Racing Round Up

As the racing year draws towards the climax, we look back on the highs and lows of Swallows 2024 season in the Jaguar Championship so far.

After the early season ups and downs at Donington Park when we both had encouraging results and disappointments with the alternator on Jack’s XK8 and the supercharger belt on Rick’s XJR6, we worked hard to rectify the early teething problems. Late April we moved onto Oulton Park in Cheshire which is one of the most exciting and technically challenging circuits in the UK.

On the undulating 3-mile international circuit, set in beautiful parkland, Jack was on good form in the XK8 achieving P2 in qualifying behind Colin Philpott’s XJS. Rick Walker in the newly built XJR6 was still finding his feet with the new car and could only manage the 5^th row in P9. The three XJ40’s in the lower power classes C & D driven by Andrew Maynard, Damian Gray and Colin Porter were naturally more towards the rear of the grid.

In a thrilling race on a damp track Jack pushed Philpott’s XJS all the way and just a mere two tenths of a second back when the chequered flag came down, whilst holding off Tom Lenthall’s XJS by a similar margin. Rick made progress in the XJR6 moving up two places to finish 7^th overall and 3^rd in class. In a congested class C battle, Damian held off Dave Ringham’s XJS for 4^th with Andrew Maynard only 1.8 seconds behind and Colin heading class D. Race two and the gremlins returned to haunt us when early in the race Jack’s XK8 had a brake issue resulting in a DNF. Damian also suffered a DNF in his XJ40 with a fuel problem. Both difficulties were overshadowed when Rick suffered a big 100mph crash before Knickerbrook the result of minor contact with Ieuan Spooner’s XJS. The XJR6 experienced major front-end damage because of hitting the Armco barriers at high speed. Happily, Rick walked away unhurt.  Andrew closed out 10^th overall and 5^th in a strong class C, Colin finishing 12^th overall and with another class D win in the other XJ40.

It was a little closer to home in May for rounds five and six at the UK’s fastest circuit, Thruxton in Hampshire. Once again Colin Philpott’s XJS was quick and holding P1 with Jack pushing in second in the XK8. Late into qualifying Jack’s luck again failed when he suffered brake failure due later, we discovered to a faulty master cylinder. Crashing out of qualifying the XK8 picked up enough front-end damage to rule out a race start.

So, it came down to Andrew and Colin to fly the Swallows flag in the race with Damian absent for the weekend. The two XJ40’s did the team proud, they finished well with Andrew making up four places and a strong drive to finish 2^nd in class C and Colin making up two places and a win class D. Neither faired quite as well in race two, both experiencing ‘moments’ before going on to finish 4^th and 2^nd in class.

June saw the Swallows team heading for the home of motorsport, Silverstone with rounds 7 and 8 on the shorter National circuit. Jack and his XK8 were back on form in qualifying taking the P1 spot by over half a second from Colin Philpott’s XJS. With Rick’s XJR6 still being re-built after the Oulton Park crash, he returned in his XJS race car. In a grid packed with class C cars Damian qualified well to be 5^th in class while Andrew’s XJ40 was stuttering slightly with a misfire on one cylinder, Colin qualified 2^nd of the class D cars.

Jack made a wonderful start in race one and managed to build a gap to Colin Philpott XJS and by the chequered flag it had almost grown to six seconds. Damian Gray led home the pack of XJ40’s with a 4^th in class C ahead of Colin in the class D car (2^nd in class) and Andrew still contending with a slight misfire. Just when we thought Jack’s luck had turned after his excellent win in race one his troubles returned in race two. Getting cleanly off the line the XK8 headed into the first turn at Copse where Jack got tagged from behind sending him spinning to the outside of the track, unable to get the car to fire up Jack’s race was over. Damian once again put in a really strong performance to finish 4^th in class, Andrew’s sick XJ40 limped home 7^th in class C with Colin again collecting useful points with 2^nd in class D.

With a long seven-week break between races we were able to get the cars back in shape before heading to Anglesey in late July. Trac Mon is one of the most scenic and technical circuits in the UK and one we felt that would suit Jack’s XK8. The team decided to take in official practice on Friday with it being Jack and Andrew’s first visit to the island circuit. Practice went well with Jack, Andrew and Colin taking part and all posting encouraging times.

