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“The Masters” at Silverstone Historic Grand Prix Jaguar XK Challenge 19th May 2007

Event Report by John Roberts

What a Weekend – The Ups and the Downs of Motor Racing Classic Cars!

Last weekend the Jaguar XK boys were invited to race with the Masters and Top Hat Series at the very fast Historic Grand Prix Circuit at Silverstone. This was a first for me and, I only had 15 minutes to familiarize myself with the circuit as part of the Practice/Qualifier. Luckily, the weather was very kind to us apart from some vicious winds which threatened to launch my marquee into the big blue yonder. But that’s Silverstone for you!

This race like Brands Hatch, was a mixed marques race which included a number of AC Aces, a Triumph TR3, a Porsche 356, a Ford Zephyr, an A35 and a very quick Austen A40 Farina Mk1.

Qualifying went better than expected, as I know half the circuit from having raced the National (Club Circuit) and the International circuit over the years. But the Hangar Straight was really excellent, followed by a fast and sweeping right-hander at Stowe Corner. Up through Vale and bypassing both the F1 GP corners of ‘Club’ and Abbey, very thrilling at full chat! Abbey therefore was very fast leading straight into Bridge Corner at almost full throttle. Out of 28 cars I qualified in 9th position.

However, after the 15 minutes I did notice that the problem I experienced at Brands Hatch of the engine peaking out at 5,200 RPM had reared its head once more. So it made me rather anxious about the 30 minute race to follow.

Having discussed the problem with Chris Keith-Lucas (CKL) and Barrie “Whizzo” Williams in the Masters Marquee over lunch, we thought the Air Box to the carbs was building up too much air pressure. So, before the race, we punched some holes in the Air Box to potentially relieve any such pressure build-up. So it was a ‘fingers crossed’ situation for the race.

The race started at about 5pm and yours truly was on the 5th Row of the grid out of 14. I had a really excellent start chasing Rob Newell in his XK120 FHC down the Start & Finish straight into Copse Corner, even overtaking my very fast adversary Grahame Bull. I was also well in front of Mark Gibbon for the first part of the race but, after 15 minutes, the engine started to play up again and started to peak out at 5000 RPM. In addition to this, I noticed my Lambda Sensors progressively falling away from ‘Rich’ to ‘Lean’ to absolutely no lights at all.

At that stage I thought I had better retire before I holed a piston or did any damage to the engine. What a pity, as I was well placed to earn points in the Championship and hold onto my 3rd Place in the XK Championship. Not to worry, this is motor racing and I will have other opportunities this season. But what a wonderful circuit is was to race on. I can’t wait to race it again when the car is really performing to spec.

Back to the drawing board then, to solve this fuel starvation problem, so look out CKL, there’s an XK coming your way and to hopefully find a solution to this problem before the Double Header at Snetterton on the 10th June.

John

Action shot courtesy of Roger Gage, official Jaguar Enthusiasts` Club photographer
For more XK Jaguar Racing photos visit his web site at www.xkjaguar.co.uk

Our thanks to Silverstone Circuits Limited for kind permission to film