Phil gives his Jaguar E-type a belting
1962 Jaguar E-type FHC Owned by Phil Bell, phil.bell@bauermedia.co.uk Time owned 8 years Miles this month 23 Costs this month £0 Previously Lack of correct dynamo belt availability stopped it going to Le Mans Classic
Glass half full? That’s how I try to approach life, but not getting the E-type back on the road until after Le Mans Classic and a host of other must-do events during the best weather since I learnt to drive has left me with a summer-half-empty feeling. Remember how a tricky winter job list managed to spill through spring and into summer, culminating in the car being
nearly ready just in time for Le Mans Classic (Our Cars, October 2018)? That was until the dynamo/water pump belt intervened. All I needed was a standard-fit belt for a later 3.8 E-type because I’d upgraded to a more durable race-spec crankshaft damper which runs with twingroove pulleys. After failing to find one manufactured to the correct length in time I was forced to give up and take my wife’s Porsche. I know, there are worse problems to have in this life, but after all of that work on the Jaguar I felt cheated.
Fortunately, the answer came a week later when I bumped into friend and Jaguar wizard Grahame Pryce in the Silverstone Classic international paddock. He had his hands full preparing a fleet of race cars under the MRM Motorsport awning, so I didn’t want to burden him with my problems.
But before long he asked how my E-type was going. I’d barely finished my story when he disappeared into the support truck and popped out brandishing a belt. ‘There you go. We always try them before race day to make sure there are no problems, so it’s been on the E-type coupé that we run and it fits.’
Head spinning with advice about how to make sure that the pulleys all aligned correctly, I spent the rest of the day in a state of distraction as I did my usual tour of the race paddocks, infield and trackside areas. There were lots of interesting cars to find out about and people to talk to, but part of my brain was already back home in my garage, fitting that belt. I’m not saying that it had become an obsession, but…
Compared to those I’d already tried, it was clearly from a different manufacturer, and it was the correct length.
When I had the chance to fit it the next morning, life’s glass was topped up once more. By turning the engine via the crank pulley nut I could wind the belt on without resorting to levers or anything else that could cause damage. Perfect, and just in time for a quick test drive around the local lanes ahead of a now-optional MOT test then car club meet in my village pub, all of half a mile away. Never has such a short journey in the E-type, or any car I’ve owned, seemed like such an achievement.