JAGUAR HERITAGE NEWS – February 2013 report

JAGUAR HERITAGE NEWS – SEPTEMBER 2014 REPORT
After 33 editions, this will be the last newsletter in this format to be issued by the Jaguar
Daimler Heritage Trust – better known as Jaguar Heritage for the last six years. It may also
be the last time you see the logo at the top of this page!
As explained last month, the new Jaguar Heritage business unit within Jaguar Land Rover’s
Special Operations division is gradually expanding its activities and it will be taking over the
task of communicating news about Jaguar’s various heritage activities from now on.
The good news is that there is more than ever happening on the heritage front with lots of
exciting new events and activities that will showcase Jaguar’s illustrious history and model
lineage being planned by the new team. The Trust will continue to exist and will continue to
play a key role in supporting the new team – as evidenced by the number and variety of
things we have done in the last month! Read on for more…..
An Epic Revival:
The biggest event of the month, if not the year, was the Goodwood
Revival which took place from September 12-14. Blessed once
again with great weather (Lord March must have some special
hotline to the sun gods), the event saw the climax of a year’s worth
of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the D-type.
This came in the form of a quite unique
gathering of no less that 30 original D-type
and XKSS models (the road going version
of the D-type) which took part in a number
of special parade laps around the historic
Goodwood circuit on all three days. In
addition, 23 of these cars competed in the
Lavant Cup race on the Saturday – which
was won by serial Revival winner, Gary
Pearson, who drove his familiar 1955 longnose D-type 032 RW to victory over a field
that included such luminaries as Derek Bell
(his first race in a D-type), Andy Wallace
and Nick Mason!
A unique spectacle – 30 original D-type and XKSS
models line up in the Goodwood paddock
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Jaguars featured in several other races as
well. The RAC TT Celebration race for
closed-cockpit GT cars from 1960-1964
saw auto journalist Chris Harris join forces
once again with Gary Pearson in a 1961
light-weight E-type. After an entertaining
and close fought race with plenty of
incidents, Gary and Chris finished a
commendable 4th having started from the
5th row of the grid.
Another ‘semi-light-weight’ E-type driven by
Matt Nicoll-Jones and Robin Liddell came
home in 3rd place behind the victorious 1963
AC Cobra and 2nd placed Maserati Tipo
151. In the St. Mary’s Trophy race, ex
Touring Car champion Anthony Reid and
Justin Law co-drove a 1959 Jaguar to
overall victory, Anthony winning race one
and Justin coming second in race 2.
Jaguar Heritage (old and new) had a
substantial presence on several fronts –
The E-types of Nicoll-Jones/Liddell and
ranging from running a dedicated car-park
Harris/Pearson showing some battle scars!
for pre-1974 Jaguars to a fine display in the
recreated Earls Court Motor Show and from
participating in the special D-type parades to running a heritage ride & drive event for a
number of VIPs and media in the nearby countryside!
The ‘over the road’ period car park was
packed with an amazing array of historic
Jaguars throughout the weekend and saw
a newly liveried hospitality unit make its
maiden appearance, providing a welcome
and refreshment point for visitors.
The Earls Court Motor Show area provided its
normal mix of old and new with the latest
Jaguar F-type coupé on display alongside
Jaguar Heritage’s 1956 long-nose D-type and
the prototype ‘car zero’ lightweight E-type
recreation which was making its European
debut.
Very close by, in the paddock area, Jaguar Heritage’s 1954 D-type prototype was on display.
Over the weekend it made three outings for the special parades, driven by JH Technician
Richard Mason on the Friday, Norman
Dewis accompanied by David Blakeley
on the Saturday and JH Trustee Stuart
Dyble on the Sunday. Norman was very
happy to be re-united with XKC 401 – his
only regret being that he was limited to
just two laps of the circuit!
Norman Dewis and David Blakeley head for the start
line to take part in the Saturday Parade
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In parallel with all the activity at
Goodwood, the Jaguar Heritage team
also supported a special VIP/media ride
& drive event that was based at a stately
home near Petworth. Three rotations of
invited guests were treated to a dinner
and overnight stay at the house, a ninety
minute heritage drive experience and of
course a day at the Revival. A total of seven historic cars were put at their disposal for the
drive, ranging from a 1951 Mark V drophead to a 1977 Series 2 XJ12 coupé.
The seven classic Jaguars used for the VIP/media ride and drive during the Goodwood Revival
All in all, a fabulous weekend showcasing the best of Jaguar old and new! A montage of
other images from the various events appears at the end of this newsletter.
Jaguar XE Reveal:
Another huge event in September that noone could have missed was Jaguar’s
unveiling of the crucial new XE model. A
spectacularly orchestrated series of activities
took place on September 8 that began at the
Solihull plant where the XE will be built and
ended at the Earls Court exhibition centre in
London where 3,000 invited guests were
treated to a Broadway style show before the
XE was finally revealed.
