Posing in the pits at Brands Hatch, May 2011

Our first race of the year was 7th/8th May at Brands Hatch in the Jaguar Enthusiast’s Club Jaguar E-Type Trophy racing against names such as Mike Adams and Tony Jardine.  This was a real test for Jim as he was second driver in both the E-Types we have built.  This was going to mean some slick organisation for the pit stops by Iain!  Andy Dee-Crowne’s car qualified 4th out of the E-Types and Gary Morris 9th.  After an hour of racing the cars finished 8th and 9th.  During the race Andy’s car showed itself to have a faulty fuel vent valve, which meant pitting from 3rd to fix the problem losing any chance of finishing high up.  However both cars finished their maiden races so we were really proud of the weekend’s results.

Lining up for the race at Donington

The second E-Type outing was again in the JEC E-Type Trophy, this time racing at Donington on 29 May.  This particular race included Mr John Cleland, who once had a young whipper snapper for a mechanic on his Vauxhall BTCC car that went by the name of Jim Tester!  During the race Jim had a spin and spectacularly passed Clelend! Sadly John’s car didn’t finish but ours finished 8th out of the E-Types for Gary and 5th overall for Andy and 2nd in Class.  A fantastic result! (Check out some onboard action!)

Our third event, and second race at Brands Hatch, was competing in the E-Type Challenge at the Brands Hatch Historic Super Prix over 1-3 July.  In this race Jim was the sole driver.  Qualifying was difficult with a lot of traffic and Jim didn’t get a good clear lap.  This meant he was in 20th position on the grid 8.2 seconds behind pole sitter Jon Minshaw.  Race one was awesome though with Jim making up 11 places to finish 9th.  This was his starting position for race two and he spent a very pleasant half an hour duelling with Mike Adams!  Mike and Jim finished 7th and 8th with just 2.1 seconds separating them.

Our display at the Silverstone Classic 2011

And so we came to the Silverstone Classic.  This was the highest profile race of the season (so far) for us, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the beautiful Jaguar E-Type.  Preparation for the event was long and extremely hard with an unforeseen engine issue arising.  This was put right though and we set up stall in the new International Pits “The Wing”.  Qualifying on Friday went smoothly, with Andy and Jim completing their required laps for the two races we were entered for: The E-Type Challenge (Andy driving) and The Gentlemen Drivers Pre’66 GT Cars (Andy and Jim driving).

Andy and Jim qualified 29th for the Pre’66 GT race.  On lap 10 Andy pitted and handed the car to Jim who brought our lovely E-Type home in 33rd out of 63 cars.

Andy’s position for Race 1 in the E-Type Challenge was 21st.  Race 1 took place in my favourite timeslot, 7.45pm (there is something very evocative about evening racing!).  Sadly, halfway through the race Andy unexpectedly arrived in the pits with a large hole in the sump and so our weekend ended.

So there you have our race year so far.  Jam packed and busy but oh so much fun!  We were due to be out at Mallory next but an engine re-build beckons first.  We plan on racing next at Oulton Park .. see you there!

CT

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Silverstone were hosts to MG Live!, the UK’s biggest and best event for all MG owners and enthusiasts, celebrating the MG Car Club’s 60th anniversary. Our XK120 was entered into the 40 Minute Pit Stop Race For One or Two Drivers, with Jim driving alongside our very good friend and colleague Iain Purves. As Iain had not driven the Silverstone GP circuit before the boys took part in a test session on Friday afternoon and with Iain being the first driver out on Sunday, his test time set the grid position in this handicap grid, rather than a qualifying session.

The race was WET .. Very wet! Thankfully we had shelter watching from the grandstand at Brooklands. From here we could see the cars coming out of Bridge and through Priory, Brooklands, Luffield and Woodcote. An incident on the formation lap meant a second was needed and after that it was just a case of keep it on the black stuff guys!

Here is our confession .. we really only took part in this race for a bit of a jolly and so that we could get our last signatures and finally get rid of that blinkin’ novice cross!! So Jim and Iain were really just out to enjoy themselves as best they could in the conditions. From P31 on the grid they finished P15 in the handicap system.

Thanks in particular to the marshalls and volunteers at the track as it can’t have been that much fun in the rain! We really appreciate all you do.

Now we have finally burnt the cross it’s time for serious play! There is talk of a race at Spa next month so .. stay tuned folks!

