Triumph of the Mountains

I finally got the chance to take the TR on a long road trip this weekend. I made a trek to the N. GA mountains to do a shake down run on the brakes and see how the TR handles some curves. Well, it did quite well. Dare I say that the TR can take corners as fast as my MINI. The brakes did well except for one annoying design fault. In corners, the outside front brake rotor has a habit of pushing the outboard piston back into the caliper, so your first press on the brake after a hard turn tends to head very far to the floor. I was expecting this so I didn't have any pucker moments. IN the turns the car has almost no body roll and the engine pulls great in 2nd gear on exit. The engine did struggle on some of the steeper climbs but I think it did quite well for a 40 year old 105hp lump. Tires held very well though made plenty of noise. The handling was very neutral. Front in turned in lighting fast and the back stayed in line though it would hope and step out a bit when exiting a corner under acceleration, though not enough to warrant any counter steer. I wish the MINI handled this well. I know no why these cars (TR3, 4, and 250) where so popular in the SCCA race scene 40 years ago. Add a little umph under the hood and these things where hard to beat. The TR held up great, better than I did on a day when the air temps where in the high 90's. It even made it through a brief rain storm on the way home. I am just happy that it made it through the trip without a single hicup. Water temp never got near 1/2 on the gauge (thanks to water wetter and a 160 degree t-stat), oil pressure never wavered and the engine just kept humming along. This little trip under very harsh conditions have me very confident that the TR can make nice weekend drives to the mountains when the temps become a bit more bearable to the pilot.

One interesting note, I pulled up behind a sweet looking 1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk. Wow, a very beautiful car done up in glossy black paint and nice shiny chrome. My car was getting waves and gawks for most of the trip but when I pulled behind the Sky Hawk my car disappeared, and for good measure.