Gentlemen’s relish
IT WAS probably Jackie Stewart who best demonstrated the phrase ‘Race on Sunday, sell on Monday,’when success over the weekend racing his 3.8 E-type SSN300 (now owned by Mike Wilkinson) would inspire potential customers at the family-operated Dumbuck Garage, in Dumbarton, to buy an E-type of their own. Those who wanted more speed could opt for factory extras or have their car prepared to gentleman’s racer specification.
With a number of keen enthusiasts wanting to have a go themselves, Jaguar prepared its booklet Tuning & Preparation of “E” TYPE Cars for Competition Use, in which many of the suggestions would also be suitable for fast road cars. A modern observer might view them as relatively tame, but, back in 1961, sports car racing meant just that – they were sports cars that were available on the open market rather than specially prepared racers.
By 1963, Jaguar introduced a low production dedicated racer and built 12 all-aluminium lightweight E-types – the only way
