The Season Springs to Life

Photo credits Chris Gage and David Stallard

It doesn’t seem to matter how long the winter is there is still never enough time to prepare for the new season. Last minute jobs, late nights, and long weekends, but we got there, just! A completely new car build almost, for our customer Rick Walker who has opted for a similar XJR6 to Tom’s 2022 Championship winning car. A major refresh for Andrew Maynard’s XJ40 after the big rear shunt at the last race of the season. Then there was the front end rebuild on Damian’s XJ40. Finally, a power upgrade for Jack’s XK8 after he came so close to winning the championship last year. A little cam and head improvement giving the V8 a little more at the top end power. Sadly, with all this work, Tom’s major refresh on his XJR6 has gone on the backburner, the target for that car is to be ready for Thruxton in May.

So, it was with five cars we headed for Donington Park with the Jags returning to Classic Sports Car Club. Qualifying was a mixed-up affair with the cars heading out on track in the dry but with the treat of rain around. We had one good out lap before the session was stopped with a red flag. With the cars sitting in the pit lane waiting for the stricken car to be recovered the rain began to fall. It meant for most their ‘out’ lap was the quickest, although by the end of the session a dry line was beginning to emerge. Jack’s out lap effort was enough to get him on the second row. Rick managed to get a creditable seventh, first time out in the XJR6. A little further back Andrew, Colin and Damian all together in that order in the XJ40’s.

By the time race one came the track was fully dry and Jack was able to take full advantage making a good start to be pushing at the front. Jack has enjoyed some very close racing with Andrew Harper in the last couple of seasons and once again it was nip and tuck between them, Andrew with more power in the supercharged S Type R but Jack with lighter and better handling in the XK8. In the end Andrew prevailed by just two seconds, with Jack collecting second overall and first in class. Rick unfortunately suffered teething issues and retired the car. Andrew also sadly had a DNF with a minor gear shift problem, whilst Damian made progress passing our rookie Colin in his first outing in Jack’s old XJ40.

We were glad to be back in the paddock sharing food and drink with friends and enjoying a social atmosphere for Saturday evening. Sunday was dry and bright if a little chilly but with a dry track and a lunchtime race, we were feeling positive. Racing got underway with a rolling start, and it was Andrew Harper in the S Type R leading the way with Jack tucked in behind Chris Boon’s powerful XKR. Jack was pressing for an overtake when unfortunately, an alternator failure ended his race. Rick also lost power and retired with a supercharger belt failure, but our trio of trusty XJ40’s all made it home with Andrew best placed ahead of Damian and Colin.

So still a little work to do, an alternator upgrade for Jack’s XK8, but we were very happy with the performance he was extracting from the car. Similarly with Rick’s, he showed plenty of early performance, we need to tweak the pulley arrangement to solve the supercharger belt issue. The general feeling we were satisfied for the first race of the season.

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.