At a Festive Pace

Presented with the opportunity to visit the United Kingdom over the year-end festive period, Ferdi de Vos visited some interesting places in Surrey and paid homage to the motorsport history of Jaguar in freezing France.

Afeeble winter morning sun valiantly tried to warm up the freezing French countryside as I turned onto the D27 between the villages of Gueux and Thillois near Reims in the Champagne region of France. Travelling less than 2 km in the direction Gueux the disused buildings of the erstwhile Reimsgeux circuit appeared on either side of the rural road.

The thoroughfare used to be the main straight of the famous circuit, and next to what used to be the race control and race marshal building I brought the Jaguar E-pace to a standstill. We got out and for the next half an hour or so we took pictures of the E-pace next to the pit buildings, control tower and grandstands next to the road.

My visit to the historic track with its empty, yet well-preserved buildings, was a small personal homage to the motorsport history of the Coventry Cat – sparked by the reveal of a Jaguar XE Reims Edition by Jaguar UK late last year. This latest special edition, limited to only 200 units, not only commemorates the extreme performance cars and heroic on-track victories of the brand but also celebrates the maiden victory of the Jaguar D-type in 1954 at the 12-hours of Reims.

The D-type, piloted by Ken Wharton and Peter Whitehead, completed over 2,000km at an average speed of 169 km/h and led home a famous clean sweep, with another D-type finishing second and a C-type finishing third. The XE Reims Edition also marks the return of French Racing Blue paint – previously only used on the most extreme models, the XKR-S and XFR-S – to the Jaguar range.

Pilgrimage

However, this first special edition in a series of ‘Jaguar Factory Specials’; limited production run vehicles with bespoke features and details overlaying the normal range, is only available in the UK, so my pilgrimage to the track was in a much more mundane, yet important model; the E-pace, cub in the Jaguar SUV range – courtesy of Jaguar UK.

While there, we appreciated the plaque above the preserved Jaguar branded pit commemorating the momentous victory by the D-type but there were other reasons too for visiting Reims:

The fast, flowing triangular track also hosted the first French Formula One Grand Prix in the inaugural F1 World

Championship season in 1950 – seventy years ago, and it was also here in 1966 that Jack Brabham became the first man to win a Formula One World Championship race in a car of his own construction.

Having taken a wide detour from Paris to Reims, we doubled back on to the Route Nationale and from there follow the A26 towards Calais to catch the Eurotunnel train. We soon thawed in the warmth of the comfortable cabin, and our E-pace 180D calmly and serenely transported us on the well-maintained highway towards the French port city.

Frexit

While the UK is preparing for Brexit, we did our own Frexit via the 50 km long Eurotunnel (an experience in its own right), arriving in Folkestone less

than 40 minutes after being loaded on the Chunnel train. From there we made our way direction London on the M20 motorway before veering off towards Surrey on the M25.

With the Ingenium 2-litre engine providing 132 kw and 430 Nm of torque at low revs, overtaking was easy and the super-smooth 9-speed auto ‘box effortlessly transmitted power to all four wheels – a real advantage on the slippery. wintry English B-roads.

The smaller E-pace was also easy to pilot down narrow country lanes, and with SE spec it is comfortable but not excessively kitted, roomy enough for four adults, and versatile enough to swallow all of their year-end festive season luggage.

Yes, it does feel slightly heavy when driven enthusiastically, and its complex navigation system presented a challenge when one needed to find routes and waypoints fast. However, these are small gripes when considered in context of the full driving experience, and pales even more when road-tripping through Surrey – still quite scenic in Winter – at a festive Pace.