MYTH BUSTER
2021 event celebrates Jaguar icon’s 60th, joined by same-age Mini Coopers
Debunking the most common old wives’ tales HE WON LE MANS 1 WHILE DRUNK
One of the best-known tales, recounted in Jaguar works driver, Duncan Hamilton’s autobiography Touch Wood, is how he and codriver, Tony Rolt, won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans while inebriated. Having thought that they’d been disqualified in practice, the two had stayed up drinking all night, before realising that they were actually racing. Both Rolt and Jaguar team manager, Lofty England, denied that the pair were drunk, with England saying: ‘Of course I would never have let them race under the influence. I had enough trouble when they were sober.’
HE TRIED TO DROWN 2 A US ADMIRAL
Another oft-recounted story, about Hamilton supposedly trying to drown an American admiral, deserves clarification. Hamilton (then in the Fleet Air Arm) was giving said naval bigwig an aerial tour of British and US ships in Scapa Flow during the war. Suddenly caught short, Hamilton mistook his Gosport communication tube for the one used for calls of nature. However, given that the tube was only connected to the admiral’s ears, drowning was pretty unlikely – the unfortunate gentleman probably just thought it was raining.
HE QUIT RACING 3 DUE TO MIKE HAWTHORN’S DEATH
The demise of his friend, Mike Hawthorn, in January 1959 hit Hamilton hard and he quit racing a few months later. However, it was a close shave of death during the 1958 Le Mans that really dampened Hamilton’s appetite, plus evercontinuing driver fatalities. He’d decided to call it a day before Hawthorn had his fatal accident.
Next year will see a lavish event hosted at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb to observe six decades of the Jaguar E-type.
The E-type Club will commemorate the car’s birthday at the historic Worcestershire venue on 12-13 June with competitive timed climbs, cavalcades and demonstration runs by famous cars.
The oldest surviving E-type, ‘9600 HP’ – which famously helped to launch the model in 1961 – will be joined by ‘848 CRY’, the roadster that met a grisly end in The Italian Job and which is now owned by E-type Club founder and Round Britain Coastal Drive instigator, Philip Porter. He said: ‘To many, the E-type is as sensational a car today as when launched in 1961. We are looking forward to re-creating that excitement and celebrating the ‘60s and early ‘70s eras as well as the sensational E-type. Owners and enthusiasts from around the world are encouraged to join what will be an amazing event and an antidote to the challenges of 2020.’
That Italian Job connection will also be reinforced by another model turning 60 in 2021 – the Mini Cooper – along with Sixtiesthemed entertainment and displays.
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