Barbara
Twentieth on the 1963 Tour de France in a TR4, with Mordacq (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
The People Behind the Triumph TR4
The stylist who drew the TR4, the engineers and managers of a company that changed hands while it was being built, the men who ran its works team and its American racing, and the drivers who raced it: who they were and what each did.
About the pictureVic Elford in a McLaren at Zandvoort in 1969, not a TR4
The TR4 was a stylist's shape on an engineer's frame, made by a company that changed owners while the car was being designed, and raced by its American importer as well as by its factory. Three of the people behind it have pages of their own: Giovanni Michelotti, who styled it; Kas Kastner, who prepared its racing cars in America and ran Triumph's competition department there; and Bob Tullius, who won three national championships in TR4s. The others are here, with only what the sources record of them.source 1source 2source 3
Entries
Short entries, in the year each joins the TR4's story. The history tells how they fit together, and the works rally TR4s and Sebring TR4s follow the racing teams.
- 1954
Alick Dick
Standard-Triumph's managing director from early 1954. Under him Michelotti was taken on, Zest and Zoom were built and the company expanded until its money ran out; Leyland asked for his resignation in August 1961.
- 1955
Walter Belgrove
The in-house stylist who had shaped the TR2, and who left Standard-Triumph late in 1955, two years before Michelotti arrived.
- 1957
Raymond Flower
A customer of Standard-Triumph; in Graham Robson's account, as in the German TR Register's, he was the man who introduced Michelotti.
- 1957
Harry Webster
Standard-Triumph's director of engineering to 1968, whose four-letter code names at first all began with Z. Leyland's men dismissed the old board in his office in August 1961, and the Vintage Triumph Register, after Robson, dates his independent rear suspension for the TR to about 1962.
- 1960
Sir Henry Spurrier
The chairman of Leyland Motors, whose telephone call to Dick in November 1960 began the takeover.
- 1961
Stanley Markland
Leyland's man in charge of Standard-Triumph from August 1961, when he became managing director. The competitions department was closed under the new owners that year.
- 1962
Graham Robson
Put in charge of the works TR4 team within weeks of the Monte Carlo Rally of 1962, as Motor Sport reported that March.
- 1962
Ray Henderson
Chief mechanic of the works TR4 team, from the TRS Le Mans programme before it; in 1965 he took a crew of the factory's mechanics to Sebring, for the works Spitfires.
- 1962
John Sprinzel
The works team's first captain, in 3 VC.
- 1962
Mike Sutcliffe
The works driver who won the TR4's Coupe des Alpes, on the Alpine Rally of 1962.
- 1962
Jean-Jacques Thuner
A Swiss private entrant on the Monte Carlo Rally of 1962, with J. Gretener; he then drove for the works team from its first rally to the Shell 4000 of 1964.
- 1962
Charlie Gates
A Pacific Coast champion of 1962 who went on to drive for the importer: in No. 38 at Sebring in 1963, in Kastner's TR4A Super Stock in 1965 and, at 52, in the TR4A prototype at Sebring in 1966.
- 1962
George Waltman
A service representative for Genser-Forman, the distributor, who raced his own TR4 at Sebring, with Nick Coné in 1962 and alone in 1963.
- 1963
Vic Elford
Sprinzel's successor in the works team, in 3 VC with David Stone.
- 1963
Peter Bolton and Mike Rothschild
The crew of No. 36, the class winner at Sebring in 1963. Rothschild was 2nd there in a TR4A in 1966.
- 1963
Mike Cook
The advertising man who signalled to the team's drivers from the pits at Sebring in 1963.
- 1963
Clifford Harrington
The coachbuilder's design chief who, Ate Up With Motor suggests, may have proposed the Dové GTR4.
- 1965
Genser-Forman
The north-eastern distributor that feared the TR4A's independent suspension would price it out of its market, and so won the live-axle TR4A for North America.
- 1965
People
Peter Bolton
British racing driver. He drove one of the three works TR3S twin-cams at Le Mans in 1959, No. 26 with Mike Rothschild; at Sebring in 1963 he and Rothschild won the GT class up to 2.5 litres in a Standard-Triumph TR4, 22nd overall; and he drove works Spitfires at Sebring and Le Mans in 1965.
