Team
Terrific - The Early Days - Many of our
contemporary friends are aware of the Team Terrific moniker which
Diane and I use. But the history of how it all came about is largely untold
or unknown.
While rummaging about the other day, I came across quite a few photos that
serve to tell the story of Team Terrific's Early Days as represented
by the "teaser" photo at left. The team name has been
around since the late '70s, now over 30 years ago! It all started as a
lark with good friends. The complete photo coverage of The Early Days can be
seen by CLICKING
HERE. The pictures bring back very fond memories of good
friends and good times.
Fall 2008 -- Team Terrific's
Latest Addition To The Fleet - In early
December 2008 another race car was acquired. We purchased a 1965 Bobsy
SR-3 Sports Racer. This is a nice
car! The Bobsy cars are well-respected and quite handsome. The
aluminum tube frame/chassis is very sophisticated compared to the
Miller. About 50 of
the SR-3 cars were made.

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August
2009 -- On left, the
Bobsy nearly a year later after purchasing! Visit the
SmugMug site for a complete pictorial
history of its transformation.. |
May 2010 -- Finally the
Bobsy gets its maiden voyage at RMVR's HPR event.
All went pretty well, just a few things to attend to. |
Sept.
2010 -- The Bobsy at Hastings |
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Since the Bobsy was be a bit of a project, a new
SmugMug gallery has been be devoted to chronicling its
restoration over the 2008/2009 winter. Check out the
entire project on the Bobsy SmugMug.
With the Bobsy
now part of the Team Terrific stable, I decided to become
involved with rejuvenating the Bobsy Registry. So, please visit www.BobsyRegistry.com
if you have an interest in the details and history of these great
cars.
Sept.
2011 - Reunion
Party - After
fiddling for a long time with the idea of a reunion party for all
the fine folks I worked with over the years, we decided to throw a
big party.
Having been retired from
Tempest since the end of 2002 (It doesn't seem possible!), it took
some effort to assemble contact information for everyone. But that in
itself was a fun task. There were folks from the old FNBD days
('69-'74), the CNB and CCA tenure ('75-'92), as well as compatriots
from Tempest ('93-2002). The party was grand fun. Many folks attending
hadn't seen each other in 20+ years. How very cool.
Many thanks to all who were
able to attend. I can't tell you what a treat it was to see everyone.
For compete pictorial
coverage visit the Reunion's
SmugMug Picture Gallery.
1978
Lola T-620 Formula Super Vee
Restoration
Project
Winter/Spring
of 2012
No,
this isn't a car from the Team Terrific stable. Well, not exactly.
Rather, it's a car that was restored by Bob for its owner, Robert Ames,
during 2012. It turned out really nice! It was restored January to
July of 2012 in a full ground-up restoration. The tub and all the suspension bits are perfect, it has a freshly built engine,
new calipers, new paint, new fuel cell foam, new onboard fire
extinguisher, a Hewland MK8 5-speed fully inspected and shift forks
adjusted. I spent 400 hours (No
kidding!) restoring the car. The car only has a tiny bit of
track time to test the car,
obtain tire temps and final brake bias adjustment.
A complete extensive collection
of the restoration photos, beginning to the ironic ending, is available by CLICKING
HERE.
This
car was purchased new from Hass back in the day and raced it out of Iowan
and Denver for several years in the FSV Pro races. After being sold in
the mid-80s, the car was subsequently owned and raced by just two other
owners until parked in 1998. Then in 2012 Robert Ames purchased the car and
had me bring it back to life with the intention of selling it after restoration.
It was in pretty rough shape after being ridden hard and put away wet an
stored from 1998-2012. The above link to the restoration photos will
show how rough it was.
Feb.
2013 - The car is now sold. Now
here's the real great part of the story and you ain't gonna believe
this. After the restoration it was purchased by the original owner of
the car, Charlie Miller now living in San Diego. Charlie
just happened to see the car advertised in early 2013 and realized it
was his actual original T-620, serial #HU-25. He even still had the
original Hass bill of sale info, setup data, etc. from when he
owned/raced it. In addition to confirming chassis number (HU-25) he was
able to identify things on the car that he'd done when he owned it. Way
cool to see the car return "home" after all these years. He's
looking to get his now-grown kids in it and probably race it out in
Calif. with VARA.
P.S.
April 16th, 2013 - Just received my copy of the May issue of
Vintage Racecar. In that issue Mark Brinker has devoted his
monthly "Hidden Treasures" column to the full Lola
story. Read
his article on this great story here. This is the second time Mark
Brinker has featured a car that I've restored. Back in 2005 he covered
my Russell-Alexis "Barn Find" in his "Hidden Treasures" column. Thanks,
Mark. It's fun to be famous.
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