First Race

Update by Tim Suddard to the Triumph TR3 project car
Apr 5, 2001

Our 2001 Vintage racing season started out with the HSR 24 Minutes of Daytona. This great little support event for the 24 Hours At Daytona is a lot of fun. Designed for cars that have true Daytona history, this event is not a race, but an exhibition and a chance to show off your cars and see old friends. For us, it was a chance to shake the cobwebs out (120 mph on the back straight will shake everything in a TR3!) and get us ready for the vintage season.

Due to magazine deadlines and other travel duties, our first real race of the 2001 season was part of the 12 Hours of Sebring. HSR hosts a support race for this classic event. Co-driver JK Jackson garnered our first trophy in “Millie” with a third place finish in the sprint race. Later in the weekend, Rennie Bryant drove the Saturday morning exhibition and Tim Suddard co-drove the one hour enduro with Jackson on Sunday morning after the big Sebring 12 hour event.

A second place finish and a best lap time of 3:01.568 netted “Team GRM” another HSR medal for a second place finish in the V4 class. Before you get too excited, we were 18th overall out of 28 and nearly 18 seconds per lap slower than the class winner, Doug Campbell in his MGB GT. You can bet we’ll be getting a closer look at that car before the season is over.

Settings:

15x5.5-in. Hoosiers set at 30 psi all the way around, 1.5 degrees of negative camber, 1.75 degrees castor and 1/16-in. toe out.
The chassis works real well but we ran out of brakes during the enduro, and are going to test other pads.
Before our next race, we need to give “Millie” some attention. We need to change to a better seat, modify the roll cage to get a decent foot rest and cure the intermittent overdrive and charging problems.
A special thanks to Triumph club members Al and Mary Alice Sanders for crewing for us.

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