Attended Triumphest 2016 in my hometown (Ventura. CA.) this weekend (Sept 8, 9, 10 and 11th) and it was great.
The total number of Triumphs was just amazing and the caliber of the cars was just great (167 registered)[Sorry I did not take more photos *** I was just overwhelmed looking at the rolling art on display].
Lots of TR6's, TR7's, TR8's, TR3's, TR2's, TR4's TR5's / 250's, a TR10 (Neat little Station Wagon), Spitfires, Harolds, Vitesse's, GT6's and several pre-war Triumphs like a Mayflower Crown that was just amazing.
Cars from as far away as Washington State and Oregon and Arizona and Nevada where in attendance. The distance award went to a couple who drove their TR250 from Washington State a distance of 1342.4 miles to the event and no they actually drove it and not in or on a trailer as some others did from other destinations. At the awards banquet at the table that my wife and I sat at we all laughed when the discussion came up as to how far you drove to come to the event when it came to our turn to say that we only had to drive a whopping 1.2 miles to the hotel that was the base for the event and that it was actually quicker for us to just leave the car in the parking lot and walk to the hotel each evening as walking it is just at a half mile due to walking paths in the area.
The total number of Triumphs was just amazing as the event took over the Marriott Hotels parking lot and then some.
I think there were 215 registered cars for the FUNCOURS on Saturday which was judged on a 100 point system. There was a 5 point display award that was used as a tiebreaker if you had a display with your car. Some of the displays were great in the fact that they were done with levity as the theme. One TR250 had a Martinique on a creeper stuffed under the front of the car with nuts and bolts and tools and old parts laying on the ground with an old greasy shop manual next to it with a sign that read broke again. Another had a fifth of Jack Daniels and some glasses with a sign that read "For Judges only!!!!". I have to say there were lots of good displays to go along with the well cared for cars that were on display.
They also had an Autocross at the local airport. I ran my GT6 and did ok as I ran in the stock class which put me in with the S6 Class (TR250's, TR6's, GT6's) for simplicity of classing as they had four major classes Stock, Modified, Prepared and Other and three awards for each class (First, Second and Third).
The fastest time of the day was set by a very sharp TR3 that was in the Prepared class and it sure was fast. Every time he ran he lowered the FTD which in the end after his four runs was 30.129 sec for the course where my best time was 36.043 sec and I took second in the stock class and lost by only a couple thousands of a second to a very very nice TR8 with a time of 36.037 sec.. Need less to say it was a lot of fun for sure with the fastest time just over 30 seconds and the slowest time around 57 seconds without hitting any cones which added two seconds to the time for each cone. My times were as follows 38.004 clean, 37.008 +2 sec (39.008), 36.122 clean, 36.043 clean so I think I did ok for myself and my GT6 as they had somewhere around 60 cars participate in the auto cross as some cars had several drivers. I was told the average time was 53 seconds around the layout which by my trip meter in my car was 6 tenths of a mile from start to finish with 18 turns of different degrees and challenges like slowing to make an 75 degree right turn into a slalom of decreasing distances between the cones over 65 feet in length and another challenge of a 270 degree decreasing looping left turn at the mid point of the layout. The smiles on the faces of those that participated said it all for sure as it was fun.
Here is the class list and how they grouped the cars under the different classes:
Stock
S2: TR2, 3, 3A, 3B
S4: TR4, 4A
S6: TR-6, TR-250, GT-6
S8: TR7, TR-8, Stag
S1: Spitfire
SH: Herald, Vitesse, Mayflower
Modified
M2: TR-2, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 4A
M4: TR-250, 5, 6, GT-6
M1: Spitfire, Herald
M8: TR7, TR-8, Stag
Prepared
PS-M-L-PX: Anything “prepared”
Other
O: Other English Cars,
Other authorized cars
As a bonus at the awards banquet I won a couple of other awards besides the second in class at the autocross. To my and my wife's supersize our GT6 won the "Best Spitfire / GT6" award for the 2016 Triumphest and a "Gold" award in the FUNCOURES and we never thought that it would even place or be awarded anything as I drive it all the time and the other cars on display were such good looking and well cared for we truly did not expect to win anything but did which I still find amazing.
We also won a raffle prize, a set of "Trim Rings" at the event that were donated by TRF (The Roadster Factory who had a great parts display and sale at the event) and something that I had not considered buying due to the cost when I was restoring my GT6 as we all know how expensive it can get. They also had the little rubber hand brake handle that fits over the handbrake leaver that I needed to finish the interior of my car which I purchased on the first evening of the event. So thank you Albert (TRF's Owner) and son's if you happen to read this post at sometime when you get back home to Pennsylvania.
- Triumphest Awards for MHK's GT6
- Triumphest 2016 Awards to MHKs GT6 20160911_111140.jpg (112.01 KiB) Viewed 2891 times
- Triumphest 2016
- Triumphest 20160910_124050-COLLAGE SM.jpg (85.18 KiB) Viewed 2891 times
- Triumphest 2016
- 20160910_072830 SM.jpg (98.65 KiB) Viewed 2891 times
than take the chance of getting stopped going home.