Race on Saturday, show off Sunday
Richard and his beloved E-type catch up with a famous racing name at the Jaguar Summer Festival
EX-STIRLING MOSS 1965 JAGUAR E-TYPE SEMI-LIGHTWEIGHT
The Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club very kindly invited me to its Summer Festival celebration at Bicester a few months ago, so I stayed near Prescott overnight. I’m always a bit self-conscious when I arrive in this car because it attracts a lot of attention, but everyone on hotel reception was very kind and friendly and insisted that I parked right by the entrance where security could keep an eye on it overnight.
I was out of bed early and down to the car for a clean-up after the night’s storm and to check my repaired header (see my last update – CCW, 13 October). All perfect.
The car fired up with just three pumps of the Webers and I crept out of the car park as quietly as possible – that’s to say not very – for a marvellous day in the company of great cars and lovely people.
I was fortunate enough to catch the JEC’s Wayne Scott asking Jaguar saviour, Sir John Egan, about meeting his new Ford boss in Detroit for the first time. ‘How come I paid five times asset value for a firm worth one-fifth that at best?’ the Ford man asked Sir John, who explained: ‘You paid 20 per cent for the sausage and 80 per cent for the sizzle.’ Brilliant!
Having recently been in touch with Jaguar Le Mans driver Win Percy – the legendary Le Mans and British/World Touring Car star who memorably left his D-type in order to drive this E-type when invited to Donington Park to celebrate the car’s 40th anniversary – it was great to see his TWR XJ-S parked close to my E-type and to hear it roar during the demonstration lap.
I was rewarded with clear skies and dry roads for a fast run home, and a fuel level test revealed that I’d covered around 160 miles with around ten gallons of fuel – half the fuel consumption of my last trip, proving that it’s bad traffic, not speed, that burns fuel. So after two trips, a race and a show in a highly tuned 56 year-old racing car, the ‘to do list’ upon my return to base is simply to wire up the dangling exhaust tape and fit a new wiper blade. I’d say that was a result.
In other news, I’ve heard that the organisers of the Schwetzingen Palace international concours have commissioned artist Mauricio Franco to provide a series of paintings of the Moss car for the event. So I’m hoping that travel restrictions will permit me
to attend.