tr7triumph.com

http://www.libraracing.com/

"For four years starting in 1977, Buffum drove factory Triumph TR-7s and TR-8s, and picked up Doug Shepherd as a co-driver. The pair dominated both the SCCA PRO Rally series and the North America Rally Championship until British Leyland dropped out of racing in the U.S. In 1981, they tried running Audi 80 and Peugeot 504 racers, but could not keep up with Rod Millen's factory Mazda RX-7 rally entries."

They won the '78 Press on Regardless Rally in a TR7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press-on-Regardless_Rally


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buffum

"John Buffum (born October 4, 1943, in Wallingford, Connecticut) is the most successful U.S. rally racing driver ever, winning 11 national titles and 117 national championship events.

In addition to his North American schedule, John Buffum cherry-picked rallies in Europe, where he became the first and still the only American to win a European Championship event, taking the 1983 Sachs Rally in West Germany and the 1984 ERC Rally in Cyprus, both with Audi Quattro."

The book:

http://www.johnbuffum.com/index.htm

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ACW30445</i>

For four years starting in 1977, Buffum drove factory Triumph TR-7s and TR-8s, and picked up Doug Shepherd as a co-driver...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That blonde on those films JC showed at the National Weekend's name was Doug? [:0][:o)]

Mark, Derby, UK.
'80 DHC Sprint - '95 Vauxhall Astra - '00 Vauxhall Zafira
http://www.marknotgeorge.co.uk - http://www.eggsandantlers.co.uk

I found this......never know what you can find on the net.

http://www.winktimber.com/prorally/1978por/78por1.htm

A photo of the Buffum/Shepard car that won the POR rally in '78.
What an 'interesting' mix of cars in the race!

The blonde's name is Vicki. She was married to Mr. Buffum but they divorced a couple of years before Leyland shot the film I believe.

There's a DVD which has a 1979 Canadian Rallysprint featuring John Buffum in his Libra Racing TR8 which is worth purchasing. He wins the event. "Rallymaster The secrets of Rally Driving By The Flying Finns". There is some fabulous footage of the TR which goes on for minutes at a time but there is little on the box cover to tell you the car is even in it. Be warned though, the commentators are pretty annoying.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

The adult version of the video was called 'John Wedgem in the Buff'.

It had a very cheesy soundtrack as I recall.

I work on the Rally America rulebook and the awards history section (no longer included in the printed rulebook, but available online). When I first started working on it, John's co-driver was only listed as 'Vicki' there as well. It took some time to find her last name (Gauntlett).

She passed away in 2002.

Doug Shepherd, who co-drove for John after Vicki stopped rallying, eventually switched to the other side of the car and continues to be a successful driver, though he only rallies occasionally these days. As in the Ojibwe Forests rally last weekend, he is usually the fastest 2WD driver.

At the Olympus Rally this past spring (which I help organize), after the rally, we got word from the local police about pulling over someone described an "old guy" and "grandpa" out on the stage roads late at night. It was Buffum effectively doing illegal recce with the drivers for the team that he consults with. They didn't have a clue that "grandpa" was probably still one of the fastest drivers on gravel in the US.

alan