To set the scene for the reveal, the show told the story of Jaguar’s history through a mixture
of words and music. Fronted by actor John Hannah and featuring music from the Kaiser
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Chiefs and Emeli Sandé, the performance made use of a number of heritage cars to
illustrate the story. Amongst these was the familiar 1954 short nose D-type and 1963 S1 Etype coupé from the Heritage collection (see pictures at bottom of previous page).
Immediately prior to the show, the XE had
been helicoptered up the Thames and
onto a special barge; it then made its way
up the river, past the London Eye and was
unloaded on the south bank to be driven
across the beautiful Albert Bridge before
being escorted along the Embankment by
two period Mark 2 Police Cars which
ushered it onto the stage at Earls Court!
For more pictures and a video showing the
XE’s journey from Solihull to Earls Court,
click here.
As part of the build-up to the XE reveal, a trio of
experts comprising Lord March, Brian Johnson
(lead singer of rock band AC/DC) and Jaguar’s
own Design Director, Ian Callum, had been
asked to select their ‘Perfect Ten’ – the ten
most important and iconic Jaguar cars of all
time. A special film was commissioned to
record this event and it was played at the Earls
Court reveal where all ten of the chosen cars
were on display. To view the film, click here.
The full Perfect Ten list is:
1. SS100: Jaguar's first 100mph production car.
2. XK120, registration NUB 120: Perhaps the most famous XK120 in the world. Driven by Ian
Appleyard and Pat Lyons (daughter of Sir William Lyons) to numerous rally wins in the 1950s,
including the Alpine Rallye des Alpes in 1950 and 1951.
3. C-type, registration NDU 289: Original entry in the 1953 Mille Miglia, and one of just 54 cars built.
4. D-type, registration 393 RW: This penultimate D-type won the 12 hours race at Reims driven, by
Hamilton and Bueb, and was sixth at Le Mans with the same driver pairing.
5. Mark 2: A great example of the legendary sporting saloon for which Jaguar has become globally
renowned, and the genesis of the brand-new XE.
6. E-type, registration 77 RW: The Jaguar 'Works' press car, famously driven overnight by Norman
Dewis to Geneva for its Motor Show debut to great fanfare. This was the first production Jaguar to
reach 150 mph, and is the earliest surviving E-type Roadster.
7. XJ13: Only one example of this car was built, being the first Jaguar to use the V12 engine. The
XJ13 was built for - but never raced at - Le Mans, and was designed by Malcolm Sayer.
8. XJ6 S1: Car of the Year when launched in 1968, this particular XJ6 was Sir William Lyons'
personal car.
9. TWR XJS: Tom Walkinshaw was very successful in motorsport for Jaguar in the 1980s and
returned Jaguar to the podium with the racing version of the legendary XJS winning the European
Touring Car Championship.
10. XJR-9: Jaguar won Le Mans in 1988 with this very car, in one of its seven victories in the famous
endurance race.
As regular readers may recognise, all ten of these cars are part of the Jaguar Heritage
Trust’s collection!
Other Events Round-up
In the run-up to the Goodwood Revival, the Daily Telegraph newspaper published a special
motoring supplement dedicated to the Revival event.
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Given the high profile that the Jaguar D-type was
going to have, well-known journalist Andrew English
had the idea of writing a feature that would re-create
a scene from the 1950’s when Jaguar used to drive
the D-types all the way from Coventry to Le Mans
for the famous 24 hour race.
It was based on a discussion with Norman Dewis
who had told Andrew that they used to leave
Browns Lane very early and cross the Thames at
dawn – back then of course there were no
motorways and the only way to Dover was through
the middle of London!
So, on a cool but clear morning in the middle of
August, the event was recreated with Andrew
driving JH’s short nose D-type prototype across
Westminster Bridge en route to Goodwood. With a
little help from the Metropolitan Police, the bridge
was cleared of traffic to allow the D-type to cross
and be photographed.
The supplement was
published on August 23.
As Big Ben chimed 6:15am, the D-type
crossed over Westminster Bridge…
… on its way to Goodwood
The month of September kicked off with the Salon Privé event held from September 3-5 at
Syon Park on the edge of London. More than 4,000 people came along to enjoy the
selection of 100 classic cars and bikes on display at the 9th running of this annual event.
Special activities included the Chubb Insurance Concours d’Elegance on the Wednesday,
Boodles Ladies’ Day and the Salon Privé Sale and the Royal College of Art ‘Concours of the
Future’ design exhibition on the Thursday and the British Supercar Show on the Friday.
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The 2014 edition of Salon Privé started with a tour led by Derek Bell that departed from the
RAC premises at Woodcote Park and then onto the surroundings of Wilton House – the
historic Wiltshire home of The Earl of Pembroke. After lunch the 60 car cavalcade of classics
and supercars made the journey back to Syon Park.
