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SUMMER PARTY 2010—24 HEURES DU MANS

“Celebrating British Participation in The 24 Hours of LeMans”

The 23rd Annual Summer Party will be held this year on Friday, July 30th and Saturday, July 31st at The Roadster Factory and at other locations around Indiana County Pennsylvania. Summer Party 2010 is part of a tradition that dates back to a legendary field party held at TRF in 1986 in conjunction with The Vintage Triumph Register National Convention, when more than one-thousand enthusiasts feasted on roast pig and local sweet corn and emptied a truck load of beer kegs.

British car enthusiasts have tamed down a bit over the past twenty years, but we still know how to have a great time with British cars here in the Laurel Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. Some years, we’ve filled every motel for many miles around, and hundreds of participants have camped in the fields around The Roadster Factory’s location on a two-hundred acre farm.

Summer Party 2010 is scheduled at a convenient time for British car enthusiasts to attend, as other important events east of the Mississippi will be held in the autumn. TRF is a nice drive from locations in New England, the Southeast, the East Coast, the Midwest, and Eastern Canada. Every year, we also have participants from longer distances, Texas, the Southwest, the West Coast, the Northwest, and Western Canada. It is exciting for all of us to have participants from many locations, and everyone makes new friends.

The theme of Summer Party 2010 celebrates “The 24 Hours of LeMans,” the great endurance race held in France every year in June and now also including a LeMans Classic for old LeMans racers. TRF will have its own Triumph TRS LeMans racing car on display during Summer Party, and participants are invited to dress in costumes appropriate to the theme and/or to disguise their cars as LeMans racers. Just picture yourself driving to Summer Party on the interstate in a LeMans racing car. In keeping with the theme, the movie “LeMans” starring Steve McQueen will be shown during the party to be held in the TRF paddock on Friday Night, and French wines will be served. Prizes will be awarded for the most authentic cars and for the best LeMans costumes.

In anticipation of a large turn-out in 2010, Summer Party will offer a full slate of driving events as enjoyed last year and in years gone by. This year’s events will include drag racing, autocross, a mountain tour, a poker rallye, a winery tour, and a LeMans Start Contest, in which participants run across the track, jump into their cars, and speed off down the track to duplicate the old way of starting the LeMans race. Only one car at a time runs in our contest to avoid the kinds of accidents which sometimes happened at the old LeMans races. For concours enthusiasts, a participants’ choice car show will be held on the streets of Downtown Indiana, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, and a wine and cheese party will be held at The Coventry Inn.

Driving events will begin on Friday afternoon with drag racing at Pittsburgh Raceway Park, about twenty miles west of TRF on U.S Route 22 in New Alexandria, Pennsylvania. The LeMans Start Contest will take place during the drag racing, and the winner will receive a cash award of $100.00 Other driving events will take place throughout the day on Saturday. The autocross will be held again this year on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and we thank The University for the use of its parking lots. We are planning the routes for the poker rallye and other tours through the beautiful Western Pennsylvania countryside.

The Participants’ Choice Concours d’Elegance is the highlight of Summer Party for many, and we have attracted wonderful attendance for this event in the past, with more examples of specific Triumph models on display than we have ever seen in any other place. As major suppliers of MGB components, we would like to attract a large number of these cars to the show as well.

The Coventry Inn, our own English pub, located in Indiana, Pennsylvania will be a part of Summer Party again this year, although it may not be open to the public at this time. More than one-thousand brass plates remain screwed to beams inside The Coventry Inn to honour the charter members of CMAS, The Coventry Motoring and Aviation Society, a club formed many years ago to help to finance the building construction. A new T-shirt will be designed for charter members attending Summer Party 2010, and these will be provided at no charge as a part of the original membership agreement. The Coventry Inn will be open during the Participants’ Choice Concours on Saturday evening to host a wine and cheese party for all participants.

We wish to thank The Triumph Wedge Owner’s Association for their support of Summer Party, both in attendance and financially. The Wedge Owners are the most enthusiastic of the drag racers, and we retain drag racing as an event of Summer Party to accommodate their interest. Along with the Wedge Owners, we invite other car clubs, both local and national, to attend Summer Party as a group this year. No one knows what will happen with regard to economic issues and with issues relating to fuel use and to the driving of old cars in years to come. We will have to deal with such issues as a group in their time, but for now, we have another summer to enjoy, and we would be foolish to let this one pass without taking full advantage of what it has to offer. And one thing it has to offer is The Roadster Factory Summer Party 2010. Don’t miss it...

You are invited to attend Summer Party 2010, along with all British car owners and British car enthusiasts. As this invitation is late in being mailed, I am keeping the registration fee at $89.95 through the end of June. On July 1st, it will jump to $109.95. These prices cover all scheduled events, including the field party. Camping is the only extra at $20.00 for the entire weekend. Register for Summer Party 2010 on-line, by mail, by phone, or by fax. You will find a registration form included with this invitation. Keep up with Summer Party information and other TRF news by subscribing to our weekly e-mail newsletter. To subscribe, simply follow the directions on our home page.

Charles A. Runyan

The Roadster Factory

June 2010

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