent the weekend moving furnitureback in to a room with a fresh finish on the

hardwood floors. Maybe we need a road trip tosee this new house! As Art stated in hisfarewell column a couple of months back, hemay be in the Sooner Nation, but he is a Texanat heart. So, to honor him and his contributionto our club, I built a fitting award for his newmantle. The materials would make any Texanproud – Cretaceous limestone from a quarry inCedar Park with a large Lone Star on the faceand a base of heartwood mesquite. The awardhas a plate enscribed with our appreciation andbest wishes and should keep him yearning forthe home country and his HCTC Family. Sinceit may be awhile before he can make it downhere again, I have shipped the award to him —you can see a picture of it on page 3.

Many of you know that this time of year isreserved for Club Officer elections. I justwant to let you know that it is safe to come tothe meeting on Tuesday. We held electionslast month at Pokejoe’s and the entire slate ofofficers from the past year were eager toserve you again. Their eagerness was rewardedwith a resounding shout of “Aye!” when thevote was called for. As President, I would liketo thank those of you who stepped forward andvolunteered their time to host a club function.I can’t name them all, but Phil Taylor’sPhil Taylor’sPhil Taylor’sPhil Taylor’sPhil Taylor’s hostingof the Christmas Party, the Hill CountryChristmas Light drive hosted by the McPhailsMcPhailsMcPhailsMcPhailsMcPhailsand the HertersHertersHertersHertersHerters, and first year members DavidDavidDavidDavidDavidand Anne Schlosser’sand Anne Schlosser’sand Anne Schlosser’sand Anne Schlosser’sand Anne Schlosser’s Bastrop Lost Pines drivewere memorable contributions. We have addedtwo new members in the last month that arebringing a TR3 and a TR6 into Austin. Come onout and meet them and, what else, talk cars.I’ll see you there!


OfficersPresidentBob [email protected]

Vice-PresidentJohn [email protected]

TreasurerEarl [email protected]

Secretary, MembershipNel [email protected]

Ragtop EditorCarol [email protected]

Dan Julien, [email protected]

Fix-it DayMike [email protected]

The Hill Country Triumph Club, the 50th Chapter of theVintage Triumph Register (VTR), was founded in 1990 to bringtogether the owners of Triumph automobiles in the CentralTexas area surrounding Austin. In 1991, the membership de-cided to include other British car fans as associates due to lackof other clubs in our area that represent some of the othermarques. As owners and lovers of our unique types of cars, wehave a special kinship, which draws us together. Membership isopen to anyone who is a British car enthusiast, with or withouta car.

Annual dues are just $15.00 per family group or address peryear. See the membership form on the back page. We havedinner meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month and at leastone other event each month. We encourage you to join andsupport us, even if you don’t drive your car regularly. We alsooffer technical assistance if needed. One goal of the club is tohelp its members keep their cars on the road. Please call one ofthe club officers listed in the newsletter for more informationabout club benefits and spread the word about our club toothers.

The RAGTOP is published monthly by the Hill Country Tri-umph Club. Material within may be freely reproduced provid-ing Ragtop and the authors are credited. Any and all newslettercontributions are welcome. Deadline for submissions is fourdays prior to the end of each month. Submissions may be sentto:

Carol Pennington105 Etta PlaceAustin, TX 78753

or E-mailed to [email protected]. Photos or image files like.gif or .jpg are always welcome. Any disk sent will be forwardedto our cryptology department and interpreted to the best of ourability using the latest state-of-the-art Lucas computer system.Older technologies such as bar napkin, toilet paper, or shoptowels are also accepted. Whatever the medium, we want tohear from you!

Classified ads are free to current members and will run forthree months unless otherwise instructed. Other ad rates are asfollows:

Non member classified .................................... $5.00 for 3 monthsBusiness cards ................................................... $50.00 per yearHalf page ............................................................ $100.00 per yearFull Page ............................................................. $200.00 per year

Advertise your business here for great results while support-ing your club and hobby at the same time. What a deal!


Due to the record settingrainfall of late, there were

understandably few TRs at theJune meeting. Dan Julien wasthe only member fearlessenough to face the rain slickedstreets in a Triumph.

Perhaps the rain clouds held asilver lining for my hubby Mike.He usually drives the TR3, butbecause of the weather chose totake my 1997 Jaguar to PokeyJoe’s. Mopac was stop and goacross Town Lake and he wasrear ended by an inattentiveyoung driver! Little damage wasdone, thanks to the modern fivemph bumper. This would havebeen a very sad day indeed, hadhe been in the Triumph. Bob Skewis wasinvolved in a similar accident recently, and hisTR250 has yet to be repaired. Oh well, suchare the risks of driving in Austin traffic!

