Early in the Spring of 1998 I received a call from Ann, wife of the then Editor of the Triumph Roadster Club's Magazine asking me to contact one Peter Knivett ,
a freelance motoring journalist. Peter was looking for a "bright coloured 1800 Roadster" to take part in a day's shoot in a government Defence Department test area near Virginia Water in Surrey.
On the morning of the event I made my way up to the Testing Ground in pouring rain. I was welcomed by the uniformed Ministry of Defence Security Guards who waved me in to join the crew and the other participants.
Each triumph was selected to represent a different decade of the production of Triumph cars since they were first made in 1929. These consisted of:
Rosie warming up....
Peter did a wonderful job as the Director and Matt Barnes as the Photographer. The latter had his work cut out as he had to work between the almost persistent showers. It was OK for us. We just did the fun stuff.
The next manoeuvre was to follow the Crew vehicle from which Matt was photographing the lead car whilst Peter was shouting instructions through the open window of his modern car and getting wet in the process. After a few laps the lead car was changed. Also, Matt stood on the verge and photographed the cars as each passed him .
It was not as easy as it seemed for him, as the spray from the showers interfered with the quality of the shots. Also, there were several interruptions to filming because of the rain.
However we were able to leave late afternoon in fine weather after a day full of fun.
... and The drivers
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