Nigel A

Hi Darren, Good to hear from you again, it's been too long. I may make the start of the RoT in November, if so I'll look out for you. Wasn't he the guy in the caravan next to us where we were camping? My TR has ben back in action this year, better than before, you should have another drive.  If I can get myself motivated for the chassis swap it will be better still, but I think I'm scared of taking it apart in case it never gets put together again!  The Mk1 2000 is languishing in the workshop nowadays, just out for the occasional short run to blow off the cobwebs. Still not getting into these road rallies so I keep thinking of selling it - but somehow I can't bring myself to, I just like it too much!  The truth is I have too many 'projects' and not enough energy in my old age..... 🤔 Nigel

Well, it's been a while...... If anyone's been wondering, the TR4 was awakened from it's 2-year slumber last December, given a fresh overhaul of body and suspension (but not the new chassis just yet) and entered in the HRCR 'old Stager' tarmac stage rally championship.  Tarmac rallies only from now on.  It has also been treated to new seats and belts (the still perfectly good old ones are out of date now), a set of Avon CR6/ZZ soft compound tyres plus a new Stilo helmet, intercom and a Simpson FHR for me.  £thousands spent to comply with new regulations before even turning a wheel! After the first three rounds, winning the class each time out, I was lying third overall in the championship with the car's 100% finishing record still intact, but unfortunately business matters have overtaken the time available so I won't be doing any more rounds this year - and I'm supposed to be retired!  However it's been great getting out in the car again; the AGBO Rally at Weston Park in March, the Dixies Challenge on the Epynt ranges in June and the Midsummer Stages at Caerwent in July.  I'll be using it for the odd outing - next Thusday it's off to the Curborough sprint track for an open test day for a bit of fun - but come the winter the big chassis job starts. At last.  Possibly.  Unless I'm tempted to do just one more rally, of course. There is a nice article about my TR on the AGBO rally in the new October/November issue of Triumph World magazine. Nigel

Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men, etc.!  I apologise to anyone who has been wondering what happened with my TR4 rally exploits last year. As it's turned out, nothing! The TR4 is sitting under a dust sheet still awaiting it's new chassis. No rallies have been entered since the 3013 Clwyd Vale, and the TR7 dhc shell is on the body jig instead, also forlornly awaiting attention. The fact is, the TR4 is too highly tuned for pottering along on regularity road rallies, is too low slung for forest tracks (especially now the MSA have  relegated Cat 1 cars to running at the back of the field for 'safety reasons'), and it simply cannot compete with the inevitable 911's and Escorts which are now dominating both the road and stage Historic rally scene.  But mainly thanks to the horrendous cost of stage rallies nowadays I have taken a step back until I can see where historic rallying is heading in the future. So in 2014 I went back to Competitive Safari offroad racing, digging out my old Bowler Land Rover V8 buggy and having a ball at high speed and low cost while the Triumphs sat ignored.  Then I sold this car last autumn to concentrate on the ex-Dakar Bowler Wildcat 200 I all but destroyed in Scotland nearly ten years ago and which is now well on the way to racing again this year. However the Triumphs are not forgotten and definitely not for sale!  The TR4 rebuild is the next job on the list, followed by the largely standard TR7 road rally project, and all this time my trusty '67 Mk1 2000 saloon has still been soldiering on with a bit of attention now and then as a change from working on the Wildcat.  We cruised it for 80 miles round Derbyshire on the recent Drive It day, and I may even get to do a few road rallies in it this year - maybe even the 'Tests'.  I do love driving the old girl, it's not fast 'n loud like the TR but is still a great drive. I'll keep in touch! Nigel

I'd love better brakes, we lose out big style on braking - spectacularly when compared to modern cars!  One very wet 'n slippery rally last year the good ol' TR was pulling away from an Astra GTE we'd met on a 2-lapper 'merge' just before a long straight; he was about 50 metres behind as we started to brake for the 90 right at the end, and bang on our tail as we entered the corner!  Happy ending, though - he nipped past us and promptly spun off, we missed each other by a coat of paint! BUT: if it's not original as used 'in period', it's not allowed in historic rallying.  No 4-pots, no vented, drilled or grooved discs, no rear disc conversions.  I can but dream of such braking power - and we are in the same class as Porsche 911's.  We just cruise along behind and wait for their transmissions to break...... Nigel  

Work begins on the long-awaited replacement chassis!