Tuesday was election night for HCTC, with allthe officers re-elected. Webmaster Danannounced the online availability of the Ragtop.Anyone wishing to be taken off the mailing listshould contact me ([email protected]).

June events topped the agenda. Pledges weremade for side dishes to be brought to the ArtGraves going away BBQ. As it turned out,Warren and Yolanda, Duncan and Lee, Mike andNel, Ralph and Jeffie, Dan and Francis, Ed andEva, Phil Taylor and our newest member HarryTaggart all brought something scrumptious.

The party was a huge success, even though Artwas unable to attend. President Skewisunveiled a beautiful limestone trophy inrecognition of Art’s contribution to HCTC.

Our June driving event was the GatesvilleDrive-In-Movie. The Herters and McPhailsshowed in their TR3s, much to the delight ofthe other movie goers. The Miata and MG clubswere also there and likewise flocked to admirethe vintage Triumphs. It was a very pleasantevening and a worthwhile adventure.

Bob and Barbara Kramer were conspicuouslyabsent from the meeting. Seems they were offto the races in far away Virginia. We can’t waitto hear about Bob’s high speed exploits!


The International Triumph Challengeby Bob Kramer

Each year for the past three, I have venturedcross country in order to meet and race with

other members of the Friends of Triumph racingcommunity,º FOT, ºfor what we call theInternational Triumph Challenge.º Two years ago itwas the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, home of theSCCA Nationals, American Lemans Series, RolexSports Car Series, CART and other mainstreamracing. Last year we went to Mosport in Toronto,another famous racing venue for all types ofprofessional racing. This year the ITC was run inconjunction with the Gold Cup vintage races atVirginia International Raceway. This track has beenresurrected as a Motorsports Country Club,complete with a converted plantation mansion for aclubhouse, swimming pool, and a hotel underconstruction.

I loved Mid Ohio and thought it was an incrediblefan friendly facility and a challenging track. It hasgreat places to watch the races, great track foodand draws the crowds. You meet the nicest cars, Imean the nicest people there. The track isconsidered to be one of the most technicallydifficult to master, and with head gasket andignition problems all weekend I never did get thefeeling that I had done a “hot lap”. Mosport wasalso incredible and the track was even moredifficult. The facilities weren’t quite up to the MidOhio level but it was close. I was just getting thefeel of the track when that number three rodbroke. I think I was at the start of a really hot lap.I say that because it was a practice session, andthe really fast guys started out right behind meand I had kept them there for the first green flaglap. My plan was to learn from them as they passedme one by one. Instead they got to watch as piecesof my engine sprayed out behind me, and a coupleof fireballs exited from under my TR4. That is notwhat I mean when I say a “hot lap”. ºVIR may havethem both beat. The track has the elevationchanges of Mosport and requires the precision ofMid Ohio. It has 2 long straights that both end intosharp turns. Racer confidence is inspired by thewide, and I might say well used run off areas. Fanscan see the races from almost anywhere around thetrack. Best of all, it is fun to drive.

My “bigger picture” plan with this racing thing is tovisit and race at all of the famous racing venuesaround the country. Places like Watkins Glen,

Sebring, Daytona (the road course), Road America,Lime Rock, Sears Point (now Infineon Raceway dueto NASCAR ownership) and Road Atlanta. At thesame time we get to visit these areas of thecountry. Consider it like this. Golfers dream aboutplaying at Pebble Beach, Winged Foot or AugustaNational. They can take golf vacations to Hawaii,Virginia Beach or Disney World, but few of themwill ever play Pebble Beach or any of the exclusivecourses that they dream about. With my little TR4,I can mingle with cars like Ferraris, Cobras, Lolasand Mclarens on the most revered race tracks inthe country, and I do.

The grid sheet listed a full complement ofSpitfires, GT6’s, and the big TR’s, TR3 throughTR8’s. We also had Triumph based specials racingincluding a couple of Ambro TR3’s and the TR3Tornado Thunderbolt. A couple of Triumph basedproduction cars, a Warwick GT and a SwallowDoretti in full race prep also raced all weekend.That is the first time I have seen either of thesecars outside the pages of Triumph books. Four guysbrought second race cars including a Devin TR3. Allin all, we had a total of 47 Triumph and Triumphbased cars at the Gold Cup, and 36 of them made itto the grid for Sundays All Triumph Race feature.Not bad considering that 4 guys had brought 2racecars and could only pilot one. Do the math thatmeans only 7 cars failed to make the grid. The“International” part came from the participation of2 TR6’s from the UK including the winner of the AllTriumph Race, Keith Files.

