TR Drivers Club

National Weekend, 2006

25th Anniversary Event

It is tradition that the TR Drivers Club National Weekend should always be on the first weekend in July. This has changed maybe only once in the last ten years. The weather is usually pretty kind, and this year was no exception, with wall to wall sunshine throughout the whole weekend.

The weekend was based on the usual pattern of events, which most attendees have now come to expect, and enjoy. The Friday evening saw the really keen campers turning up and grabbing the best pitches, making themselves at home, and exploring all the facilities on offer at Billings Aquadrome, in Northamptonshire.

It was great to see people coming from far a field, with a strong contingent from Scotland. Well done, and many thanks, to John Forshaw from Berneray in the Outer Hebrides, for driving and ferrying a good few miles, there and back.

Saturday dawned to a bright, sunny day, with lots more arrivals and day visitors, many of whom expressed regret that they could not stay for the whole weekend. By mid-day the field was really soaking up the sunshine.

Everyone seemed quite content to enjoy the sunshine and sunbathe, but a goodly crowd were persuaded to join Roel’s Road Run. This was quite an achievement, as it was also the afternoon when England played Portugal – we’ll say no more!

The first stop on the run was Sywell Aviation Museum, where the drivers enjoyed looking at pictures, maps and memorabilia from the 2^nd World War. By this time, with temperatures well into the 30s, they were all ready for an ice-cream stop by Pitsford Reservoir, where I am reliably informed that everyone made Mr Softee’s day by buying up almost his entire stock!

The third stop was at the Northampton and Lamport Railway, where the heat was really getting to drivers and cars, which had to raise their bonnets to dissipate the heat they were contributing to an already hot day. It seems that most folk would have liked to spend more time on the run, but hey, there was football to get back to!

The Saturday evening quiz was hosted by Simon Godrich and family, who did a very good job, and I don’t think anyone questioned the result. There were the usual dubious team names, which all added to the fun of the occasion. The winners were the Shy Teds! It seemed only fair, that after an evening of asking questions, Simon should go on to win the Driving Skills contest, the following day.

After the quiz there was a fascinating showing of TRs on video, supplied by John Clancy, on equipment kindly lent by Keith Cox.

On the Sunday, the weather continued hot and sunny. More and more cars drove on site, and were allocated parking places to allow for a magnificent display of TRs. There were designated areas for Speke, Canley and Solihull built cars, which was organised by Roel van Es. He had very cleverly designed a display which spelt out the word ‘25^th’ which really needed to be seen from the air to get the full impact.

The concours was judged by Andy Healey, Richard Kimberley, Peter Priestley and Phil Humphries. The winners were as follows:

Class Placing Vehicle Owner

TR2 to 6 Winner TR5  Simon Eaton

TR7 FHC Standard Winner TR7 Robbie Turner

TR7 FHC Standard Runner up TR Malcolm King

TR7 DHC Standard Winner TR7 Mike Cutmore

TR7 DHC Standard Runner up TR7 Paul Medhurst

TR7/8 Modified Winner TR7/V8 Phil Bywater

TR7/V8 Modified Runner up TR7/V8 Rob Andrews

Car of the Show Winner TR5  Simon Eaton

Although there was no entry in the TR8 Standard Concours Class, the newly formed TR2 to 6 Class was hotly contested with five cars entered. The drophead standard class, containing only two vehicles, also ran really close. The fixed head class saw Malcolm King as runner up again this year, this time to the immaculate TR7 Sprint entered by Robbie Turner.

Star of the Concours this year however, was the TR5 entered by Simon Eaton; a simply stunning example of the marque, receiving Car of the Show and £50 voucher sponsored by Rimmer Brothers.

Our thanks to all the competitors, as without you we would not have experienced the cream of each marque. Perhaps next year we will be able to persuade other members to enter this event. The more the merrier.

Other National Weekend awards were: The Chairman’s Trophy, sponsored by Footman James, which went to Robbie Turner with his TR7 Sprint. The Editor’s Cup which was presented to Simon New with his Limited Edition coupe.  £50 spot prize awards sponsored by Rimmer Brothers were won by Eddie Crilly and Chris Turner, and £10 vouchers were won by Gilberto Correia and Rob Taylor.

Our thanks also go to Ian Tinsey, of Crucial Automatics, Titchfield, Hants., a well known TR owner, who sponsored the cups this year.

After all the prize giving, it was time for a clean up and mass exodus, after a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, I think we were all sorry to leave. We now need to think of a theme for next year, so if anyone has any ideas, let us know . . .

Val McM

ps: The above article was gleaned from reports in The TR Driver Magazine, in our Special 25^th Anniversary Edition, (Edition 4), especially those of Andy Healey and Phil Humphries.