Thanks, Mike; glad you enjoyed the ride!  Unfortunately the HRCR were not organising the rally car demo at Oulton this year so we were not invited.  Shame as it was a good weekend's fun and a chance to give people a ride round at rally speeds.  Martin Knapp's TR7 Sprint and my TR4 were the only Triumphs the last two years so this year there were none - their loss! If it helps, I recently learned of two other TR4 rally cars which use Cobra Monaco seats so they must fit OK too.  As they are steel framed rather than composite they are cheaper, but are still FIA approved so OK for stage rallies. Nigel

The guys at Motordrive are very helpful.  As these Wc2 seats are not listed on their website they will make them to special order, so you will get new build seats which will now last for 6 years under the FIA's new rules.   (I have an ex-Dakar Rally Bowler Wildcat so I tried a seat out of it in the TR4 and found they fitted, so rang to see if they still made them) I also used Motordrive's alloy seat mountings which are compact and multi-position so just fit the TR4.  I had to do a bit of trimming here and there; there isn't much room so it took hours of trial and error!  If you want to pm me your email address I can send you photos.  I'm 6'2" tall and slim build, once I'm in I'm fine but there's no spare space!  Never had any problems wearing a crash helmet. Nigel

I live in Sandbach in Cheshire, Michael.

Hi Michael I'm a little confused by your question as pretty much all standard competition seats are fine to use a HANS device with, do you mean seat belts?  You can buy belts with shoulder straps which narrow down where the HANS fits, but you can still use some 'normal' belts; my TRS 3" harnesses don't have this feature but are still listed as being 'HANS compatible' by TRS.  It's important to note that the narrow strap HANS belts will not pass scrutineering for use without a HANS device, I remember doing one event where an Evo driver found his HANS was damaged thus failed scrutineering on the basis that the car was only fitted with narrowed belts, so didn't get a run even though it was a national rally where HANS devices were not mandatory. This brings me to another point:  HANS devices are only compulsory on special stage rallies run under FIA International regulations (or events run under Republic of Ireland motor sports authority).  So for any rally at UK National status or below these devices are not required, but if you choose personally to use one that's fine, of course.  Very few Historic crews use them; it's true that they can be of great help in certain types of accident but in a small car like a TR I imagine they would be very restrictive to use. (No. I haven't tried one, but I imagine with the prices falling now it won't be long before they will be required at National level too) TR4's being a bit on the narrow side the biggest problem with FIA seats is the 'wings' which support your shoulders.  The seat base is a tight enough fit but I found on most seats the 'wings' actually stuck out so much I couldn't close the windows!  I don't know if your TR6 is wider but there are seats available which do fit TR4's; I use MotorDrive WC2's which were developed for the Bowler Wildcat Dakar racers and have narrower 'wings'.  They are not listed on their website, ring and ask! One tip with both belts and seats; they are 5-year dated under MSA stage regs so if you wait until early January and make sure they are freshly manufactured for the current year rather than old stock from the previous year (even just one month old!!) you will get your full five years' use from them!  Mine expire at the end of 2015 so I'll be forking out for new ones in early 2016.   Fire extinguishers, both plumbed-in and hand held, have to be serviced and re-dated every two years. Hope this helps!  Here's a picture too: Nigel

Thanks for the replies: I shall continue to write the occasional update, then!  We seem to have cracked 5,000 views anyway. Michael, good results!  I seem to remember you were going to have a go at stage rallies a while back?  You had the '6 prepped up for them. Never mind 'old and decrepit', Derek, I'm sure you are as fit as anyone after so many years of driving a TR4, especially if you have competed in it in the past!  It's a better workout than the gym.  I will start drawing my state pension next year and have no plans to stop rallying anytime soon!   The best advice I can give anyone is to just jump in with both feet and enter a rally and see how it goes.  It doesn't matter if you make a right horlicks of it and the car falls apart, it's all par for the course on our first events, believe me (still happens now....)!  If you wait until the car's perfect you'll never get started 'cos it never will be!  Just do it: road rallies like the Hexham are cheap enough and only one night, a standard car will do.  You will also see experienced crews dropping some big clangers on the odd occasion, it always makes the rest of us feel a bit better. Pretty much everybody is friendly and always willing to help novices.  If you do the RBRR or 10CR (let alone organise it, Tim) then it's not a big step further to entering LeJog or the RoTT.  Yes, the entry is expensive but it includes all accommodation.  The addition of competition into the mix makes a big difference. I reported on the 2011 Jim Clark Historic Rally earlier in this topic, still the biggest rally I've done as a driver.  We combined it with a fortnight's Scottish Borders holiday to reduce costs.  I'm still saving up to do it again, maybe next year.....there are many rallies I'd love to do but money is an issue as usual, however I still dream and sometimes the dream comes true.... here's one of my favourite photos from the rally for your interest:

The lack of comment on my posts (apart from Raider - thanks, Martin!) has given me the impression that no-one in Club Triumph world is much interested in my rallying exploits in my 50-year-old TR4, which is why I gave up posting for two years until recently breaking my silence!  However I can't fail to notice that my thread is currently approaching some 5,000 views so there must be someone out there who bothers to read them........   My first thoughts on starting to compete with the TR4 were that people - especially enthusiasts - would consider that my risking the car for serious rallies constituted such a heinous crime that I should be summarily shot for 'ruining' a valuable classic, but no; I have always had support for my activities, even from the spit 'n polish brigade.  I fully appreciate that few owners will be interested in competing with their pride and joy, it's just that I've always been involved in rallying so when I got the classic car bug I just had to rally it! The compliments we get on stage rallies, especially from the marshals, are always encouraging.  "Great to see these old cars out competing, much more fun to watch than the boring identical modern tin boxes" etc:  no wonder historic stage rallying is so popular nowadays. The car is finally, definitely, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die, going to be rebuilt better than ever with it's new chassis over the next few months ready for 2014 - hopefully for a few outings on the BHRC (or the RAC Championship even though it's all gravel rallies!) so do I keep posting news here, that is the question......  I shall be posting regular progress pictures of the rebuild on my Facebook page. In the meantime, here's a nice image from the recent Vale of Clwyd road rally, taken and shared on Facebook by William Murfitt, featuring the lovely North Wales countryside which we never get to see whilst competing..... the lack of sideways action on gravel, and Les' head buried in maps/speed tables/tripmeter/stopwatch/route book etc, suggests we are in the middle of an average-speed regularity section.  Which is why I prefer stage rallies when I can afford them!!! Nigel

The TR4 has been out again on yet another 'last rally before the big rebuild'. Last week my friend and fellow Triumph enthusiast Les McGuffog had an entry for Saturday's Vale of Clwyd Classic, an HRCR Clubmans Championship round (historic road rallies) but his driver had to drop out at the eleventh hour, so I volunteered at short notice to take over the entry with the TR4.  Les and I have rallied together on several previous events. Not having done a road rally for nearly two years I was a rather rusty on the tests at first but shaped up a bit better after lunch.  We had an entertaining day, the threat of heavy rain failed to materialise so the detailed exploration of the more obscure of North Wales' lanes was completed in mostly fine and sometimes sunny weather.  We were leading the Category 1 Expert's class near the end of the rally when we missed a control which dropped us to eighth, blast!  In our defence, the day's navigation had a real sting in the tail which caught out several experienced crews who also missed the control. For once I drove the TR to and from from the rally instead of trailering it, so the total mileage was quite high but once again the good old '4 never missed a beat, retaining it's 100% finishing record since I built it over five years ago.  I do wonder if the TR7 I'm now building for road rallies will be able to match such reliabilty, despite it being a far more modern engine design....... Some photos at     http://www.gss-photography.co.uk/p884489380/h7656F15B#h7656f15b   and also at     http://www.gss-photography.co.uk/p608440954/h769a48e3#h769a48e3 Clicking right or left brings up more photos. Nigel

Doesn't time fly?   Can't believe it's been two years since my last post, but the TR4 is still going strong! Last year was quiet, various other commitments saw us only doing a handful of events.  2013 has been the same so far, despite planning to upgrade to the BHRC this year it hasn't happened.  the TR4 did get an airing (and a good dousing!) at the 'Get it Sideways' rally at Down Ampney again last April; Peter Baker covered us in his online historic motorsport magazine Retro-Speed. Report at:  http://www.retro-speed.co.uk/showreports.asp?art=7783 More pics at:  http://www.retro-speed.co.uk/gallery.asp?ip=galleries&gid=galleries&pid=7780 We were also joined by Michael Hunter in his immaculate blue TR4 - at last, two TR4's together out on the stages! Once again it has been other commitments spoiling the fun.  I've been searching for a good replacement chassis for ages; I have finally found a rust-free ex-USA 'dry state' chassis which is like new compared with the old one despite being the same age. The old girl (50 this year) is about to have a skeleton transplant together with some further tasty mods!  I've been sticking to tarmac rallies recently, but am pleased to say the car still has a 100% finishing record over all types of events in the last five years and is still mixing it with the 'moderns' on occasion. Unfortunately one of the reasons for my lack of events is the spiralling cost of stage rallying nowadays.  The BHRC rounds are all at least

We are still out playing..... here's a nice pic from the 2011 Neath Valley Stages just over a week ago.  It almost looks as if we are going fast, doesn't it? http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=344012 , third pic down (as if you wouldn't recognise a TR4 amongs all those Escorts....) Unfortunately the rough and slippery forest tracks took a sad toll on the poor old TR's aging, rusty and much-patched chassis, the front suspension turret cross-member bending and ripping out of both sides and allowing the turrets to bend in. Plus it now has a big kink thanks to the unavoidable rock I found whilst ditch-hooking at speed!  The last 14-mile stage was completed with excessive negative camber and huge toe out but we got it home despite an 'off' down a steep bank to keep our 100% finishing record.  A replacement chassis is being readied for the long-overdue swap, in the meantime the turrets have been jacked out and re-welded so it will be ready for this weekend's Oulton Park Historic stage rally demo. It took two days to clean it afterwards, removing around 90 kilos of concrete-like South Wales mud...... Nigel