The Texas FOT contingent was all running for theITC. I was gridded 17th, right next to JK Jacksonin the Grassroots Motorsports TR3. Larry Young, inthe yellow Tulsa TR3A was gridded about 21st andSusan Kahler, in the Interstate Batteries greenSpitfire was close behind. Due to the high numbersof cars present, the organizers had split Triumphsup into multiple race groups for the regularpractice and race sessions. Susan and I were in racegroup A and Larry in group B. On Sunday they ranthe groups backwards and Larry had just completedhis final group race, with a half hour lay-over forsome open wheel cars, when we were called for theTriumph feature. We were both learning the trackas we went. Larry had improved his lap times andwas now running faster laps than I had managed.Unfortunately for him, the grid order was based onqualifying times the day before. As we sat waitingfor the race start, two pace cars pulled in front.The first was the Roadster Factory TRS Lemans

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car, closely followed by the beautiful Devin TR3.The 5 minute call came and we all put on our safetygear. About that time it began to rain, the firstrain all weekend. It was gentle, but with 5 minutesto wet the track, I was a little nervous. I do notlike to race in the rain.º I knew that it would likelyget worse, so I pushed it pretty hard at the racestart, hoping to separate myself from the guysbehind me. Once I pulled away I figured that withthe track getting wetter everybody would slowdown. It was a good plan and it worked. The carsbehind me dropped back except for a little yellowdot in my mirror. As the yellow dot got closer Iknew it was Larry, hell bent to get in front of me.He was driving harder than I would risk on the wettrack and he caught me quickly and got by me rightoff. His tires were still hot from his previoussession and he was motivated. After he passed me,I thought about it for a second or two and decidedthat if Larry could push it that hard, I could go atleast that fast. After all, I know both cars prettywell; it was all about guts and precision driving. So,I caught back up to Larry and the two of us racedaround the track for the rest of the race. The rainbacked off towards the end and I decided that Iwould wait for the Oak Tree turn and pass Larry onthe ensuing straight. That would give me a secondopportunity later if I couldn’t pull it off.As the race progressed, I was getting better as mytires heated up and Larry was getting worse havingstarted on hot tires from the previous session.With his tires getting greasy he began slidingaround in the turns. My tires were just about rightand I knew I could hold the turns better than him.As we came into Oak Tree, Larry got a littlesideways. Being right behind him, I had to hit thebrakes hard and I lost my momentum for myplanned pass. We drag raced up the straightawaybut I never really had a chance. I could have duckedinside of him at the top of the hill, but I decidedthat it would force Larry off the track on theoutside. I had one more chance, I would try again aswe entered the front straight. Unfortunately thesame thing happened. I was a little too close, Larrygot loose and we both had to get out of the gas. Iwas gaining on him and would have passed him inabout 50 feet after the checkered flag, but Larryhad done it. In a way I’m glad he beat me, he hasbeen trying so hard and it made the weekendcomplete for him. We finished 15-16 and Susancompleted the race in 27th. She had fought engineproblems all weekend and was happy as could bethat it was all sorted out for the ITC.

I still had one race to go, the last race of theevent. At that point, Larry had run a better laptime and had edged me out in the ITC. The onlything I could say was that he had more laps to learnthe track. As I went out to race, the place wasemptying out. Nevertheless, 40 cars made it to thegrid. I think I started 31st. Group A was populatedwith a variety of cars. These were supposed to bethe faster half of the split “medium bore” cars. Anumber of other Texas cars were also on the grid.Pinnacle Motorsports from Ft. Worth had carried 7or 8 CVAR cars to the Gold Cup and the proprietor,Gregg Rodgers specializes in really fast 1275ccMidgets, including 2 identical one for him and hiswife. I spent the early part of the race fighting heroff as we both made our way through the pack. Ifinished 24th and had managed to pull away fromher toward the end. I’m not sure if I got faster,she got slower or she got tired of the battle, butshe had a slightly quicker fastest lap time. Thegood news for me was that I had learned a littleand pulled off a very respectable 2:31 lap time. Iwas just starting to get the “feel” of the track. Ithink the best Larry had managed was a 2:34. Myself respect was back! I think we both neededanother day to really get it right. We should havepaid the extra $200.00 for the test and tune dayThursday, but that meant leaving Texas a dayearlier and extending the racing budget too far.

This was the first year that Barbara and I havebeen able to go to one of these events without thecomplete Kramer clan. I know we are going to missthe hectic lifestyle we are so accustomed too realsoon, but we have always been just a little enviousof the freedom that some of our club membershave with out the worries of children. We got tospend some alone time together and it was a nicechange from previous cross country jaunts. As forthat freedom thing, 3 TTR guys and their cars fromthe Houston club made trip for Moss Motorssponsored car show. I hope to hear their impressionof the event. The last I saw, they were hanging outby NASCAR Bend. I wonder if they were therewhen that Morgan spun, sending the four of usbehind him into the grass?