Claire Tester

After an epic journey down the M1 and M25 on Friday afternoon (5 hours in Bank Holiday traffic, how dedicated are we?!) the hospitality unit and support vehicle made camp in readiness for an early start on Saturday. The forecast was for rain and we were all prepared for it but the day started off quite nicely!

Track conditions for qualifying were bright and dry for the 1.19 miles of the Indy circuit. Our XK looked awesome coming through Clearways and Clark Curve from our viewing point on Brabham Straight. The session went well once again with no traffic or yellow flags; driving standards were very good. The car handled fantastically and with a 58.4sec lap Jim was 6th on the grid for the race.

Thank you to Alex Cleland for the use of his photographs.

Grey clouds loomed as race time approached and we donned the macs! For the race we watched from the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend to see the cars come round and down the first corner going up Hailwood Hill into Druids Bend. This was where Jim was held up on the first lap and lost a place. Unfortunately there wasn’t anyone in particular for us to “race” against for the 40 minute race, with Jim being over 2.5 seconds quicker than the nearest XK120 and over a second slower than the first four cars (an AC Cobra, Lotus Elan 26R, Jaguar E-Type and Corvette Stingray). A pitstop window meant that everyone had to come in and during this stage Jim was even P1! After his stop though he was back in 7th place and with no need to push he cruised to the end to finish in the same position.

A soggy Tester camp came away from Kent happy with the day’s events. The rain made the race .. interesting and our ‘Louise’ (that’s our XK’s name for new readers!) handled supremely in conditions that were completely new to her.

Thanks to the Tester Team, all at Brands Hatch, the marshalls and The Master’s Team for a great weekend.

Claire Tester

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Conditions on the day were perfect, a sunny and dry track, with the action taking place on the National Circuit. Driver Jim Tester had some concerns at the start of the day with the diff set up on the car, which was really for the GP Circuit, and with the tyres, which were an old set that was last used at the Silverstone Classic in August 2009

Qualifying was really a bit of a shakedown for the engine, which had had a rebuild of late. The 17 minutes of the morning session turned out to be relatively easy, making sure all was as it should be and that those tyres were going to last. The session was incident free and traffic was on our side and Jim finished happy with the result of 7th place on the grid overall and the first qualifier of the XK’s by over 2 seconds.

Because of the diff ratio being used it was a little difficult for Jim to make a good start off the line and so with big revs and wheels spinning he set off knowing that he was going to lose some places. Jim dropped to around 9th place but was up to 5th by the end of the first lap. The rest of the 20 minute race was trouble free with just a couple of spinners to avoid.  A fantastic dual took place on the last lap with the Austin Healey Sprite of Patrick Harris and provided a photo-finish style end with Harris pipping Jim to third spot by 0.026 of a second! Well done Patrick!!  Second Jaguar home was the XK120 of Andrew Moore (5th overall) and third was Stephen Skipworth in his XK120 (10th overall).

Next outing is at Brands Hatch this weekend at The Masters Historic Festival at Brands Hatch. We will be taking part in Saturday’s action, the Top Hat Raceday on the Indy circuit. We’d love to see you there!

PS.  How could we resist introducing you to our “mechanic” James Tester Jnr!  And a big thank you to Linzi at www.smartpics.co.uk for the gorgeous picture of Jim in the 120 at the top of this report!

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Preparations for the Silverstone Classic last week were .. interesting!   We were due to race our 1953 Jaguar XK120 in The Daily Express Trophy for Production Jaguar Cars and at the last minute we were unable to get parts completed on the race engine.  At the last minute, our good friend Roger Ludgate came to the rescue and loaned us his engine!  Jim immediately got to work fitting it but unfortunately not quite in time for Thursday’s testing.

We made our way to the circuit on Friday morning and set out our stall in the paddock marquees.  We were opposite the Ferrari and Honda NSX display areas and just across the road from the Jaguar zone.  We had a leisurely sign on at 1.00pm and then the car was scrutineered at 4.00pm.  We had a slight issue over the rear bulkhead not completely separating the driver from the reinforced fuel pipe going into the tank, but the official allowed us to go out to qualify on the proviso we had extra reinforcement before the race.

Qualifying was at 5.40pm and Jim was feeling pretty chilled considerating we hadn’t tested the car!  Conditions were cloudy but dry on Silverstone’s Historic GP circuit however the session was a bit difficult with traffic and Jim didn’t get full clear laps.  He still managed a very respectable 5th place on the grid with a time of 2:25.936.

