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Temple of Triumph
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The TEMPLE OF TRIUMPH of Tallahassee, Florida is an official chapter of the VINTAGE TRIUMPH REGISTER |
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Car
Show
,Watermelon
Festival
Information,
Next Meeting, 6:30 PM, Wednesday May 9, 2012, Little Italy, Magnolia Rd Winn Dixie Parking lot. Directions to Wyndell & Olivia's The Mitty at Road Atlanta This year’s Southeast Regional VTR meet was held in conjunction with The Mitty at Road Atlanta. There was a great representation of Triumph owners with their cars from all across the country, there was no official count that I saw but I would put the number somewhere between 175- 200 vehicles. The best of show in the Triumph group went to a 1949 Triumph Roadster which I have seen before at a couple of events. There were many other car clubs represented with such makes as Cobra, Miata, Nissan Z cars, Mini’s, MG, Morgan, a couple of sweet Ford F40’s, and a beautiful 1965 red Corvette racer. If cars are what you like this was the place to be. Road Atlanta is a beautiful venue for any car event, the facility is located just northeast of Atlanta in the hills of Braselton Georgia. The track is a 2.5 mile LeMans style course with curves, hill climbs, and a straight away all embedded in the woods. Spectators were camping at many of the sections around the track along with the traditional grandstand type seating areas at various points. The Kastner cup race which had about 40 cars participating was a great event for anyone with a Triumph racer. The famed Triumph that never happened, the 250K was the winner of the event followed close behind with a TR6 in second place. The race was a 10 lap event that was completed without any accidents as far as I know. I can’t wait to try my luck at this sometime soon. This was the 10th running of the Kastner Cup, and the 34th Mitty held at Road Atlanta.
Both Triumph racing legends Kas Kastner & Bob Tullius were at the event, and were available to talk to at the Classic Motorsports tent most of the day and at the awards party afterwards. On Saturday I had my chance to tour the track on one of 3 parade laps which were offered. The first parade lap was just for the Triumph’s as we were the featured marquee of the event this year. I think there must have been 150 cars which took to the track which turned out to be a mighty feisty run for non-race vehicles. The only rule of the day for the parade lap was “NO PASSING”. OK, got it! While I promise there was no passing, that didn’t mean drivers didn’t take advantage of laying back and then pushing the limits to get that real race feeling. I admit I ran my own car harder than it had been pushed before, the turns and hill climbs were my favorite part of the track. While I did manage to reach 85 MPH on the straits I found the turns to be most enjoyable. I will mention I was also carrying a passenger at the request of a track official (his son), and anyone who owns a Triumph knows the feeling of driving with that extra weight when you are trying to get someplace quick, this fellow was 6’2 and 250 LBS….at least he kept us grounded. That’s not me at the finish line but I promise I’ll be back for another try.
Ethanol-free Gasoline In Tallahassee In the never-ending search for ethanol-free gasoline, I checked the website at www.pure-gas.org and found the following local stations still carry ethanol-free gas:
Eli
Roberts
&
Sons
at
2195
Lake
Bradford
Road, I stopped at Eli Roberts & Sons and at the Wayside Farm Store and confirmed that both do sell ethanol-free gas. Both require that the vehicle be at least a 1968 or prior. Wayside Farm Store will sell small quantities for boats, mowers, etc., but Eli Roberts doesn’t. I haven’t checked at Bert Thomas or golden Oil, so you may want to call first. I wasn’t aware of the restriction for the age of the car before permitting fill-ups, but apparently that is a regulatory requirement. Otherwise, I guess you must use some type of gas stabilizer to avoid condensation problems. The www.pure-gas.org website is updated regularly by its users so you may want to look there every once in awhile. Evan B. Hume
“The Godfather” Obin Hamrick, Remembers Our Beginnings Some time in 1988, I mailed out 60 letters inviting all Triumph owners for which I could find addresses (at that time you could get this information from the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles) to meet at our house to see if we could get a Tallahassee Chapter of the Vintage Triumph Register started. Marilyn and I had joined the Central Florida Triumph Register after meeting a group of them on the way to a VTR National Convention at Road Atlanta. Only two people showed up, J. K. Jackson, and later, his wife, Chris Moore, came out. (Look for the positive side: at least we did not run out of beer!) J. K. thought forming a VTR Chapter was a good idea, even if we were not overwhelmed with people rushing to find out about a new Tallahassee Triumph Club. He said he would contact his racer buddies and get their input and/or support. He did and we had a first meeting at Ricco's, Southernaire Inn, 1308 W. Brevard Street (at West Tennessee St. directly across the street from FSU campus) on March 1, 1989. At this first meeting, many participants were already Vintage Triumph Register members, which VTR encourages for VTR Chapter status. The following were elected to move forward with what became the Temple of Triumph, a Florida Chapter of the VTR:
Somewhere
down the
winding
road, J.
K.
(under
the pen
name,
the
right ir
rev dr.
j) wrote
a neat
article
on how
the
Temple
of
Triumph
really
got its
name.
See the
newsletter,
The
Temple
Tablet
for
October
1995. Reprinted from the October 1995 Newsletter which can be found at http://www.TempleofTriumph.org/Newsletters.htm How The Temple of Triumph Got Its Name By J.K. Jackson -- The right ir rev dr.j
Many
years
ago,
shortly
after I
started
participating
in the
Chimney
Rock
Hillclimb,
a group
of
Triumph
“Racers”
informally
named
our
little
enclave
“The
Temple”. First
a little
background,
the 1st
year I
attended
the
Hillclimb
I
crashed
on the 1st
run.
After I
got back
to the
pit area
(I had a
visit to
the “
Quackshack”
(racer
talk for
field
medical
station
)) there
were so
many
people
(that I
didn’t
know)
working
on #20
that I
knew we
had to
get it
running
again
for this
event.
We did
and I
finished
2nd. Sports Car Interesting definition from Wikipedia: Cars that drive on public roads, whose engineering requirements emphasize handling above passenger space and comfort, are called sports cars. The term sports car has been defined as "an open, low-built, fast motor car. The term describes a class of automobile with two seats, two doors, precise handling, brisk acceleration, and sharp braking - trading practical considerations such as passenger space, comfort, and cargo capacity for driving enjoyment.
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New
Officers for 2011!
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