Burr
Won the GT class up to 3 litres at Sebring in 1967 in a TR4A, with Owen (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Byrne
4th in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1966 in John R. Kingham's TR4A, with Milo Vega and Bob Kingham.
Cameron
Drove the TR4A No. 86, entered by John Cameron, with Witt and Vega in the 1968 Sebring 12 Hours; it retired with engine failure after 59 laps.
Willy Cave
Co-driver to John Sprinzel in the works TR4 3 VC on the 1962 Alpine Rally, which ended when the car was rammed in fog.
Bob Cole
2nd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1963 in a Standard-Triumph TR4 with Charlie Gates and Ed Diehl.
Nick Coné
Co-driver to George Waltman in his near-stock TR4 at Sebring in 1962, according to the TSOA Newsletter's report of the race; racingsportscars lists Waltman alone.
advertising manager
Mike Cook
Standard-Triumph's advertising manager in the United States in the 1960s. Bob Tullius lobbied him for a TR4 in 1962 (Ate Up With Motor), and the TSOA Newsletter shows him giving the team's pit signals at Sebring in 1963.
Paul Coombe
Co-driver to Bert Rasmussen in the works TR4 3 VC on the 1964 Shell 4000, the crew "from Canada" in the team the company selected (TSOA).
managing director
Alick Dick
Managing director of the Standard Motor Company, later Standard-Triumph, from early 1954, when Motor Sport saw "young Alick Dick" set up "as head of the Standard empire" on Sir John Black's retirement, until Leyland's takeover in 1961. The TR3 and most TR3As were built under him. Michelotti's arrival is told two ways: Graham Robson says he was introduced through Raymond Flower and hired on Harry Webster's recommendation with Dick's approval; G. William Krause says the TR3 "Dream Car" followed a chance meeting between Dick and Michelotti at a motor show.
Ed Diehl
American racer and mechanic. Ate Up With Motor says he and Bob Tullius built Tullius's 1962 TR4 from three wrecks after the factory car was wrecked in practice. At Sebring in 1963 he was 2nd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres in a Standard-Triumph TR4 with Charlie Gates and Bob Cole.
Don Dillon
American racing driver; 7th in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions, Riverside, in a TR4.
Roy Dixon
Co-driver to Don Grimshaw in the works TR4 3 VC on the 1963 Liège–Sofia–Liège.
Vic Elford
British rally and racing driver. On the 1962 Liège–Sofia–Liège he drove the works TR4 team's reserve car, 6 VC, as a high-speed chase car. In 1963 he replaced John Sprinzel in the team and drove 3 VC with David Stone: 4th in the GT category on the Tulip Rally, off the road on the Alpine, and out of the RAC Rally with a failed cylinder-head gasket.
Norm Evans
American racing driver; 3rd in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions, Riverside, in a TR4.
Roy Fidler
British rally driver. He co-drove Mike Sutcliffe's works TR4 to a Coupe des Alpes and 4th overall on the 1962 Alpine Rally; drove works TR4s in 1963, when he was badly injured as Sutcliffe crashed 6 VC on the Alpine and rolled his own car on the RAC Rally; and shared a works TR4 with Jean-Jacques Thuner on the 1964 Shell 4000. He drove for the works Spitfire team in 1964, and later became British Rally Champion and a Triumph 2000 driver.
Steve Froines
American racing driver. By the TSOA Newsletter's account he won the 1965 SCCA D Production national championship, beating Bob Tullius, another Triumph driver. At Sebring in 1966 he and Bill Pendleton won the GT class up to 2.5 litres in a works TR4A, 19th overall.
Charlie Gates
American racing driver. He was the 1962 Pacific Coast Class E champion (TSOA); 2nd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1963 in a Standard-Triumph TR4; and the 1965 SCCA D Modified national champion in Kas Kastner's TR4A Super Stock. At Sebring he drove ADU 2B in 1965 and the TR4A prototype with Bob Tullius in 1966, and he was the only driver of the Macau Spitfire for Kastner in 1966–67.
founder
Dick Gilmartin
Advertising man and co-founder of Group 44 Inc., who raced the team's Spitfire and won SCCA national races with it in 1965. At Sebring in 1966 he and Mike Rothschild were 2nd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres in a works TR4A.
