Latest News
| Back to Latest News |
The Historic Sports Car Club Weekend at Castle Combe - 4th August 2007 - the XK ChallengeEvent Report by John Roberts Slowly gaining more reliability from the old girl!!After my crashing exploits at Snetterton where I came together with another XK at 80 mph on the Revett Straight going into the Esses, it’s taken five weeks to rebuild the car that included 2 front wings, steering and suspension damage. But I put the XK in the very capable hands of Chris Keith-Lucas at CKL Developments for the re-build. NOTE: If you ever need help with your Classic Jaguar then you couldn’t be in safer hands than with Chris at: Having completed the work we also found that the Over-Drive Unit end bearing was making whirring noises, so better to be safe than sorry, we took the engine, gearbox and overdrive units out. It transpired that the OD bearing was in fact ‘mushed’ and was spreading metal swarf all around the gearbox. But all has now been rectified and we headed off to Castle Combe for Testing on Thursday the 2nd August. Testing went really well, the car handled like a dream (Thanks Chris!) and within three laps I was lapping in the low 1 min 28s. Luckily the weather was kind to me for my sessions. On Saturday the 4th August, Race Day with the HSCC was a truly memorable occasion. The weather was perfect, not too hot and dry and the sun graced us in the afternoon. Qualifying went really well for me and out of 18 XK’s in the race I qualified 7th overall. During the interval and before the race spectators abounded, as this is an extremely popular annual event at Castle Combe, many of whom came to chat about old cars, Jaguars, XK’s et al. MWS brochures seemed to be going like hot cakes from the Stands either side of our Marquee. The race however, was a little more complicated. A number of the XK boys were so keen to get going that half the pack jumped the Red Lights, leaving me to do the honorable thing and wait until they went out. However, my ‘Red Mist’ descended and before long I had made up several places. There was some excellent close racing between yours truly, Geoff Ottley (his home track), in his XK 120 Roadster, John Burton in his XK 120 FHC and we three were rapidly catching CKL in his XK150 up ahead. However, three laps from the end I developed a misfire just when I was about to reel John Burton in at Quarry Corner as he went sideways in front of me. I finished the race, but lost a couple of places in my endeavours to finish. What we found was a failed alternator, thus leaving me with a very lowly charged battery. So, as I said in my last missive, it’s back to the drawing board this time to replace battery and alternator. But it was all truly great fun at Castle Combe. It’s a wonderful circuit and I would recommend anyone to go there for a Track Day. My next outing will be at Silverstone with the CSCC, where we will be racing on the Silverstone International Circuit on the 25th August. Do come and see us, it’s only a ‘Tenner’ to get in! Great value for a day at the races! All the best. 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 Castle Combe Circuit Ltd for kind permission to film |
MWS News
Repair & Restore
Our Wire Wheels
Fitment Guide
Online Catalogue
Info & Advice
Gallery
Blockley Tyres
Contact Us