Qualifying turned out to be damp, but Jack’s practice had paid off and he once again took pole position a whisker ahead of Colin Philpott’s XJS. Andrew revelled in the slippery conditions qualifying 4^th overall and 1^st in class C. Further back Damian was P4 in class with Colin P2 in class D.

With somewhat unpredictable weather, drizzle turn to heavy rain come the start of race one, but this had led to a variety of tyre choice. Colin Philpott’s choice of full wet’s paid off while we went the wrong way on Yokohama inters for Jack’s XK8 which saw him drop down the order to eventually finish 7^th and 3^rd in class B while he was passed by teammate Andrew who came home 6^th overall and 2^nd in class C. Colin claimed fastest lap in class D despite finishing second. The rain cleared for the evening second race but once more Jack’s unlucky season continued when the XK8 lost power leading to the race start being aborted with the stricken car being pushed away. When the race did start the drier conditions led to some epic and very close racing. Andrew had a tight battle in class C with Tim Morrant’s XJ6 S1 and an equally tight contest between Colin and Charles Jackson’s X300. Ultimately Andrew and Colin narrowly lost out, Andrew finishing P3 in class and Colin P2 in class D. Damian recovered from a spin to finish behind Colin and P7 in class C.

A month on from Anglesey we were heading for Kent for the Brands Britannia meeting on the August Bank Holiday weekend. One the season highlights at Brands Hatch; Brands Britannia is a huge celebration of British motoring. It draws big crowds on the Bank Holiday Monday, with not only racing but large car club displays and this year demonstration lap with three Silk Cut Jaguar Group C cars including the 1988 Le Mans winner.

Our qualifying session for the Jaguar Championship was on Sunday evening after the team had put two cars out in the 40-minute two driver Modern Classic race. This was the first outing for our newly built XJS class C car and a return for Tom to racing, sharing the car with brother Jack. Our other pairing was Andrew Maynard and Colin Porter in Andrew’s XJ40. Modern Classics is highly competitive and populated with Porsche’s, TVR’s, Lotus and other exotica. Tom and Jack qualified an excellent P9 and first of the five Jaguars on a 32-car grid with Colin and Andrew back in P28. In a tough race with stiff competition Tom and Jack brought the XJS home 11^th overall and 2^nd Jaguar while Andrew and Colin made really good progress to finish 18^th.

Qualifying on the Jaguar Championship grid went well for the team. Jack narrowly missed pole by two tenths of a second from Championship leader Colin Philpott but with a pleasing and very quick sub-55 second lap. Tom qualified the XJS 5^th overall and first in the very large and competitive class C with Andrew and Damian 5^th and 6^th in the same class. Colin improving all time in his first full season in class D qualified 2^nd in class.

In a quick fifteen-minute sprint race, Jack matched Philpott’s times but couldn’t quite get close enough to make a move and had to settle for second at the chequered flag. Tom was having a great race and leading class C until he got hit by a fellow class C competitor trying over optimistic overtake. It resulted in a broken gearbox mount and Tom stuck in 4^th gear, nevertheless he still managed 3^rd in class. With our battling XJ40’s it was Damian who finished narrowly ahead of Andrew less than 2 seconds apart. Colin led class D early in the race but ultimately had to settle for 2^nd in class D.

Some hasty repairs were undertaken on the XJS and the gearbox mounting fixed we were able to select all gears again. The reverse grid dropped Jack to 5^th for race two and Tom back in 11^th after the incident in race one. Colin Philpott made an excellent start and quickly found his way to the front after starting sixth. Jack got held up with traffic but manged to get through to third and was battling James Ramm’s XJS 6.0 V12 at the end for second but couldn’t make the move. Meanwhile Tom fought his way through up to 6^th overall and first in class C. Damian managed to narrowly pip Andrew again in their own personal dual. Colin chased Charles Jackson hard in class D with Jackson finally making an error at Druids ending up in the gravel to hand Colin the class win. A very successful Brands Brittania for the team with a big haul of trophies and the satisfaction of Jack finally having a double podium and an excellent debut for the XJS on Tom’s return to action.

The final rounds of the season are at Snetterton on 28th & 29th September. As always, we couldn’t get the cars on track without a huge amount of help and we would again like to thank our partners, sponsors, family, and friends who contributed to such a successful season, not least; Vision Techniques, AVO, PVE, Tarox, Amitec, Jaguar Enthusiasts Club (JEC TrackSport), Meguiar’s, Naked Signs and Pipercross.