John Goans
American racing driver; 4th in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions, Riverside, in a TR4.
J. Gretener
Swiss co-driver to Jean-Jacques Thuner: in Thuner's private TR4 on the 1962 Monte Carlo Rally (2nd in class), in the works TR4s on the 1962 Alpine and Liège–Sofia–Liège, on the 1964 Tour de France and on the 1965 Coupe des Alpes. The TSOA Newsletter names him John Gretener.
Don Grimshaw
Drove the works TR4 3 VC with Roy Dixon on the 1963 Liège–Sofia–Liège, which retired, Classic & Sports Car says, "after falling off its jack in the dark"; he co-drove Roy Fidler's works TR4 on the 1963 RAC Rally, which rolled at Wythop.
designer
Clifford Harrington
Design chief of the coachbuilders Thomas Harrington Ltd of Hove, who built the Dové GTR4's glass-fibre roof and tail for L. F. Dove; Ate Up With Motor says the Dové may have been his proposal.
Ludwig Heimrath
A past Canadian national champion (TSOA), 3rd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1966 with Craig Hill in a works TR4A.
chief mechanic
Ray Henderson
Head of Triumph's experimental department. He wrote a report on the proposed 1966 FIA rule changes that shaped the GT6R Le Mans project, and in mid-1966 his team built Bill Bradley's replacement car around ADU 1B. From 1962 he was chief mechanic of the works TR4 rally team at Fletchamstead North; he had worked on the TRS.
Hill
Drove a TR4 entered by M. Barry Martin at Sebring in 1965 with Martin, 41st (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Craig Hill
A Triumph dealer from London, Ontario, who won his class in Canada in a TR4 in 1965 (TSOA); 3rd in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1966 with Ludwig Heimrath in a works TR4A.
Ed Homsey
Navigator to Gordon Jennings in works TR4 No. 131 on the 1964 Shell 4000, in place of John Jerome; his recollections of the rally are in Steve McKelvie's account of 2015.
Gordon Jennings
American motoring journalist for Car and Driver. With Ed Homsey he drove works TR4 No. 131 on the 1964 Shell 4000, the crew "from the U.S." (TSOA), and he wrote Car and Driver's report of February 1966 on Kas Kastner's TR4A Super Stock.
service manager, team manager, founder, motorsport manager
Kas Kastner
American tuner, racer, team manager and author. He began racing in 1952 in an MG TD and opened a tuning shop in Salt Lake City in 1953. The TSOA Newsletter of October 1955 reports an "R. Kastner" winning two races in a TR2 at Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1959, by the TSOA Newsletter's account, he won the Pacific Coast Class E Championship, the California Sports Car Club championship and the Motoracing West Coast Point Championship in a TR3 he drove to work and to races. After preparing three TR4s that finished 1st, 2nd and 4th in their class at Sebring in 1963 he set up Triumph's US competition department (by his account, no other foreign maker had one there) and wrote Triumph's competition preparation manuals. He finished three of the works TR4s for the 1964 Shell 4000, built the TR4A Super Stock in which Charlie Gates won the 1965 SCCA D Modified title, captained the TR4A team whose cars were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in class at Sebring in 1966, and in 1968 built the TR250K, a prototype on a TR4A chassis, with Peter Brock for Sebring. He was the factory team's guest at Le Mans in 1964 and owned the Macau Spitfire from 14 April 1966 to 2 February 1968. He left Triumph at the end of 1970 and was inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in its first class, 2017.
Bruce Kellner
American racing driver: 3rd in the 1962 SCCA national E Production standings in a TR4 (TSOA, February 1963); 4th in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1963 in a Standard-Triumph TR4 with Bob Tullius and Jim Spencer; 8th in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions.
