FEATURE : THE LE MANS TR7 V8
The TR7 V8 has not raced since 1981
Bringing back a Le Mans project
One of the star cars in this weekend ’ s Historic Modsports and Special Saloon races will be the unique Triumph TR7 V8 that went to Le Mans in 1980 .
The one-off project has not raced since 1981 , but if everything comes to plan Kevin Jones will wheel the car out as a guest entry in this weekend ’ s Modsports races . He then plans to take the car back to Le Mans for the classic event this summer . The story began in the mid-1970s when British Leyland gave a TR7 to the Janspeed team to support development of new camshafts and exhaust systems . The car was later gifted to Janspeed boss Jan Odor and he decided to turn it into a race
Kevin Jones plans to bring it back to the track
car . Initially it was planned to run in Modsports in V8 trim , but Odor then decided to develop it to the Group 5 regulations of the day .
Sadly , money was always tight , and the project became a joint venture between ADA Engineering and Janspeed . They got to Le Mans in 1980 but failed to qualify . Apparently , they later discovered that the car had fallen off the ramps on the transporter when being unloaded and the propshaft was bent . John Sheldon bravely recorded
204 mph on the Mulsanne Straight , but said the vibration was so bad that his vision was blurred . The car failed to qualify in the daytime but went quicker at night . However it was denied the last place on the grid in order to allow a French team into the race .
After an abortive outing in the Silverstone Six Hour in 1981 the car went to the Brands Hatch 1000km race later that year and finally qualified . Bill Wykeham started the race but spun and stalled on the third lap and reported that he was relieved to end the race there and then . That ’ s the only time so far that the car has actually done a racing lap . It was later owned by British TR enthusiast Peter Nott before being sold to Bert Smeets in Belgium , another TR enthusiast . Smeets took it to the Goodwood hillclimb in 2016 but had clutch issues .
Kevin Jones acquired the car in 2020 and set about trying to get it running again . If all goes well , he ’ ll come to Snetterton this weekend and give the car its first race since 1981 . So far , it has only completed two full racing laps in 44 years !
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