TRIUMPH RIDERS NEWS

www.triumphriders.co.nz Issue 2 / Autumn 2013

Thunder & Iron 2 - Wanganui

All Triumph Riders club members and friends are invited to attend the

Wanganui Chapter 2nd major public event on March 16th at the

Aramoho Hotel, and its going to be ripper with live music from 11am

till late at night, around 30 interesting classic bikes in the bar during

the day that many of you have never seen before plus up to 20

muscle cars and loads of modern Triumphs and Harleys in the

carpark outside. Hats off to the Rat & Karen & Chris for driving the

event and the local members who have stepped up to help. See that

Triumph chopper that featured on the cover of ‘Twin Eagle’ many

years ago, a rare 1976 Triumph Saint 750, plus great food, music, all

day long and a chance to catch up members from different parts of

the country. This is one event to not miss - see you there!

Classic Bikes, Music & Mustang Muscle for Thunder & Iron 2

This Saturday March 16th ‘Thunder & Iron 2’ display at the Aramoho Hotel will feature a rare collection of classic motorcycles inside the

hotel lounge bar plus muscle cars and hundreds of modern Triumphs and Harley Davidson machines in the carpark. Live music outside

during the day will be provided by Spex & Gary, The Blue Veins and the Mighty Oaks. The display runs from 10am to 5pm with Sin City

playing at the social that evening.

Grand Prix Race bikes of yesteryear will feature including a rare 1948 600cc Manx Norton, a machine originally built for the World Side-

car Championships but when the FIM changed the class capacity limit to 500cc no more were produced by the factory. Rod Coleman

found this semi-complete motor in Australia with a local restorer sourcing the many rare parts over the years and built his own replica

‘Featherbed’ frame. The Manx will be joined by an AJS 7R ‘Boy Racer’ 350cc of the same vintage, a machine made world famous when

Rod Coleman of Wanganui won the 1954 Isle of Man TT Junior title. Other race bikes will include Norton and NSU machines ridden by

top local classic racers, a rare JAP powered OEC plus a 1973 Triumph TR5T 500cc. A Harley Davidson XR1000 from 1984, a hot rod

version of the XR750 made for the street or track, will sit beside a vintage twin from the Milwaukee factory.

Other bikes in the display include a brand new 1965 Cheney Triumph 5TA scrambler plus CZ, Montesa, a BSA side valve drag bike,

classic sidecars plus a sprinkling of 1960 -1970s Meridan Triumph 650 & 750cc motorcycles. A trio of Triumph Trident 750s will be

joined by one of the rarest Police Saint Triumphs in the world, a 1976 TR7V single carburettor model 750cc, one of only six made that

year by the Triumph workers co-op as demonstrators for British Police to evaluate will feature. By the mid 1970s many of the tradi-

tional government markets for police and military motorcycles in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth were being courted by

the BMW and Japanese brands so Triumph faced stiff competition. It was a huge boost to the company when they received an order

for 1300 Tiger Police TR7 750cc machines for 1979 from Nigeria plus 200 to Egypt & Libya,150 to Sudan, 100 to Uganda, 97 for the

British Ministry of Defence for motorcycle escort duties plus smaller orders for the forces of Ghana and Trinidad. These orders were an

important lifeblood to the company and it’s interesting to note from John Rosamond’s book ‘Save the Triumph Bonneville’ regarding the

Nigerian order he writes, ‘it was believed that the Triumph motorcycles were preferred because of their rugged qualities, simplicity of

engineering design and ability to continue to operate in the most hostile environments, even when subjected to severe abuse.’

Another aspect of Thunder & Iron 2 will be the muscle car display featuring Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford and Holden Monaro cars. One

model that featured strongly last year was the Ford Mustang, or ‘Pony’ car. The original Mustang was released in 1964 but it’s origins

started in 1962 with Lee Iacocca and his ‘Fairlane Group’ brains trust. Lee was by then the vice – president and general manager of

Ford and his group were tasked with looking at the future direction of various Ford product lines. They came up with a space frame

Mustang l prototype car first shown in Oct 1962 at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. The first production Mustang was released in

mid 1964 and attracted wide media attention after 29 million television viewers saw adverts for the car the night before release.

