SPECIAL NEC CLASSIC DISPLAY HONOURS NORMAN DEWIS OBE
Race ace’s four most important Jaguars pay tribute to his life and career
The Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club, Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and Ecurie Ecosse are to commemorate legendary test development driver and engineer, Norman Dewis OBE, during this year’s Lancaster Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, on 8-10 November.
A special four-car display, with cars supplied by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and Ecurie Ecosse, will celebrate the story of his Jaguar career. Dewis passed away in June 2019 at the age of 98 following a 33year career with Jaguar, which began with breaking the land speed record for production cars in a Jaguar XK120 on the Jabbeke Highway in Belgium in 1953.
Norman also raced alongside such racing greats as Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn and Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel of a works Jaguar D-type.
Each car shown on the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club’s stand represents a key moment in Norman’s career. The prototype Jaguar D-type, the motor show E-type roadster that he famously drove through the night to Geneva in 1961 and the unique XJ13
represent key events in Norman’s professional life, the latter rebuilt after a horror crash at MIRA following a tyre blow-out.
The fourth car, Ecurie Ecosse’s LM69, is a road legal, modernised version of that XJ13 prototype. Former Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club general manager, Graham Searle, said: ‘I think Norman would be thrilled to see the LM69 and see the improvements in it while recognising it as the XJ13 that he helped develop.’ Norman’s development career spanned the D-type, XK140 and XK150, the Mk2 saloons, the E-type, XJ13 and the first XJ saloon through to the XJ40. In 2014, the adoration of Norman’s fans was recognised on a national scale, when he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Current Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club general manager, James Blackwell, said: ‘Our Jaguar-loving community has lost a dear friend, colleague and hero in Norman. His stories captivated and inspired us all in the club and he was wonderful company – a man who never took his foot off the gas.’
❚ jec.org.uk