2004 Nationals at Port Edward

Link to Cape Town Nationals 2006

The following are the reports from the Cape Town club's newsletter on the 2004 National Gathering. If anyone has some good photos, please send them to me, and I will put some up here too.

EDITORIAL - Mike Napoli What a magnificent Club we are. Let me explain, elsewhere in this Newsletter there is bound to be the usual boring statistics relating to the National gathering, and as we all know by now, statistics, like a ladies bikini, reveal more than they conceal but what they conceal is vital. So here are the stories behind the statistics.
6 Cape cars entered the Concours-all 6 were awarded medals, including a Best Overall Performance in the TR7/ TR8 category. The irony here is that a TR3A helped make this possible. Thanks Gian, I know how much it hurts. Of the 12 Triumphs that made the journey 7 experienced no troubles at all, the other 5 had problems ranging from irritating to serious.
Ken Boss received a beautiful trophy, in perpetuity, from TR Action for his Spider article. Brian and Sheila Maggs received the Ian Evans Trophy (awarded to nice people) to a standing ovation from the audience. A most appropriate award for this popular duo. The fact that a bare three hours earlier I had to restrain Sheila from killing Brian is neither here nor there.
Nerina and I were stunned, flabbergasted and then deeply honoured to be awarded the prestigious Graham Cheetam floating trophy, an honour, which we consider belongs as much to the Cape Town Centre as it does to us. Does that make us a magnificent Club? Not yet, but we are getting there.
What other Club has untapped reserves of technical knowledge, source finding and mechanical skills? Consider this:
While most of us were busy, halfway between somewhere and nowhere, trying to fathom the mysteries of a faulty TR6 fuel injection system, and being about as successful as a bunch of ballerinas trying to understand the workings of a nuclear power station, along comes a nonchalant Ken Boss and, in his own words, "piece of old tackie" whips out the injectors and diagnosis a faulty injector in the space of about 5 minutes. In fact he did not even have to stop eating his ice cream while he did it.
What other Club can receive an SOS phone call, at 4pm in Humansdorp, calling for an exhaust valve spring for a Rover V8 motor, source such a spring (for free nogal) and then effect a roadside repair replacing said spring without shedding a drop of blood in this potentially life threatening operation?
Who else other than Leadfoot could drive a V8 engined TR7 for 90 km at a breathtaking 45kph? Please bear in mind that the car had a broken Mac Pherson strut at the time. Yes, you read correctly, the strut had snapped. Anybody ever heard of this happening on any car what so ever?
Still, not quite magnificent enough.
Cape Town got dealt the short straw at the Nationals in that, with less than 24 hours to spare, we were "instructed" that the Centre was being tasked with judging the "Mechanical Section" of ALL the concourse entered cars. Did we curl up in a ball and die? Hell no, we attacked the task with relish, and on the day, judged all 49 entries in 2 hours flat.
Now one day, in very many years to come, when I am old and in my rocking chair, I will remember all of the above but the stand out feature in my mind about the 2004 Nationals was the contribution made by our ladies. Not content to just be the glamour component of the Club, they all mucked in assisting with the judging of the cars, and their contribution was huge. Indeed without them we did not have a hope in hell of completing the task in the allocated three hours. As far as I could see, on the day, no other Centre could claim such huge support. Cape Town ladies, 2004 belongs to you. You have done us proud and raised our Clubs status to magnificent and as such the Club thanks and salutes you all. Take a bow.









REPORT BACK
If our ladies received well deserved accolades for their efforts then David Blair and the Natal Centre deserve a Nobel prize for one of the best Nationals ever.
The organisation was slick and professional. Upon registration every entrant received a hamper of goodies, which included a magnificent car cover, custom made to suit their particular vehicle. The welcome braai and dinner dance had food aplenty and music to dance/party to was provided for at both. Very festive indeed. Wash bays with high-powered WAP cleaners were provided for the cleaning of cars and, in case you had forgotten, bottles of engine cleaner and wash/wax solution were to be found in the goodies bag. Concourse day, the cars were driven 30 or 40km to the Margate coastal resort and displayed/judged in a parking lot on the beachfront which attracted huge public interest. The next day was largely devoted to the driving tests and tug o Triumph. Due to time constraints the scenic drive had to be cancelled which, given the amount of mileage we had already covered, was no real hardship.
Glitches, there always are no matter how well you plan, were few and far between (mainly around accommodation) and in each instance that I know of, these glitches were speedily and smoothly ironed out by David and his team, much to the satisfaction of the "complainants". It is unusual for this Newsletter to give free advertising to any organisation but it has to be said that without the support and sponsorship of CONTINENTAL TYRES it is unlikely that the National gathering would have been the unqualified success that it was. Congratulations to Natal for securing this sponsorship and for providing a truly memorable Gathering.

Getting there and back:
Thursday 22nd April the "official" Triumph convoy met at the Engen 1 Stop ready to leave for PE. Dennis Cook was a welcome surprise entry with his TR6. Geoff and Gill Davis, after weeks and weeks prepping their TR4A turned up in the less prepared spare car. It would appear that as they got into the prepped car to leave, the clutch master cylinder packed up. As we shall see the spare car ran faultlessly there and back which just goes to show-what I am not sure of. On the downside the replacement car was considered unfit by Geoff to be entered in the judging.

