Jaguar Tales

Racing Around Nigel Mansell's Kart Circuit on the PAAI 2022 Despite Covid interruptions, it took us just over one year from our first rally to break into the top 10 finishers on a one-day HERO event.  A very gratifying result, but nonetheless, not the ultimate aim of the project:  We still need to do a true endurance event. We cover a few hundred miles or so on a short event, but the real test of crew and car will be a multi-day rally when we are well into four figure mileages. I have no wish to tempt fate, but we have been extraordinarily lucky that we suffered no breakdowns or punctures whilst actually competing in the XJ-S. That's not to say that there haven't been plenty of breakdowns as old components failed when stressed (on the school run), but hopefully, the three year restoration of the car means we are now in a sweet spot where we can replace and maintain parts on a planned basis before failure.  Perhaps now is the right time for that true test. On the 2020 PAAI...

2021 Rally Round Up: The lack of clamour by my followers for updates during the year only confirms my suspicion that the only reader of this blog is me. Don't feel guilty if it slipped your mind! The first six months of 2021 were light on rallying for obvious reasons. Regularly taking the XJS on the school run (35 miles round trip) kept the old girl in good fettle until a small disaster struck: On the way home we stopped at a red light just before the slip road onto the M11 (the site of many a breakdown - see previous posts) and were enveloped in steam - luckily I managed to shut down the engine before any damage was done (I hope). It was a hole in the radiator. Once again my AA membership proved its worth as our knights in yellow armour were summoned. The school run seems to be an excellent test bed: After about 20 miles, anything that might go wrong, does. The jolly AA man who came to our rescue was very excited...he said the V12 was the best engine ever made and he was so...

  Using All 12 Cylinders! December 2020 After what has been for much of the globe, an annus horribilis, there was a ray of sunshine in the world of historic rallying:  HERO, having cancelled its two blue riband events, Rally of the Tests and Le Jog, managed to put together a one-day event in mid-December, entitled Per Ardua Ad Infinitum (Through Endless Adversity) from their new base at Bicester Heritage. The route was being changed right up to the start as newly announced Covid Tiers meant sections in Buckinghamshire were no longer viable, but nonetheless it was a wonderful Christmas present to the 70 crews that managed to get to the start.   The event was categorised "Red", which in the HERO lexicon is "Advanced", a higher category than we had hitherto attempted. Rather than start in class order, this event was seeded:  The top 15 crews were all past winners of HERO events and we started 53rd, which we felt was reasonable given our limited experience. Graham, ...

October 2020 and it was time for our second HERO event in the Jaguar XJS, the Hero Challenge 3.  The car had been sitting on the drive untouched after the last event.  I had meant to look at the HVAC system, but it was now two days before the rally and too late to be taking out the dashboard.   I remembered that there had been a strong smell of petrol in the cabin after the HERO Challenge 2, but a cursory check underneath the car and in the boot found no evidence of leaks.  Whilst I was there I attended to the many grease nipples in the rear suspension and driveshafts and a quick wipe down of the oily bits underneath the engine. Trying to go in the right direction It appears that the oily bits are oily due to a weeping camshaft cover - but this does need further investigation just in case it is not that simple (I don't want to tempt fate here).  The engine needed a small oil top up, as did the cooling system and power assisted steering reservoir - as should...

After six month's delay due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we were finally able to complete our first UK HERO (Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation) event at the beginning of September 2020, albeit under the shadow of Covid-19 infection precautions. There were a few last minute rectifications to the car...that irritating rattle was traced back to the very first thing we fixed on the car:  The front shock absorber mounting.  We had replaced the bushes and reassembled all the washers and cups in the position we found them.  Big Mistake!  Given all the other bodges we found on the car, I should have thought to double check the assembly earlier.  Doing so now, it was obviously wrong.  It was a 10 minute job, that changed the car from a rattlely old banger into a swish, silent Jag.  The power steering fluid is slowly disappearing (I know not where), so a quick top up and we were ready to roll. Prepped & Ready To Go I met Graham, my navigator, at the s...