Tag Archives: Jaguar

Best of British

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Celebrations for sure as a result of Bentley’s historic win but for the first time in sixty-three years three old established British sports car marques found themselves competing together in an international endurance race – we had at Silverstone Aston Martin, Bentley and Jaguar all running in the Blancpain Endurance Series Silverstone 3 hours on May 25.

Aston Martin was represented by five Vantage GT3s with the V12 6-litre engine, a works car of this type winning this race in 2013. Bentley raced officially for the first time at Silverstone with their two M-Sport Continental GT3s and the private Generation Bentley Racing Continental GT3. The Swiss Emil Frey Racing team brought their G3 Jaguar XKR.

We note that the first ever Bentley saw the light of day at the end of 1919, the first Aston Martin appeared in May 1921 and Jaguar dates back to 1931 when William Lyons (later Sir William) presented his SS car at the Olympia Show.

Here are some of their modern representatives in practice:

2014 JB General

One of the Vantage V12 versions of the Aston Martin.

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One of the M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3s at Luffield

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This Jaguar XKR has been developed privately by the Emil Frey team but did not ,alas, last long in the race.

2014 JB General

A Bentley at Brooklands! What turned out to be the winning car reminds us that the very first race win for a Bentley car took place at the real Brooklands.

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The first of the Continental GT3s to fall into private hands, chassis no. 3, is the Generation Team car.

In the Race:

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The Bentley chases the Art McLaren down the Wellington Straight

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The Bentley leads! History was about to be made!

David Blumlein, July 2014

Cat With A Hot Tin Roof

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The U Haul Grandstand

It is a widely accepted fact that the 24 Hours of Daytona is one of the toughest endurance races on the calendar. Traffic, extremes of weather and the very long night, added to the layout of the infield course at Daytona International Speedway make for a race that stretches man and machine.

Sunset Boulevard

To win takes a heap of intestinal fortitude and a dollop of good fortune. For a team to finish 1-2 is really something special. So achieving that feat in 1990 was a truly great performance for the TWR Jaguar outfit.

Sun Bank

Their opposition came from a bunch of muscular, but ageing, IMSA privateer Porsche 962 entries and a brace of factory Nissans. As is customary at Daytona, the dreams of most of the pre-race favourites were over by the halfway point, tales of woe were to be found up and down the pit lane.

Anyone Fancy A Cuppa?

Despite a 15 lap advantage at one point, even the Jaguar XJR-12 pair struggled to get to the finish in working order. Both of the glorious V12 engines suffering with overheating but TWR’s Guvnor, Tony Dowe, was equal to the task. The story goes that the team’s tea urn was put to good use, mixing boiling water and radiator sealant in sufficient quantities to flush out the cooling system and keep both cars running. In the end the #61 car of Jan Lammers, Davy Jones and Andy Wallace had a four lap advantage over #60 with Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Price Cobb aboard.

Savour The Moment

So the 1990 Daytona 24 Hours was a triumph for one of the truly great endurance racing outfits of any era. Astoundingly the North American part of the TWR organisation was destined to repeat this triumph some months in France. But that, as they say in the movies, is another story……………

John Brooks. January 2012