22,000 cars were ordered on the first day and in it’s first year sold 417,000 units. The standard engine was a 170 cubic inch inline six

plus 260 & 289 V8 options, in convertible & hard top coupe with each in standard, luxury or with bench seat options. A total of eight-

een paint colors were available plus a huge range of catalogue options. By 1966 over 600,000 Mustangs were produced and as the

decade rolled on larger V8 engines were added to the growing list of options. By 1969 the Mach l Fastback was offered with the 429

TRIUMPH RIDERS COFFEE

The details of the Triumph Riders coffee is as follows:

200gm Bags of either whole bean or ground ready for drinking (see photo) (TRMCC

price $7.00 RRP $10.)

Orders need to be placed with the local Secretary or Treasurer of each chapter on the

Tuesday before the Sunday meeting and they will forward orders to the Kapiti Coffee

Company.

All proceeds go to relevant chapters,

Corban Halcrow (Secretary Wellington Chapter)

.cubic inch V8. With the oil crisis the Mach ll was released in 1974 with an inline four or V6 and so ended what many consider the end

of the great ‘muscle car era’ as the cars took on a more economy based approach to this classic American ‘peoples’ sports car. Per-

formance options of the car were produced by the likes of Carol Shelby in partnership with Ford and many thousands were sold over

the years. Ford also released it’s own performance version of the Mustangs, the Boss and the SVO from 1984. Saleen Autosport

started building performance Mustangs in 1984 with just 3 vehicles and by 2000 over 900 cars were sold. Mustangs continue in pro-

duction today.

Thunder & Iron 2 is hosted by the Triumph Riders MC Club Wanganui Chapter, supported by the NZBSA Owners Club, local classic

race enthusiasts and Muscle Car Club members. There will be food stalls, coffee and refreshments, trade stalls, with bikes, parts and

cars for sale, raffles and a tattooist. Admission is by gold coin donation during the day and the Saturday evening social with Sin City

from 8pm, is $10 per head. Enquiries phone Mike Marshall 027-223-6824.

This article was submitted to the local Midweek newspaper for publication just before the event along with a

selection of bike and car photos. A good turnout of members from other areas & Chapters would be good to

help fly the TRMCC banner in this town. The club has come a long way since formation, lets keep the

momentum moving along - Robert (Ed).

The Triumph Classic Festival Hampton Downs 2013 (Pics by Karen Frost)

Rob North Replica framed

T140 750 Bonneville (185)

plus (176) is a 1969 965cc

Rickman Weslake - (I’m

sure there are some

Triumph parts in there)

plus a classic sidecar

freight train over the back

of the track and the man

behind the Red Devil Race

Team and designer/builder

of the fleet of red 3TA &

Tiger 90 350cc Triumph

racers (9) Graeme Cole.

Manawatu Chapter Events Contact Ed Winiana 021-630-952 for further details ed@tranzskills.co.nz

Wellington Chapter Events All ride details contact steve@triumphriders.co.nz or 021-801-787

Wanganui Chapter Events All ride details contact Mike Marshall 027- 223-6824 ratsnest@vodafone.co.nz

Auckland Chapter Events Contact Gerry 022-030-5048. Club meetings Shed 5 Cafe ghalcrow@orcon.co.nz

East Coast Chapter Events 3rd Sunday of month Steve Fairbrother stevedig4u@gmail.com 07-308-0672 027-305-6424

Bay of Plenty Chapter Events 2nd Sunday mth Dean van der Woude joanddean@clear.net.nz 07-347-4575 021-762-807

Christchurch Events Contact Contact Terry 025-212-3508 president@triumphriders.co.nz or Bernie 021-299-5612

CLUB CONTACTS

Terry Williams, Thunderbird 900, National TRMCC President, Mbl 027-212-3508 president@triumphriders.co.nz