Kelly
Shared the TR4 entered by Joseph C. Hines at Sebring in 1967 (No. 27), which retired with engine failure after 77 laps (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
John Kelly
American racing driver. In 1968 he drove TR4As in SCCA D Production, entered by Group 44 according to racingsportscars: 2nd in D Production at Cumberland on 12 May, when TR4As finished 1st to 4th, and winner of the D Production race at the American Road Race of Champions in Group 44's TR4A. He was the 1970 SCCA F Production national champion in a Spitfire, and drove Group 44's TR8s in the 1980 Daytona 24 Hours and the 1981 Sebring 12 Hours.
Eddie Kimmel
American racing driver; 6th in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions, Riverside, in a TR4.
Kingham
2nd in the GT class up to 3 litres at Sebring in 1967 in a TR4A, with Vega and Witt (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Bob Kingham
Drove John R. Kingham's TR4A at Sebring in 1966 with Milo Vega and Byrne: 4th in the GT class up to 2.5 litres. The TSOA Newsletter names the car's sponsor as John R. Kingham, Triumph dealer of Winter Haven.
Lawrence
Co-driver to Waltman in Genser-Forman's TR4 at Sebring in 1964, 40th (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Buzz Marcus
Pennsylvania Triumph dealer and TR4A driver in SCCA D Production: 3rd in the class at the Cumberland national in May 1968, and 3rd in D Production at the 1968 American Road Race of Champions, from pole, after spinning on oil.
executive, managing director
Stanley Markland
Leyland Motors executive who ran Standard-Triumph after Leyland's takeover. He was put in charge when Leyland dismissed Standard-Triumph's board in August 1961; the TR4 was announced the following month, and in February 1962 he announced a works TR4 rally team. Robson says only that the Spitfire prototype was stored under a dust sheet until Webster persuaded Leyland to approve it; one account names Stanley Markland as the man who found it. An unnamed colleague of Webster told Robson that the money for the Le Mans programme came from Markland.
historian
Jon Marshall
Historian of the Dové GTR4. Ate Up With Motor reports his estimate of about 55 cars built, including perhaps 10 on the TR4A, and his view that the story of Dovés prepared for Le Mans is false.
Martin
Drove a TR4 entered by M. Barry Martin at Sebring in 1965 with Hill, 41st (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Barry Martin
Driver from Toronto. His private TR4 finished the 1964 Shell 4000, racingsportscars gives "M. Barry Martin" as the entrant of a TR4 at Sebring in 1965, and the TSOA Newsletter reports Ken Hughes driving his ex-Sebring TR4 at Daytona in 1966.
stylist
Giovanni Michelotti
Turin car stylist. He began his career in 1937 as an apprentice at Stabilimenti Farina; according to carrozzieri-italiani he opened his own design studio in Turin in 1949, the first in Italy devoted only to car design; the TSOA Newsletter of 1966 also dates the studio to 1949. His first contact with Standard-Triumph came in 1957: Harry Webster's obituary in the Telegraph says Webster "discovered" him, while Graham Robson says he was found through Raymond Flower and hired on Webster's recommendation with Alick Dick's approval. His first Triumph design was the one-off TR3 "Dream Car" on a TR3 chassis, shown at Geneva in 1957 according to later accounts; Krause says it followed a chance meeting with Alick Dick at a motor show. He went on to design the Italia (1959–62) on TR3A and TR3B running gear. On his own initiative he drew a one-off body for a BMW 507 chassis, shown at the Turin show in 1959, which BMW has owned since 2005. He styled the Herald (1959), whose separate chassis made the Spitfire possible; answering Webster's idea of a "Herald sports car", he built a single prototype in 1960, code-named "Bomb", and later restyled the car as the Mk IV of 1970. For the TR he styled the prototypes Zest (1958) and Zoom (1959) and the TR4 of 1961, which joined Zest's nose to Zoom's tail and kept Zoom's hardtop with its lift-out panel; the TR4A, TR5 and TR250 kept that body with new detail, and its centre section on the TR6 (1969), whose new front and rear Karmann designed because he was busy. According to his son Edgardo, his work for Triumph ended in the late 1970s with a restyle of the TR7 from coupé to spider; he died in January 1980. No source read links him to the Le Mans or Macau competition bodies.
