One of the best International Weekends for years - a Leicestershire TR Group report
What a weekend: sunshine, cars, beer, food and best of all great company. There were over 40 LTRG members and guests meeting up with friends new and old during the day and partying into the wee hours; perfection.
Friday evening started with people arriving and setting up camp in the trees, then it was off to the bar for some beer and wine served by the Directors. Then back to the campsite for a sumptuous curry cooked by Girish and Pushpa, which gave a lovely tingle on the lips so more beer and wine was needed to wash this down. The camp fire was lit, washing up completed, whiskey opened and out came Alan's large bag of miniatures to be shared around and finally collapsing into bed.
Saturday morning arrived with blue skies and lots of sunshine and a massive breakfast bap courtesy of Andy, Rob, Gaylene and team. The hard work started for many of the LTRG members who were running or helping out with the Bring and Buy, Auto-Solo, Arena, electric hook-up etc. all the things needs to make the event what it is. Many thanks to all that helped, it is much appreciated by everybody. There were lots to do and see across the large site and the addition of Pistons in the Park produced some nice non-Triumphs to admire and chat to the owners about. The Auto-Solo was a great success with a queue all day long with some spirited driving in some very hairy machines.
Tired and a bit pink, most people retired to the campsite at the end of the day to be greeted by the smell of the traditional LTRG BBQ with large chunks of lamb, beef and pork being cooked to perfection by Andy, Colin, Ben and helpers. There was so much food but we managed to eat most of it washed down with copious quantities of beer and wine. Once again, washing up done, the fire was lit and the hard stuff started to flow including some Indian Whiskey and Norwegian Aquavit and a valiant effort to finish up Alan's miniatures. We apologise to our neighbours for all the noise into the wee hours but it's only once per year and it's what the IWE is all about.
Sunday morning dawned with a few thick heads and with another breakfast consumed it was off to work again to support the weekend. This is when the art installation made from straw bales was spotted in the arena, constructed during the night by another group, all done in the best possible taste. Photos taken but not for publication here. Some members had a go at the Auto-Solo whilst others nursed sore heads or hit the trade stands, admired cars of all sorts, attended seminars and listened a fascinating interview with Bob Tullius, what a guy!
The Leicestershire TR Group were invited into the arena to explain what a good local group gets up to by being interviewed by Wayne and Graham. The star of the show was Mathew Ward (aged 12) who drove Martin's TR6 into the arena like a pro. This drew lots of positive comments and a huge round of applause. The only minor faux pas was caused by Mick, when having been describing to Wayne how comfortable and reliable TRs are for long distance touring, his Dis-Car-Nect decided to do just that when we were asked to leave, ooops, but quickly sorted.
The icing on the cake for the group's weekend was when Steve's TR 250 won 1st Prize in the TR4/4A/5/250 non-standard Concours d'Elegance. This was a well deserved win given all the hard work and skill he put into the rebuild. Well done. A side-screen car is the next project we hear.
A big well done and thank you to everybody who helped make this one of the best weekends for many years, we are still the "Best TR Group in the World"