Interesting car sightings

Working at Lotus I often get some interesting car sightings, usually race cars, both new and historic on the new FIA standard track or supercars in for evaluation, etc.
Yesterday there was a Lotus Carlton, seldom seen these days, then todays sighting was a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus rally car, reg PVC 999W, having a look at its history it was the ex Guy Fréquelin/Jean Todt 2nd placed car on the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally. Also driven in 81 by Henri Toivonen/Fred Gallagher.


Talbot Sunbeam Lotus



Stag Owners National Weekend

Still playing catchup with the blog,3 weeks ago a bunch of Club Triumph members where invited to show cars in the Stag Owners National Weekend "Triumph Timeline" at the Norfolk Showground,
Norfolk area been on the doorstep supplied a lot of the Triumphs, Dave Aspinall took his early GT6 and 2500 PI, whilst Julie Aspinall showed her lovely Spitfire, Gill and I took both our DHC TR7 and FHC TR7, Andy Dann took along a Mark 1 PI Estate, Paul Girling showed his Herald convertible whilst Ed and Pauline Hubbard showed an early Vitese.
A group of us camped on Friday and Saturday night, primarily to celebrate Alan Hancocks 70th Birthday with a Barbie and a few glasses. We attended the Meet and Greet supper on the Friday night, a pleasant meal followed by a quiz which our group won, questions where on Norfolk so no surprise there. This was followed by a version of the horse racing game with Stags instead of horses, money been placed on different coloured Stags, no fortunes made here though. Was a good weekend with some friendly Triumph and Stag owners. Weather was a little unkind on the Saturday, stayed dry for the barbie though.
A few Pics.

Birthday Boy



Triumph Roadster



Selection of Spitfires and GT6



Other early Triumphs



A group of modified Triumphs



Club Triumph Stand



Triumph Timeline - The TR cars. There should have only
been 1 of each car, however the display in the arena was hi-jacked by
the TR Register in order to get all his members in the timeline,
hence you will see 4 x TR6, 2 x TR5, 2 x TR4 etc.



The earlier TR,s in the timeline.



Commentary with Graham Robson ex Triumph and BL

Correct line up of TR's.



Some of the 300+ Stags on display.



Timeline of other Triumphs, Herald, Vitesse, saloons, etc.



Collection of interesting Stags in the hall.



Wing Commander Ken Wallace and Little Nellie.



Helmingham Festival

Getting behind with my blog again.
7th August was Helmingham Festival of Classics and Sports Cars. Loads more cars than last year on show despite a higher charge to show a car, both classic and modern sportscars where in abundance, though the normally fast drives up and down the Hall road are getting a little tame, there being a couple of dips in the road, causing front spoiler damage which slows the faster cars down.
Usual Norfolk Club Triumph crews attended, meeting at Stonham to convoy in to the show.
A few pics follow.

One of the few cars which managed any speed on the Hall Drive.




GT6,s from Suffolk.



Trio of Spitfires from the Netherlands on a quick tour of UK



Russels Estate, did not manage to find him on site.



E type and Healey 3000



Couple of Historic rally cars




















Panhard and early TR






Another car I drool over, RS 2000 droop snoot




Helmingham Hall




More snug than a TR6 Ted! Lotus Eoropa.



Lancia Monte Carlo, fantastic condition, I turned a rust bucket one of
these down once.

Strut Brace

Have been thinking about a Strut brace on the DHC for a while, I tried a strut brace a friend in Bury St Edmunds has developed for a V8 but this will not fit, it fouls on SU carbs, so today I experimented with a couple of bits of wood, some 2d patterns of the strut top mount and have come up with a concept.


Paper templates and wood to obtain measurements.




3d drawing of complete brace, have made this adjustable.




Close up rendering of mounting plate and tube end.



Now have to generate the 2d drawings for manufacture and get a sample made up to try it on the car before plating.

Pretty sure it will clear a standard air filter, but not sure if it will clear Sprint engined cars.

Easton Farm Park Show

Last Sunday was Easton Farm Park classic car show in Suffolk,been a few years since we have attended here. We had the usual Norfolk crowd in attendance, 7 cars and a couple of interlopers in a Stag and Spitfire from Suffolk, we chose to meet in Framlingham, about 5 miles away rather than convoy from nearer home.
Started off as a grey windy day, but roof still came down for the drive there. Only about 20 miles for me, following my old route to work, so a familar quick blast but others had done lots more miles to get there. No bacon butties available here so not attending next year! Sun out by dinnertime, quite hot, so glass of Aspells Cider and a Hog roast went down well.

A few photos.

Norfolk Area Line up

A nice Mk11 2000 and a Tickford Capri.

A very good Mustang.

Lanchester, Roller, Stag, and Mk1 2000.

Selection of VW's, mostly lowered.

Liked the treatment of the rust on this one, looked as though sealed and laquered.

From the right, Lea Francis, Riley, Austin, and Wolseley Wasp.

Alans Stag with Weber conversion.

1952 Cadillac

Oldies sheltering from the sun.

TR Drivers Club National Weekend

Gill and I attended the TR Drivers Club National weekend at Billing Aquadrome which celebrated 30 years of the TR Drivers Club, this was on the same weekend as the Grand Prix which did not help attendance.
Some really nice TR7's and 8's, I thought I had spent a fortune when restoring our FHC and DHC, but some of these guys mentioned crazy money. No rally cars this year which was a shame.
Only took the DHC as entrance fee at Billing is a bit steep and used approx £40 petrol so theoretically saved a bit.
Weather was changeable on Sunday, we had a shower when on the road run.
Thanks to Chris, Jim, Simon, and Phil who did all the organising and all those who helped.
Some pics.


Some of the Drop head coupes lined up, Persian Aqua Blue seems
popular, knew we should have taken Gills FHC.




A few early cars, fantastic TR2.




Genuine TR8's, the Blue A reg had a reputed 15k spent on it. There was also
another A reg and a D reg, these being some of the 18 auctioned
TR8 factory cars not registered till after production ceased.




Nice TR7 V8 conversion.




A good selection of the rarer Fixed head coupes along
with a couple of Grinnals.




TR Drivers Coke Car, owned by Chris Turner.




Lined up for the afternoon run.



Like this shot, got away from a junction quicker than the followers.




The obligatory pub stop.



Good views of Northamptonshire from the pub car park.



Winding through the lanes.



Not a bad day, 270 miles in total, caught with the hood down in a thunderstorm on way home, a little wet when we finally put the hood up!

Finally have a weekend without shows coming up to catch up on home stuff. Then the Club Barbecue at the Norfolk Area Monday night meeting.