For the rest it was:
Chris and Marion --TR7
Ken and Liz --TR7
Nerina and I in Des's TR7
Gerhard and son GP-V8 engined TR7
Gordon and Denise -TR6
Tim and Eileen -GT6
Gian and Gerda-TR3A



A nice touch was the appearance of Peter and Monika who had driven all the way from Simonstown in their TR5 to wish us Bon Voyage.
Others who joined us along the way or at the Gathering were:
Jamie and Jenny-TR6
Dave and Angie-Bushpig Herald
Brian and Sheila---TR3A
Ronan and Charmain-Plastic car. (No "baby on board" sticker---yet!!!)

Things ran relatively smoothly as far as Plett when all of a sudden Gordon's car started blowing fuses. As this fuse controls the wipers, indicators, brake/reverse lights and fuel/temp gauges we tried to effect a roadside repair to no avail. The decision was taken to push on to PE with Gordon in the middle of the pack. 10k's outside Humansdorp we 'phoned Gordon with the suggestion that he and I pull in there and get an auto electrician to investigate the fuse problem. No sooner had this been decided than convoy leader Gerhard pulled over with ominous metallic noises emanating from the top of his engine. Gordon and I decided that as Gerhard was in good hands with the others we should move on to Humansdorp. While the TR6 was having its fuse problem sorted out (live reverse light wire chafing against gearbox) I got the call from Gerhard, exhaust valve broken, please find me one in Humansdorp. Ja, sure no problem they must be a dime a dozen here!!!
To detail how we found it would fill this entire letter, suffice to say that in our search from one contact to another, we met people who would never make it on to the Jerry Springer Show!!! While this was going on Ken had removed the push rods on Gerhards car and cable tied the valve to stop it falling on to the piston. The car was then nursed in on 7cylinder mode (TR7?) to Humansdorp. By this time a spring had been sourced and between the lot of us we managed---nearly two hours later--- to get it fitted without removing the cylinder head. Way behind schedule we made it to PE where Jamie and Jenny Hart (TR6) along with the rest were waiting for us at the B and B. After good nights sleep and hearty breakfast John Rademan from PE arrived to lead us to Port Edward in his TR7 Spider. Things went fine until Port Alfred where Denis's TR6 became a 5 cylinder motor (voorsprong deur technik?) thanks to a faulty fuel injector. Jamie Harts TR6 suddenly would not disengage out of overdrive, no real handicap as far as forward progress was concerned but it would necessitate having to push the car every time it needed to be reversed. The dreaded Transkei was no piece of cake thanks to dead and live animals taking the road hostage, not to mention suicidal pedestrians and local motorists. The TR6's injector was playing up big time and poor Dennis was battling to keep the motor running at lower revs. At Kokstad the decision was taken to let him run up front as the TR6 performed better at higher RPM. By this time the convoy was well and truly fragmented and the few of us who had stayed at Dennis's original pace were now able to zoom along at a more realistic pace thanks to Dennis being "unleashed".



At 9.30pm, 14 hours after leaving PE we arrived at the resort weary, numbed and more than a trifle hungry. Capetonians, what more can I say? On arrival Sheila Maggs had prepared a huge bowl of spaghetti for the latecomers. D'etat spaghetti judges might wish to nit pick about the technical attributes of her formula, but as one who is a bit of an expert in these matters it ranks as one of the finest spaghettis I have ever eaten. Thanks Sheila and Brian. Gian Manni was awarded a R300 fine for illegal number plates and blew a generator on the TR3A. Thanks to Dave Lugg, now resident in Port Shepstone and who was on hand every day of the Gathering, he was able to source a spare generator to see him home. Gerda, somehow or other appeared to take it all in her stride, on this her 1st National trip.
Talking of getting home, the trip back, bar one incident was less eventful than the trip up. Dennis's woes continued with the injection system-despite having fitted one new injector-not that it appeared to have any effect on his overall pace. 90k's outside PE disaster struck when the right front Mcpherson strut snapped on Gerhards car while he was doing about 120kph. By sheer good fortune there was no oncoming traffic at the time as the car veered from side to side. Given the time and remoteness of the incident the decision was taken to limp the car the 90k's to PE. As Gerhard appeared a bit shaken, and who can blame him, and as his young son also had to be taken into account, it was decided that they should drive Des's car and Nerina and I would nurse the TR8 in. Furthermore if the worst did come to the worst and the wheel did part company with the car it would not be the first time that this has happened to me---such are the bangers I have driven over the years. Once again John Rademan was on hand to escort us in and provided Gerhard with a usable second hand unit which was fitted by a local garage the next day. Other than that there were no other incidents of note and everybody eventually made it home safe and sound.



Who won what
(First read the Editorial to see what trophies were awarded.)

Brian Maggs: Bronze Medal, TR3A
Tim Cruise: Silver Medal, GT6
Gordon Waring: Silver Medal, TR6
Jamie Hart: Silver Medal, TR6
Dennis Cook: Silver Medal, TR6
Mike Napoli: Silver Medal and Best Overall Performance Trophy, TR7 (owned by Des Rudolph)



In addition some of our members were fortunate enough to win spot/ raffle prizes. The biggest winner here was Charmaine Sanderson who won a set of 4 Continental tyres of her choice. A set of Conti slicks for the pram maybe? What ever else I hope she does not choose a set of tyres for Ronan's Spitfire as they will be well past their "sell by date" long before this project sees the light of day.
Gerda won a weekend away at a resort in the Eastern Cape and partner Gian seemed happier than she did. What is going on?



Jenny Hart won a very smart Conti jacket, and what happened after that is a mystery to me as I had to escort a slightly inebriated lady home, (and no, it was not Nerina), so if I have overlooked any other winners, please forgive.
In the final analysis I think it is safe to say that all those who attended the Nationals were winners.

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