Friday evening was all about relaxing and having a good time and we certainly did that!  With the loan of an awesome motorhome, courtesy of the 2008 British Ginetta Champion Dino Zamparelli, we camped in comfort and style and enjoyed barbecues and the Pussycat Dolls in concert.  Luckily we weren’t needed too early on Saturday morning!

A sunny raceday began by solving our issue with the fuel line.  The concern was that should the fuel line split there was no “back up” to stop fuel spilling onto the driver.  This was easily rectified by inserting an aluminium tube into the reinforced fuel line.  With our signed scrutineered sticker on display we were able to complete our regular spanner checks and fuel her up.  Then we headed once again to the assembly area.

From this point in, Jim was head down getting into ‘the zone’; Iain, Loz and our fantastic support team were soaking in the atmosphere; family and friends had located their favourite viewing spots and me?  Well, I was a bag of nerves reminding myself every now and then to breathe (regular readers will notice a pattern here!).

Jim then disappeared from view down the pitlane.  A rolling start got the race underway and pole sitter Darren McWhirter from Scotland took the lead and kept it through to the end.  Jim immediately made up one place in what turned out to be an incredibly exciting 25 minute race.  There were a couple of spinners and the safety car was required when Dave Coynes’ XK120 caught fire.  By this time Jim was third and he and Nigel Webb certainly gave the crowd a good race dicing closely for second.  On the last lap, Jim overtook Nigel coming out of Bridge and kept the place through to the chequered flag, just 3.4 seconds behind the winner.  Fantastic!

Pat Quinn, daughter of Sir William Lyons the founder of Jaguar Cars, presented McWhirter with the winner’s trophy and our top three then threw some perfectly good champagne over each other!

After the race Jim said “I am so pleased with my second place.  At the beginning of the week it was hit and miss whether we would be able to compete as my proper race engine was not going to have certain parts back from machinists in time.  I was able to borrow an engine which was 100 horsepower lower than my own so I was just hoping for a top ten finish.  It wasn’t until we were heading for the assembly area before the race that the owner of the engine told me it had been under his workbench and not run for 11 years!”

Jim’s father, Jim Tester Senior, was well known for his work tuning and preparing Jaguar XK’s and an emotional result was emphasised with the top three cars of the race all originating from the Tester stable from one era or another.

We had a fabulous weekend; were you rockin’ and racin’ at Silverstone?  What was your favourite bit of action?  Let us know!  If you did miss all the fun on the track it’s being replayed on Motors TV over the coming weeks so be sure to catch it!

Claire Tester

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The Silverstone Classic kicks of its build up on 6th May with a special press day.

The Tester XK has been tuned to within an inch of its life ready to transport journalists around the track at scary speeds.

The 24th, 25th and 26th July are the dates for the 2009 Silverstone Classic –3 days of Music and Racing. The Classic is a perfect blend of rare cars, tasty food, great people, international music acts and world class motor racing with classic cars from the last 90 years.

Im not sure about the Pussycat Dolls, Blue and Santana being on the same bill for the music side, but im sure the cars will be awesome.

So you’re furiously crossing off days on your calendar until your next race and the car is sitting in the garage waiting. What should you do to make sure it’s ready? In an ideal world we would strip down the car, re-build it, dyno the engine and go testing before the next race but for those of us without McLaren size budgets or the army of people working on the car, here’s a good checklist to get you ready for the track.

• Change the oil and filter – check the oil for any shrapnel, which may indicate signs of heavy engine wear or potential problems
• Check and service gaps in your ignition system, whether it is points or an electric system. Re-adjust them following your manufacturer’s guidelines
• Check coolant levels and check the radiator for stone chips or damage, which could cause a leak or overheating
• Check brake pads and discs for wear and check brake fluid levels. A cursory bleed of the system is a good idea to check no air has got in
• Put the fuel pumps on to make sure there are no leaks
• Check tyres for damage, slow leaks or wear
• Grease any available bearings, grease nipples and steering joints
• Check your fire extinguisher is fully charged and up to date
• Lastly a full spanner check to make sure all your nuts and bolts are good

These are the basic checks that we carry out. What’s on your checklist?

Oh, and don’t forget to come and find us at the Silverstone Classic! If you’ve not got your tickets yet why not subscribe to our newsletters and put yourself in with a chance of winning tickets and being our VIP guests for the weekend?

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Pictures of the days event will be posted here later.