The Chubb Insurance Concours d’Elegance saw a host of vehicles competing in eleven
different classes. The panel of 16 judges was led by racing legend and 5-times Le Mans
winner Derek Bell MBE and included Ian Callum, Jaguar Design Director and Heritage
Trustee. The Best of Show award went to Peter Neumark’s 1954 Jaguar D-Type OKV 1,
with The People’s Choice award being given to the 1953 Delahaye Type 235 MS Coupe by
Chapron. Jaguar Heritage’s 1954 D-type prototype didn’t come home empty handed either,
having picked up the runner-up award in the Class J category for D-types!
In the middle of the month on September 16, a special STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths) event took place at RAF Scampton. The event was held as part of
the RAF Red Arrows’ 50th Display Season celebration, in partnership with The Education
Business Partnership (EBP).
Some 300 high achieving science and maths students from 30 Lincolnshire schools made
their way to the air base throughout the day where they listened to inspiring talks from the
STEM ambassadors and organisers before meeting with engineers from hi-tech automotive
and F1 companies including Jaguar Land Rover.
To inspire the students further, guest presentations were made by physicist Brian Cox,
Gadget Show host Jason Bradbury and Wing Commander Andy Green, who is the holder of
the world land speed record.
Jaguar Heritage was asked to provide its Union Jack liveried XK8 for a photo opportunity
together with some of the latest Jaguar models alongside the Red Arrows line-up of Hawk jet
trainers – the best of British!
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Finally, continuing in its role as the busiest
car in the Heritage fleet this year, the short
nose D-type prototype made yet another
outing on September 18th when it was
driven by Octane magazine’s Mark Dixon
from Coventry to Church Stretton in
Shropshire for a special feature with
Norman Dewis, Jaguar’s legendary former
chief test engineer who recently celebrated
his 94th birthday. Look out for this article in
the November or December issue of the
magazine.
Octane’s Mark Dixon (with appropriate headgear)
drives the 1954 D-type in the Shropshire countryside
Other activities:
Sir Nick Scheele Memorial Event:
Following the sad news of the death of former
Jaguar CEO Sir Nicholas Scheele (as reported
in the July newsletter), a special memorial event
to celebrate his life took place at Warwick
University on September 22.
The venue was chosen because Sir Nick was
Chancellor of Warwick University from March
2002 to September 2008.
Around 200 former colleagues, friends and
family of Sir Nick attended the event which took place at the University’s Arts Centre.
Following a welcome by Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor and President of the
University, Joe Greenwell, former Jaguar and Ford of Britain Chairman, delivered an
address about Nick’s time both at Jaguar and Ford from his personal perspective – which
included a number of wonderful anecdotes to illustrate the breadth of Nick’s abilities and his
great inter-personal skills.
Further tributes were paid by Les Ratcliffe, JLR’s Head of Community Relations who talked
about Nick’s philanthropic activities and his life-long support for the NSPCC and BEN
charities, followed by Professor David VandeLinde, former Vice-Chancellor of the University
who served with Nick and finally Mike Bowes, a family friend and former colleague of Nick’s
from his early days at Ford. A short film was shown made up of archive footage from Nick’s
time at Jaguar in the 90s and the event concluded with the presentation of a bouquet of
flowers to Sir Nick’s widow Ros.
As a further tribute to Sir Nick, a
line-up of cars was assembled
outside the Arts Centre in
recognition
of
the
huge
contribution he made to the
turnaround of Jaguar’s fortunes.
These included examples of the
three key new models that were
launched during Nick’s 8 years at
Jaguar – the XJ6 (X300) in 1995,
the XK8 (X100) in 1996 and the STYPE (X200) in 1999. The three
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cars were provided by Jaguar Heritage and included the unique ‘double-stretch’ Daimler Six
X300 which was often used by Sir Nick on company business. Ford Motor Company also
kindly provided a Ford GT as an example of one the more unique products manufactured by
Ford during the period when Sir Nick was Chief Operating Officer.
Contact Reminder and Update:
A reminder that all enquiries relating to Jaguar Heritage vehicles or event support should
be sent to [email protected] or by calling our general enquiry number
+44 (0) 24 7656 4420.
For further information on any of the items in this newsletter, please contact:
Jonathan Partridge on +44 (0) 24 7656 4431 or e-mail [email protected]
Copies of images at higher resolution can be obtained by clicking here.
open the folder is jaguarxj13.
The password to
Please attribute any images used to 'Jaguar Heritage' except where indicated otherwise.
© Jaguar Heritage – September 2014
Watermark: The 1954 short nose D-type being driven across a deserted Westminster
Bridge in the early morning by Telegraph journalist Andrew English
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GOODWOOD REVIVAL IN PICTURES
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