Mordacq
Co-driver to Barbara in a TR4 on the 1963 Tour de France, 20th (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Owen
Won the GT class up to 3 litres at Sebring in 1967 in a TR4A, with Burr (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Bill Pendleton
American racing driver, the 1965 West Coast champion by the TSOA Newsletter's account. At Sebring in 1966 he and Steve Froines won the GT class up to 2.5 litres in a works TR4A.
Pickett
Shared the TR4 entered by Joseph C. Hines at Sebring in 1967 (No. 27), which retired with engine failure after 77 laps (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Bert Rasmussen
A technician with Triumph's importer in Canada ("the local Triumph importer", Classic & Sports Car). With Paul Coombe he drove the works TR4 3 VC, registered CAG 408, on the 1964 Shell 4000; by the TSOA Newsletter's claim, the best finish any sports car had made in the rally.
team manager, historian
Graham Robson
British engineer, rally co-driver and motoring historian. A young development engineer who had co-driven in rallies, he was given the job of organising a team of TR4s early in 1962, after Leyland had closed Standard-Triumph's competitions department. He navigated for John Sprinzel on the 1962 Tulip Rally, ran the works TR4s through 1962 and 1963, and drove the service car across Canada with Kas Kastner on the 1964 Shell 4000. He became the TR's historian, and Classic & Sports Car quoted his recollections of the works team at length in 2021.
Mike Rothschild
American racing driver. In Triumph TR3s he was 2nd in the 2-litre GT class at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1957 and 1958, and on that record, the US factory club's newsletter said, he was chosen for the works TR3S team at Le Mans in 1959. At Sebring he won the GT class up to 2.5 litres with Peter Bolton in a Standard-Triumph TR4 in 1963, drove works Spitfires at Le Mans in 1964 and Sebring in 1965, and was 2nd in the 2.5-litre GT class with Dick Gilmartin in a works TR4A at Sebring in 1966.
Jim Spencer
American racing driver: Midwest Class E champion in 1962 (TSOA); 4th in the GT class up to 2.5 litres at Sebring in 1963 in a Standard-Triumph TR4 with Bob Tullius and Bruce Kellner; runner-up to Tullius in the 1963 SCCA D Production championship.
John Sprinzel
British rally driver: captain of Standard-Triumph's works TR4 team in 1962, in 3 VC. Graham Robson navigated for him on the Tulip Rally; he was rammed in fog on the Alpine, lost his radiator on the Liège–Sofia–Liège, and finished the RAC Rally. In 1963 Vic Elford took his place in the team.
Harold St. John
American racing driver; 10th in D Production at the 1964 American Road Race of Champions, Riverside, in a TR4.
Dick Staples
TR4A driver in SCCA D Production. He led three more TR4As home to win the class at the Cumberland national in May 1968, and was 9th in D Production at the 1968 American Road Race of Champions after a crash in qualifying.
David Stone
Co-driver to Vic Elford in the works TR4 3 VC through 1963.
Mike Sutcliffe
Rally driver in Standard-Triumph's works TR4 team. With Roy Fidler he won a Coupe des Alpes and finished 4th overall on the 1962 Alpine Rally, 1st in the GT class from 1,601 to 2,500 cc. On the 1963 Alpine he crashed 6 VC, and Fidler was badly injured.
Jim Taylor
Racing driver: 4th in D Production in a TR4A at the Cumberland SCCA national, 12 May 1968, behind three more TR4As.
Tharin
Shared the TR4 entered by Joseph C. Hines at Sebring in 1967 (No. 27), which retired with engine failure after 77 laps (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Jean-Jacques Thuner
Swiss rally and racing driver. With J. Gretener he took his private TR4 to 2nd place in its class on the 1962 Monte Carlo Rally, a showing that, in Motor Sport's words, "seems to have caused this change of heart" at Leyland over a works team. He drove the works TR4s from 1962 to 1964: 2nd in class on the 1962 Alpine, 9th overall on the 1962 Liège–Sofia–Liège, and the 1964 Shell 4000 in Canada with Roy Fidler. He won the 1.15-litre GT class at Le Mans in 1965 and drove the works rally Spitfires in 1964–65. He was Swiss champion in 1965 with the Leyland Triumph Swiss Racing Team.
