The Classic Le Mans results were absolutely fantastic after all the hard work that had gone into preparing both Mark Hoble’s TR2 and Paul Gerring’s TRS.

The TR2, owned and driven by Mark, had been extensively rebuilt, with re-engineered suspension, brakes, steering, engine, gearbox and wheels, which not only made it competitive, but also considerably improved its reliability.

“I had the idea of using a TR2 after competing in Classic le Mans in a friend's Aston Martin DB2 in the 2006 event,” says Mark Hoble. “I looked at the regulations and realised that a drum-braked TR2 would be a seriously competitive proposition in the Index of performance, so I set about acquiring a car.”

Courtesy of Kevin Rochfort, 2008

The car Mark eventually settled on was in Australia and had been raced early in its career by Australian track legend Doug Whiteford. “The car arrived in autumn last year and the extensive rebuild began immediately. I had hoped that the car would be quite competitive, but I hadn’t considered the possibility that we could actually win the event.”

The TRS represents a major success story for the company and a dream fulfilled for Paul Gerring and I. The original TRS took Le Mans by storm in 1960/61, but there were none left on the road until we decided to recreate the vehicle. We managed to acquire the original full size drawings from the estate of the car’s designer Giovanni Michelotti, and armed with these and the original prototype “Zoom”, which I own, the scene was set for the recreation.

Having made the decision that the body should be in aluminium, rather than the original fibreglass, the next part of the process was to have wooden bucks made. We were fortunate to be introduced to a former Aston Martin buck maker who set to work making the forms for the body panels. With all this in place work started on making the first body.

Whilst the body was in production we made a start on the chassis, based on a TR4. A TRS chassis is six inches longer and deeper than standard, so this threw up some significant challenges. Paul and I opted to use four - pot brake callipers at the front, and decided on a rear disc conversion. When completed the car was trimmed and became a normal road car with a full sized screen and a standard TR4 engine with 45 DCOE Weber carburettors. The TRS was then used as a road car for several years.

Paul and I had always had a dream not just to have a TRS but also to compete in a relevant historic event, such as Classic le Mans, but it wasn’t until we showed the car at the Historic Motorsport Show at Stoneleigh three years ago that this started to look achievable. The Race Director of Classic le Mans, Patrick Peter, saw the TRS at the show and insisted we should enter it, even though its construction differed from the original TRS.

As a result we prepared the car for the event, fitting an authentic cut-down Perspex windscreen and engaged Nick Marsh and Tony Dron to drive it. The car was shaken down at Bruntingthorpe, where a number of other necessary amendments were identified, including a need for an improved fuel pumpand the removal of the 4-pot callipers and introduction of standard callipers to closer meet the spirit of the event. We fitted Dunlop L section racing tyres and wheels, put in a roll bar and fire extinguisher and were then able to confirm our entry!

Negotiations with the scrutineers allowed us to compete without FIA papers, because although the car didn’t match up in terms of originality it did meet the safety regulations.

Nick Marsh secured a commendable grid position - sandwiched between a 275 Ferrari and Adrian Newey’s GT40 – and drove the whole of the first session and throughout the night. Tony drove the last session and managed a six-minute lap. We completed the race 27th overall out of 70 cars and 23rd when the index of performance was applied.

So it was the dream come true!

For 2008 the car was further improved with a new camshaft increasing power to 105bhp at the wheels to make it slightly more competitive. This does not sound much, but with good mid range torque the car proved competitive against similar cars with 'steel' engines.

Competitive it was – posting 5.45 laps in the daytime and 5.59 at night, leading to an overall finish of 17th, ahead of many far more powerful vehicles, including Porsche 911s, E Types and Ferraris. The whole event was absolutely thrilling – more than we ever could have dreamed of!

We now have two years to decide what goals we have for 2010. For now though I can bask in the pleasure of having driven at le Mans and that the car was competitive and reliable.

Congratulations should also go to Celia and Ian, who finished strongly with the Peerless in Plateau 3. I will now hand you over to my Daughter, Natalie, who had first-hand experience of the spectacle that is le Mans,

Neil Revington

Classic le Mans is something that I’ve never been to before and it definitely lived up to all the hype surrounding it. It was an experience that I will never forget and it looks like I’ve got a lot of work to do over the next couple of years to be able to race at le Mans myself!

The weekend didn’t start all that well – Neil and David Ferry were so busy chatting away that they took a wrong turning and ended up getting lost down a lane on the way to the ferry. Things went from bad to worse when we then got a flat tyre on the trailer – and this came back to haunt us later in the trip!

