Tag Archives: GT6

Elvis Investigations – The Triumph Detective

A couple of weeks ago I received a enquiry from Hazen Wardle about reviewing a couple of his self published books the first of which is “The Triumph Detective” a Reche Plimpton Novel, in the spirit of nothing ventured nothing gained I agreed, I must confess life at GALPOT towers rarely leaves me time for engaging in pure fiction, there is enough of it when I am looking into the myths that surround some of the vehicles I blog about.

The Triumph Detective - A Reche Plimpton Novel

The Triumph Detective tells the tale of how plaid attired investigator ‘Reche Plimpton’ takes on a case to investigate a temporary abduction by aliens of the ‘up there’ kind of Sarge a German shepherd dog.

In solving the mystery Reche the proprietor of ‘Elvis Investigations’ follows up a number of clues that start with an alleged alien message, alternately using either his own Triumph GT6 which his assistant Laura is not so keen on, or Laura’s Hummer as transportation on the road to solving the mystery.

The story is peppered with entertaining characters such as those from the UFO Church of His illuminated Universe and a ne’er do well neighbour of his client.

Resche Plimpton - Guitar Thief

The second book ‘Resche Plimpton : Guitar Thief’, which not entirely coincidentally is launched today, carries on nicely from the first and is undoubtedly a more complete volume which sees our plaid dressed hero get framed for the theft of a broken guitar and then employed to find the guitar when it gets stolen a second time.

If I ever had any doubts about Hazen being a first time lucky writer they were completely dispelled by ‘Guitar Thief’ to the point where I am wondering if I can blag a copy of the third Resche Plimpton novel ‘Bigfoot: Triumph Enthusiast’ as and when it appears.

Without wishing to give the plot away I heartily recommend the first two Resche Plimpton Triumph Detective novels ‘The Triumph Detective‘ and ‘Guitar Thief‘ as amusing light reads available in handy e-book formats.

Triumph GT6

Alongside his writing Hazen describes himself as being ‘in over my head’ rebuilding a Triumph GT6 Coupé using the rear end panels from a Triumph Spitfire convertible.

The process of cleaning repairing and refabracation has given Hazen the opportunity to become familiar with every panel, rivet, nut and bolt of his vehicle.

Hazen Wardle

Hazen has been working on his GT6 project since 1997, since when he has moved 6 times ! Hazen’s dedication to Triumph sheetmetal is faithfully documented on his blog linked here.

I hope you have enjoyed this Elvis Investigations edition of ‘Getting’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget … CLOSING DATE MIDNIGHT GMT TODAY !

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

Automobiliart, Paul Chenard

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Sports-GT cars set, Paul Chenard

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Phil Hill, Sharknose Ferrari Set, Paul Chenard

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

1934 GP Season Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 3 1934 Season

1950s Grand Prix Engines

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Mike Hawtorns racecars Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

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Race Winning Myth – Triumph GT6

Race Winning Myth – Triumph GT6

A couple of months ago I got up horrendously early to go filming with the only namesake I know, Opposite his house was this MK3 Triumph GT6.

The GT6 was originally concieved by Giovani Michelotti and Triumph in 1963 as a Coupe version of the 4 cylinder Triumph Spitfire and was to be known as the Spitfire GT4. Unfortunately while the styling won plenty of kudos the Spitfires 1147 cc / 70 cui engine struggled to cope with the extra body weight.

However the boffins in the Triumph racing department saw the advantage of using the sleek GT4 body for it’s upcoming 1965 Le Mans programme and made fibre glass copies of the fast back and grafted them on to the tuned racers they were building, thus the racers did not incur the same weight penalty as the one off GT4 built by Michelotti. The Spitfires of Jean – Jaques Thuner / Simo Lampinen and Claude Dubois / Jean-Francois Plot came in 13th and 14th winning their class against several Alpines non of which were classified as finishers.

Triumph decided to capitalise on the racing success by developing the GT6 fitted with the 6 cylinder 1998cc 121.9 cui engine from the Vitesse model. The handling of the Mark I GT6 launched in 1966 was so bad, it understeered/pushed terribly compared to the Spitfire because of the extra weight of the 6 cylinder engine, that huge improvements to the rear suspension were introduced for the 1968 MK2.

The MK3 GT6 introduced in 1970 features a completely different body to the earlier versions broadly in line with upgraded of the Spitfire MKIV. The GT6 MK3 comfortably out performed it closest competitor the MGB 0-60 mph by nearly 3 seconds and top speed by 12mph yet the MGB outsold the GT6 despite the marketing myth that the GT6 was developed from the “race wining Le Mans Spitfires”, when as we have seen the GT was a separate programme that predated the racing programme.

History class over, wishing you all a fine day, don’t forget to come back now.

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