driver, founder
Bob Tullius
American racing driver. He bought a TR3 in 1960 and raced from 1961. In TR4s he won the SCCA national E Production championship in 1962, Triumph's first national class title by the importer's account, and D Production in 1963 and 1964; Triumph gave him one of Kas Kastner's Sebring TR4s. With Brian Fuerstenau and Dick Gilmartin he founded Group 44 Inc. in 1965; it won 14 SCCA national titles and three Trans-Am championships before closing in 1990. In 1968 he raced Group 44's TR250 in SCCA C Production. By the importer's count in September he had six wins in the Northeast Division, enough for at least a tie for its title, and three outside it. He was 3rd in C Production at the ARRC, and he co-drove the TR250K at Sebring. From 1969 to 1974 he raced Group 44's TR-6 in SCCA C Production, 2nd at the 1972 American Road Race of Champions, and showed it on British Leyland's stand at the 1972 London Motor Show; Severson writes that the last TR6 built went to him. In 1974–75 he raced Group 44's V12 E-Type in SCCA B Production: 2nd at the 1974 Runoffs by 0.8 s, and national champion in 1975. He had won the SCCA Trans-Am drivers' championship in 1977 and 1978 with a Jaguar XJ-S. From 1979 to 1981 Group 44, Jaguar Rover Triumph's official US racing team, raced the TR8 in IMSA and the Trans-Am. It won its class on the car's debut, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours of July 1979; Tullius won his class four times in 1979, in IMSA GTO and the Trans-Am, as Car and Driver and Lamm count them, and Group 44's No. 44 won the IMSA GTO class four times in 1980. British Sports Car Hall of Fame, first class (2017).
Jeff Uren
Co-driver to Tommy Wisdom in the works TR4 6 VC on the 1962 Alpine Rally.
mechanic
Joe Valdes
Kas Kastner's shop foreman: with Kastner he prepared the three Standard-Triumph TR4s for Sebring in 1963, and he was crew chief of the TR4A team there in 1966 (spelt Valdez in that report).
Vega
2nd in the GT class up to 3 litres at Sebring in 1967 in a TR4A, with Witt and Kingham (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Vega
Drove the TR4A No. 86, entered by John Cameron, with Witt and Cameron in the 1968 Sebring 12 Hours; it retired with engine failure after 59 laps.
Milo Vega
Drove John R. Kingham's TR4A at Sebring in 1966 with Bob Kingham and Byrne: 4th in the GT class up to 2.5 litres, 28th overall. The TSOA Newsletter names the drivers "Bob Kingham and Milo Vega".
Waltman
Drove Genser-Forman's TR4 at Sebring in 1964 with Lawrence, 40th (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
George Waltman
American driver and Triumph service representative. In 1961 he shared a TR3, a Genser-Forman field car with more than 64,000 km (40,000 miles) on it, driven to and from the race, with Williamson at Sebring: 29th overall and 5th in the 2-litre GT class. In a near-stock TR4 he was 30th at Sebring in 1962 with Nick Coné, 4th of the GT cars up to 3 litres; he drove alone in 1963, 37th and 5th in class, in a TR4 entered by Genser-Forman, Triumph's north-eastern US distributor, and won the first Hayden Williams Sportsmanship Award; racingsportscars lists a Genser-Forman TR4 for Waltman and Lawrence in 1964, 40th. He raced a TR4 at the Nassau Speed Week from 1963 to 1965.
apprentice, chief chassis engineer, chief engineer, director of engineering, engineer, technical director, group technical director
Harry Webster
Standard-Triumph's engineering chief: director of engineering from 1957 (Graham Robson says 1956) to 1968. The TR Register names him as chief chassis engineer of the team that engineered the TR2. The Spitfire was his idea of a "Herald sports car"; he brought Giovanni Michelotti into Standard-Triumph's work in 1957, Graham Robson credits his "persuasive powers" with Leyland's approval of the 1960 prototype after Standard's financial collapse, and took Triumph back to Le Mans with Spitfires, which won the 1.15-litre GT class in 1965. After British Leyland was formed he moved to Longbridge; CBE in 1974. He died at Kenilworth, aged 89.