Hill Country Triumph Club2004 Events

Close to the event, call the Hotline for additional information 512.703.6553

Hill Country Triumph Club Shirts, Sweatshirts, and Hats are always available!Shirts are 100% combed cotton pique tri-color pullover “JERZEE” golf shirts. Sweatshirts are 95% “Lee”hooded sweatshirts with a muff pocket. Shirts and sweatshirts have the HCTC logo embroidered on thefront. Shirts and sweatshirts are $25.00 and hats are $15.00. Buy yours at the next meeting or event!

JULY 2004

13 Hill Country Triumph Club Meeting. 7PM. A la Carrera in the Balcones WoodsShopping Center at 11150 N. Research Blvd. Take the Braker Lane exit. 345-1763.

14-17 VTR 2004 National Convention, Richmond Virginia, Sponsored by the Rich-mond Triumph Register http://www.richmondtriumphregister.com/

AUGUST 2004

6 Putt-Putt, Burnet Road 6PM-close6-7 TRF Summer Party, Indiana County, PA CANCELLED10 Hill Country Triumph Club Meeting. 7PM.

SEPTEMBER 2004

14 Hill Country Triumph Club Meeting. 7PM.25-26 All British Car Day, SpringHill Suites, Old Settlers Park, Round Rock30-Oct. 4 Triumphfest, Lake Tahoe, CA Sponsored by Triumph Travelers. Visit

http://www.triumphtravelers.org for additional information.

OCTOBER 2004

2 The State Fair of Texas All British Parade to the Fairgrounds !!!The theme this year is The British Invasion. A celebration and salutation to allthings British featuring the Jaguar Marque. More info to come.

12 Hill Country Triumph Club Meeting. 7PM.

John Vuksich is from Austin and owns a white 1960 TR3A. Harry Taggart joined us at Saturday's party. He is from Austin and owns a1973 Plum TR6. Harry recently purchased his TR6 off Ebay and it will betransported to him soon.

Welcome!


For Sale: 1975 TR6 - Metalic Maroon-Purplewith black interior and top. Mechanicallyrestored, magnificent body – the automobile isactually beautiful to behold. Excellent car withgorgeous rims, tires and additional detailswhich indicate a reverence for the automobile'sheritage. The car has been meticulously garagekept and preserved in excellent condition.Drive daily or show: $9,000. Jeff La Force cell(512) 659-5512, toll free (866) “laforce” or e-mail [email protected] [email protected]. 6/04

Graham Davies

BEST of BRITISH

Austin, TX(512) 926-1182

Restoration, Service, Tuning of Austin Healy,MG, Triumph, Mini Cooper S

76 Spitfire

It is red, with new convertible top(black), has a red hardtop.The gentleman who owned it beforeme reupholstered the seats, added new carpet andhas been newly painted. I am able to use it every day.Have had professional mechanic work on it.Since September:Carb Rebuilt (as they no longer sell new ones)New master cylinderNew starterFront wheels bearing repacked/replacednew muffler/tailpipe repair.New tiresCar really runs well.Heater works.New stereo systemRear axle and bearing replacedw/a little over 48,000 miles

Have been using it daily, it runs great. It’s a real lookerand being a teen from the 70’s get a real kick with thelooks and questions and reminiscing. That’s fun.Unfortunately, I also have 3 large dogs and must finda larger vehicle.

I am asking $8500 negotiable. Kathy Konegni, 817-498-1981 (h), 412-394-8079 (c),[email protected]. 7/04

For Sale, 1974 TR-6. Immaculately re-stored. Great driver. Needsabsolutely nothing. $15,000.00. ContactGriff at (210)651-4293 or atE-mail [email protected]. 5/04


Hill Country Triumph Club1105 N. Canyonwood Dr.Dripping Springs, TX 78620Address Correction Requested

The next meeting will be July 13The next meeting will be July 13The next meeting will be July 13The next meeting will be July 13The next meeting will be July 13ththththth, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7PMPMPMPMPM,,,,, at A la Carrera, at A la Carrera, at A la Carrera, at A la Carrera, at A la Carrera,Balcones Woods. See page 6 for directions.Balcones Woods. See page 6 for directions.Balcones Woods. See page 6 for directions.Balcones Woods. See page 6 for directions.Balcones Woods. See page 6 for directions.

If you have July 04 here, it’s DUES time.

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