The excitement really started when we finally got to the ferry in Portsmouth. My apprehension over making the journey soon disappeared when I saw all the classic racing GT40s, Porsches and Jaguars lined up amongst huge support trucks and Winnebagos on the quayside!

The TRS got through scrutineering without any problems on the Thursday and I started to get my bearings of where I was and what was going on around me, with the paddocks, the pit lanes and the track. The TRS was in plateau 4, which involved cars from 1962-1965. As I walked around our paddock I started to realise that because of the year of the car we were put in the same grid as AC Cobras, Jaguar Type E, Ferrari 275 GTBs and, last but not least, Ford GT40s!

Neil was driving with Richard Bull – an interesting team because Richard had driven at le Mans three times previously but didn’t have much experience of the TRS and Neil knew the car like the back of his hand but had never driven around the circuit before! The first qualifying round was on Friday. Tension and excitement was high and the adrenaline was pumping for Richard and Neil, who managed to qualify well with an upper mid field grid position.

The first round was on Saturday at 8.00 pm, and this is when it all started to get serious. We positioned ourselves above the pit lane and experienced the drama of the le Mans start, before watching the cars disappearing into the distance for the first time. By the end of the race the team was in the mid twenties, which we thought was amazing seeing as the top five positions were all held by Ford GT40s, led by the Ray Bellm entry. Impressively both Richard and Neil managed to beat the 6 min 15 lap, which were the order of the day for Nick Marsh and Tony Dron in the 2006 race, within their second and third laps.

The second round on Sunday was from 04h00 to 05h20, I must admit that I can’t report too much about it, it was hard to keep track as a spectator in the middle of the night!

The 3rd round was from 12h00 to 13h20 Sunday and at the end of it all the news came through that we had managed to finish up 17th, leading to some fantastic post-race paddock celebrations!

The trip home turned into a bit of an ordeal. I lost count of how many times we had to stop because of the weight of all the spares plus the Atlas van on the trailer and as a result we suffered further punctures, leading to us almost missing the ferry. When we arrived back in England we decided that the sensible thing to do would be to unload the Atlas and for Neil and I to drive it back from Poole to Middlezoy. Not a comfortable journey, travelling in a van with no seatbelts, springs coming through the archaic seats and a top speed of only 35mph (15mph up the hills) - in fact I still have the bruises to prove it.

This didn’t take the shine off what was a brilliant trip though, and the results were the icing on the cake. Overall the atmosphere at Classic le Mans was great, and the interest in the TRS (and our old Atlas van) was incredible. Can’t wait for next time!

Natalie Revington

Courtesy of Kevin Rochfort, 2008

This was my first National at Malvern so it was good to see how the show works and meet so many of you. Even though I’m told the numbers were down on previous years both days were busy on the RevingtonTR stand. At this years National we took a different approach to the event. What we wanted was more of an exhibition where you could see a selection of the modified parts that RevingtonTR have to offer. From the comments I had back I certainly thought it was successful and gave many of you food for thought for projects for the future. With a selection of suspension, brake and fuelling parts on display it certainly provoked some discussions on what many visitors would like to do to improve their pride and joy. If any of you wish to continue the discussion please give me, Neil or Bill a call.

The parts we did take for sale also went quite well, with many items being sold on Saturday. This was a selection of parts that we had uncovered in the move to Thorngrove and while tidying other area’s on site. I would like at some time in the future to have an open house and let you have a walk around area’s where we have some parts stored and let you have a sift through. Hopefully there will be parts that are useful to many of you and that we can find new homes for, at a reasonable price.

Finally, by now you will have heard how the 2 cars prepared by RevingtonTR did at the Le Mans Classic. I sure you will join me in congratulating all of the drivers and support crews on this superb result. I would just like to let you know that all of the modifications carried out on the cars are available to any TR owner. If you would like to find out what parts could be fitted to your car please give us a call. With several modified parts and lots of guts and driving experience you too could be a Le Mans competitor.
In the meantime drive safely and if you need any parts don’t forget “ Call RevingtonTR, for all your TR needs”,

Alan Goodwin

For those unfamiliar with Thorngrove barns, you may wish to take a tour of our new facilities via a new section of our website, please click here to take a tour of Revington TR!

We would also like to take the opportunity for you to take a tour of our existing facilities at Home Farm Workshops. Anybody wishing to have some restoration, uprating or servicing done to their car can have a look at what equipment we have here.