It's been quite a while since I reported on progress with the TR4, so just in case the odd person may be interested here's an update on what's been happening so far this year. We did the Oak Leaves stages and had a good day, despite there being no Historic class the old TR put up a good performance against all the modern cars although naturally we couldn't compete on level terms: let's just say they didn't beat us as easily as they may have expected to!  We could hold some off on the straights but they had the measure of us under braking every time and as for WRC cars we just concentrated on getting out of the way!  The rear axle had been rebuilt and set up with a new Tran-X LSD and 4.55 CWP by James at TR Enterprises so the gearing suits the new engine and gearbox well and the car is great fun to drive.  However, an issue with the new engine forced me to change the Tour of Cheshire entry the next week to the 2000 saloon, which I have mentioned elswhere. Then, at the beginning of April, out of the blue I came down with a very nasty gastric bug and pneumonia which laid me out for two weeks and took even longer to recover from.  The Doc says I've still got a bit of pneumonia and am still being pumped with antibiotics, but you can't let all that stop you rallying for too long so in May I did the HRCR Championship Leukaemia road rally in South Wales in the TR4.  We had a fairly good day, finishing in the mid twenties.  In between we also took the Mk1 2000 on some HRCR Scenic Tours, which kept Linda happy - in fact we had her brother and his wife in with us too for four-up days out, which the 2000 takes in it's stride and are an enjoyable opposite from the serious business of stage rallies in the TR4. Unfortunately, I missed the Get It Sideways rally thanks to being ill, and chose to do the Jim Clark Rally which clashed with another round of the HRCR Stage Rally Challenge.  I didn't want to enter the next round at Caerwent until we had survived the JCR in one piece, and now the entry is full anyway!  So my 'Challenge' hasn't even started this year and looks as if it may stall altogether.  Best laid plans, etc.... The trip to the Scottish Borders for the Jim Clark Rally was a fantastic weekend of motorsport.  Entered for the Historic rally, we did three stages on Friday evening, starting with a race round the streets of Duns town itself (packed with spectators and a real carnival atmosphere), then a full Saturday flat out on the country lanes of Berwickshire.  All of it on pacenotes on closed public roads!  The only rally in the UK  where it's possible to do this apart from going over the water to the Isle of Man or Ireland.  It took my new codriver and I until Saturday morning to 'click' together, but from then on we started to get faster and faster, clocking well over 100mph on many occasions down bumpy country roads, which is well scary in an early 60's sports car with 50's suspension!  Taking blind bends at 70 -80mph on the wrong side of the road without lifting, trusting the notes and knowing nothing is coming the other way takes a bit of a leap of faith in this country.  Luckily we dodged the occasional rain shower and had dry roads all day.  The TR4 ran nearly faultlessly all through, except for my eagle-eyed service crew spotting and changing a cracked disi cap on Saturday afternoon after the TR developed a slight misfire on idle.  Hard luck to our TR compatriot Steve Hall (TR Enterprises) in the TR7 V8, a rear wheel came off when the studs sheared only a few miles from the end of the last stage.  Steve was standing by the stricken car, waving us on; he'd just got the car up amongst the Escorts in third place too.   We finished the rally 2nd in the pre-1968 class and picked up a rather nice trophy; the only disappointment was again the poor entries we are seeing in Category 1 on stages nowadays, and despite our throwing the little TR around as hard as we could, we still cannot hope to keep the more modern Cat 2 & 3 Historics in sight.  However we did score one victory over the usual hoards of Escorts: the support from marshals, spectators and even the scrutineer ("I prefer to scrutineer the historics: proper rally cars!") absolutely made the weekend for us.  The car was complimented on and photographed constantly, they all loved to see it out competing, and on the final stage there were people clapping and cheering us on to the finish on every junction.  Marvellous..... learning the rally on Friday night's stages and getting caught by faster Cat 3 cars was a bit demoralising and I went to bed dreaming of selling the TR4 and going Cat 3 - the Kadett GT/E or Ascona would tempt me - but by the end of the rally I'd decided to stick with the old Triumph for a bit longer! Incidentally, Raider, I got talking to the navvy of the Cat 3 Talbot Sunbeam, Martin Knapp, who's building up a Triumph 2000 for rallying, and he told me he rallies a 16v Sprint engined TR7 on the stages too.  You probably know him. We will be back next year!  Saving up to do a few really big rallies rather than more smaller ones now seems a good idea to me, I'm even considering going for an entry in the National Historic event at this year's Wales Rally GB... In the meantime, here's some nice shots of each of the historics on the Jim Clark: http://www.pro-rally.co.uk/gallery/2011/2011_jim_clark_historic_rally_photos/index.html Nigel