TR21!

TR21- that's not what Triumph would have reached by now!

It's what 3 x TR7s equal.

Here are 3 on my drive on the day before the International AutoEcosse.

Paul (AKA Diesel Dave, Burnerboy, Ginger or all of the above) and I were fitting a Kenlowe fan to his TR7 seen here at the front.

Of course, all the bonnets were up!

In the far distance at the back is BRP so there's proof it still exists. In this instance it was donating it's short fan belt so that we could ditch the viscous fan housing from Paul's car.

I can't remember why UNJ's bonnet was up but it's always good to have a car to refer to.

And finally, here's a picture of Ginger.

Ready for the off yet Squiffy?

The spannering and electrickery must have gone OK as we made it all the way round the IAE and came in 8th overall - not a bad result at all.

On the Toledo front

With only 3 weekends left before the AutoEcosse Bryce has been working on his Toledo to get it better prepared for it's first long distance event.

At the same time, other than buying bits of ebay there's nothing I can do to the 2000 until I get the crankshaft etc back fully balanced from Drakes (must contact them by the end of next week if I haven't heard anything). So, with that in mind I have been over to help out Bryce on the Toledo.

He has successfully (but not irreversibly) fitted the twin headlight Dolomite front and is currently awaiting a full set of halogen conversion lamps complete with relays etc.

He has really gone for it on the suspension by fitting Sprint suspension including anti roll bars etc.Along with this also he has a full set of polybushes and AVO shocks/springs. Most of the work I was involved in today was the two man job of fittng the front suspension which as usual was a bit tricky but we got there.

Below are pictures of all of this.

Those Sprint wheels have to go though, Bryce isn't happy with them so we needed something more "period". As I have a set of miniltes spare at the moment these are now on permanent loan to the Toledo project.

I reckon the car is going to look pretty damned cool, in addition to handling well. There's more on the braking side of things to come as well as other developments.

IAE update and on!

Completed the International AutoEcosse in UNJ which was very enjoyable ineed. Finished 10th out of 23 CT crews on the tests which again I am very pleased with. Also very happy that Mrs R joined me on this one and is already signed up to do next year's.

The car will need a reconditioned radiator as it was leaking but managed to hold out until we got home. We had the hood down all weekend by the way apart from about 30 minutes even though it was cold and blustery all weekend.

Here's video evidence of us on the test at Kames courtesy of Steve Thompson

I am now in joint 5th place in the CT Driver Challenge which is where I would like to be by year end!

As I said over the weekend, I had become so focussed on the Manx that I had forgotten how enjoyable Club Triumph events were so it's good to be out competing again.

I haven't forgotten the Manx though and the next event is both another round of the CT Driver Challenge and a significant step back to the plan for the Manx rally. I am intending to enter the "Little Devils" in BRP in August. This event is as close to a stage rally as you can get without it being one or without needing a competition licence. It's also the first event Sarah and I did together.

Not only that but the last time BRP was out was on the Roskirk Stage rally in 2009 so I am really looking forward to it.

Problem is, I came to start the car and check things over prior to taking it for MOT and the headlight dip/main beam stalk broke! A bit of work needed then :-/