Tommy Wisdom
In 1956 he was one of the five Triumph TR3 drivers who won a Coupe des Alpes on the Alpine Rally, unpenalised, finishing 1st to 5th in the 1,600–2,000 cc class. In 1962 he drove the works TR4 6 VC with Jeff Uren on the Alpine Rally: 9th overall and 3rd in the GT class from 1,601 to 2,500 cc.
Witt
2nd in the GT class up to 3 litres at Sebring in 1967 in a TR4A, with Vega and Kingham (racingsportscars prints surnames only).
Witt
Drove the TR4A No. 86, entered by John Cameron, with Vega and Cameron in the 1968 Sebring 12 Hours; it retired with engine failure after 59 laps.
Sources
Every source the site cites is on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
- Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 1: TR4 and TR4A", Ate Up With Motor, 22 Oct 2012, Michelotti; Webster; Leyland; Dick, Belgrove, Webster, Spurrier, Genser-Forman, Harrington. ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/triumph-tr4-tr4a/view-all Reference
- Gordon H. Jennings, "Kas Kastner and his Super Triumph", Car and Driver, Feb 1966, pp. 48–49, 92, Kastner. kaskastner.com/feb66.pdf Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, November 1964, Nov 1964, Tullius's third national title. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOA1164.pdf Primary
- Ian Nicholls, "The Rover-Triumph story": "1960: expansion" and "1961: Leyland's takeover", AROnline, 7 Jul 2019, Spurrier's bid; the board dismissed in Webster's office; Markland. aronline.co.uk/history/the-rover-triumph-story/1960-expansion Reference
- Bruno Dwinger, "Geschichte, Typenkunde und Kaufberatung: Standard-Triumph TR4, TR5/TR250 – 'die Michelotti Autos'", TR-Register Deutschland, 2009, 13 pp. (PDF), p. 1, Raymond Flower. tr-register.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kaufberatung-TR4-und-TR5-und-TR250.pdf Reference
- Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019, Flower; Webster. mossmotoring.com/harry-webster-my-technical-mentor Reference
- Vintage Triumph Register, "TR4A" (history, change points and yearly output, buyer's and spotter's guides, numbering), Webster's IRS design, after Robson. vintagetriumphregister.org/tr4a Reference
- Motor Sport, "XXXIe Rallye Monte Carlo", Mar 1962, p. 17, Robson; Thuner and Gretener. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-1962/17/xxle-rallye-monte-carlo Primary
- Julian Balme, "TR4: Triumph's rally underdog", Classic & Sports Car, 4 Aug 2021, Robson, Henderson, Sprinzel, Sutcliffe, Thuner, Elford, Fidler. classicandsportscar.com/features/tr4-triumphs-rally-underdog Reference
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, April 1965, Apr 1965, Henderson's mechanics at Sebring, 1965. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOA0465.pdf Primary
- Motor Sport, "Matters of Moment", Jul 1962, p. 11, the Coupe des Alpes. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1962/11/matters-of-moment-july-1962 Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, February 1963, Feb 1963 (vol. 9 no. 2), Gates, 1962; Bolton and Rothschild. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOA0263.pdf Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, March–April 1963 ("Sebring '63 Souvenir Issue"), Mar–Apr 1963 (vol. 9 no. 3), Sebring 1963: Cook, Waltman. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOA030463.pdf Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, March 1962, Mar 1962, Waltman and Coné, 1962. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/aTSOA0362.pdf Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, March 1966, Mar 1966 (vol. 12 no. 3), Gates and Froines, 1965; Gates, 52 years old. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOA0366.pdf Primary
- Autocar, "Dové GTR4 2,138 c.c." (Road Test No. 1926), 7 Jun 1963, pp. 993–997, L. F. Dove and Thomas Harrington Ltd. Primary
- racingsportscars.com, Sebring 12 Hours 1963, results, results: No. 36 1st in GT2.5; Gates, Diehl and Cole 2nd. racingsportscars.com/results/Sebring-1963-03-23.html Database
- racingsportscars.com, Sebring 12 Hours 1966, results, results: Froines and Pendleton 1st, Gilmartin and Rothschild 2nd in GT2.5; Tullius and Gates in the prototype. racingsportscars.com/results/Sebring-1966-03-26.html Database