Over the top
WITH THE throttle as perfectly balanced as the steering, I exit the corner quickly and cleanly ready for the long straight that follows. The road ahead of me is as empty as the view and, as I floor the throttle, the 4.2-litre engine delivers its power in one raspy, snarling lump; I soon become a green blur against the purple bracken that blankets the moor.
It’s the long straights and fast, swooping corners such as these, together with its isolation, that makes the A169 one of the UK’s best driving roads. The 21-mile section that snakes over the top of the Yorkshire Moors between Pickering and Whitby is especially exciting. And how better to explore one of the UK’s best roads than in one of Jaguar’s best sports cars, an E-type Series 2 open two-seater?
The Series 2 is often overlooked in preference for the original and arguably purer Series 1, mainly due to the open headlights and ungainly ‘trailer board’ rear light clusters, but no one cares about such trivialities when I arrive in the centre of Pickering.
