Starting As We Mean To Go On
It was a dream start to the 2026 season for Swallows Racing with two outright wins along with class wins and podium finishes.
The season got underway at a very cold and windy Donington Park National circuit. Our defending 2025 Jaguar champion Jack Robinson was back in the XK8 wearing race number one. Jack quickly showed that there would be no resting on his laurels when he posted a stunning 1:18.076 qualifying lap to grab the Jaguar championship pole. Brother Tom was back in his XJR6 running the car for the first time since his 2022 championship success and after an extensive rebuild. Tom was not far off the pace in P3 with a 1:18.711, with the brothers narrowly split by the XJS of Colin Philpott.
The Swallows team are running a total of ten cars across multiple Classic Sports Car Club grids this season and no less than six on a strong Jaguar championship grid of 25 cars. Rick Walker in his XJR6 qualified 4th in Class A. In a highly competitive Class C with twelve cars entered, Andrew Maynard qualified his XJ40 3rd in class with his newly built Swallows engine just three tenths ahead of teammate Colin Porter (XJ40) also with a new Swallows AJ16 engine and running in Class C for the first time having moved up from Class D. Damian Gray (XJ40) and Tristan George (XJS) also Class C completed the qualifying line up from the Swallows stable.
Race One; From lights, out Jack dominated in the XK8 in dry cold conditions for a ‘flag to flag win’ chased home by Tom who eased passed Philpott XJS who struggled to match the Swallows pace. A Swallows Racing one two was the perfect start to the season and in dominant fashion. Sadly, Rick suffered engine issues towards the end of qualifying which couldn’t be resolved trackside and therefore was a DNS. In the closely fought Class C battle Andrew emerged on the podium 3rd in Class with Damian progressing passed Colin at the start and coming home 4th and Colin 6th with Tristan 8th.
Race Two; Damp cold drizzle made for incredibly slippery conditions for the championship second round. The reverse grid draw placed 3rd placed Philpott on pole with Tom alongside on row one and Jack starting from P3. The conditions made for extremely close racing with Philpott defending hard at the front from Tom and Jack who were trying to find a way around him. With two thirds of the race run Tom eventually found a way, passing up the inside going into Redgate and making it stick. Jack was trying equally as hard but was also having to fight off the front wheel drive X Type of James Wall who had more grip in the wet. Jack’s late effort coming out of the last corner almost resulted in a spin, but he skilful saved the GT from hitting the pit wall but sacrificed 3rd place in doing so. An outright win each then for Jack and Tom and class honours for both, Tom claiming two Class A victories and a first and third for Jack in Class B. Our trio of XJ40’s along with Tris and Will in the XJS all gathered strong points for an excellent opening to the championship season.
Modern Classics; Jack and Tom also put up a strong showing in the ‘Moderns’ qualifying P4 and second in Class to the Winter/Speed Porsche 911, Jack eclipsing his championship qualifying with a 1:17.792.
Tom started in the car and made an excellent start, clearing the Porsche and heading it for several laps but ultimately unable to hold off its greater pace. At the mid-point pit stop handing over to Jack in P4 and second in class they marginally lost out to a second pursuing 911and when all the pit stops unfolded returned to P5. A strong performance ended in P5 overall and P3 in class against some fierce opponents.