Ralp Tasker, Thunderbird Storm, National TRMCC Vice-President, Ph 06-345-6521, 022-079-0240 ralph.tasker@windowslive.com

Mal Skinner, Speed Triple, National TRMCC Treasurer, Ph 027-237-9174 malsroofing@clear.net.nz

Peter (Nutz) Andrews, 1970 TR6 Trophy 650, National TRMCC Regalia Officer Ph 06-343-2391 Mbl 021-122-1697 nutzz@xtra.co.nz

Mike Marshall (The Rat), Thunderbird 1600, Wanganui President & TRMCC National Events Co-Ordinator, Ph 027-223-6824

ratsnest@vodafone.co.nz

Les Oxnam, Thunderbird 1600, National TRMCC Membership Officer, Ph 027-271-2391 l-oxnam@xtra.co.nz

Ed Winiana, Rocket lll Roadster, TRMCC Manawatu Chapter President, Ph 021-630-952 ed@tranzskills.co.nz

Steve Marsh Legend 900, TRMCC Wellington Chapter President, Ph 021-801-787 steve@triumphriders.co.nz

Robin Boom, Trophy 1200, TRMCC Waikato Area Co-ordinator, Ph 07-444-8764 Mbl 027-444-8764

TRMCC Auckland Chapter President - Chris Booth has resigned due to work commitments - more news on New President next issue

Gerry Halcrow Thruxton, TRMCC Auckland Secretary, Ph 022-030-5048 ghalcrow@orcon.co.nz

Dean van der Woude, Thunderbird Storm, TRMCC BOP President, Ph 07-347-4575 , 021-762-807 joanddean@clear.net.nz

Steve Fairbrother, America, TRMCC East Coast President, Ph 07-308-0672, 027-305-6424 stevedig4u@gmail.com

The 1983 ex Scott Parker TT

bike, the T140 750cc

Bonneville that helped him

finish in the 10 for the AMA

Flattrack series. It was often

joked through the decades

that the Americans could

build a better Triumph than

the English and its no doubt

Triumph twins have a

remarkable flattrack race

history in the USA dating

back to as early as 1938.

Their results were meager

compared to Harley till 1966,

when Triumph had near

complete domination of TT

events till the late 1970s. (a

TT is a half mile flattrack with

some infield turns and jumps)

In the AMA Flat Track Championship record book, Gary Scott is remembered for accomplishments aboard Harley-Davidson racebikes.

But Scott, one of the most successful racers of his era, began and ended his career aboard Triumphs, including this machine, one of the last competitive British bikes in series history. Scott raced this Triumph during the 1983 season. Starting life as a 1977 T140 parallel twin, the bike was modified with a Trackmaster frame, Fox shocks and Ceriani forks. Fitted with other race bits, such as Barnes wheels and Airheart brakes, it gave Scott his last top 10 in the AMA Flat Track series. Scott burst onto the professional dirt-track scene 11 years earlier with one of the most amazing rookie seasons in AMA history. Scott qualified his Triumph for 21 of the 24 Nationals, earned two wins, and finished the season as runner-up to Harley factory rider Mark Brelsford. That earned Scott Rookie of the Year honors for the 1972 season, and a second-place finish behind Kenny Roberts in ’73 got him a spot on the Harley factory team. In 1975, that combination paid off with a title over Roberts and a hotshot rookie named Jay Springsteen. Returning to privateer status for the 1976 season—and his trusted Triumphs for TT events—Scott remained competitive, finishing second that year and third a year later. By 1983, when he rode this machine, Scott was nearing the end of his successful career, and a new crop of youngsters, like Randy Goss, Ricky Graham, Bubba Shobert and Scott Parker, were taking over. Still, he rode well enough to finish in the top 10 for the 12th consecutive year. Scott was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio, in 1998.

Triumph Meridan T140 & Famous USA Rider

Gary Scott at Peoria TT 1983 on Triumph T140

Trackmaster - the last time a Meridan Triumph

qualified for an AMA National Main Event Final