The 48th annual All British Field Meet will be held at Portland International Raceway on September 5, 6, and 7. It is the longest-running and largest three-day all British-car meet in the Americas. Over 600 cars and motorcycles are expected.
Tickets are still available. They are just $15 at the gate, and get you full admission to both Saturday and Sunday.
After the Saturday night Jaguar Club of Oregon banquet, I will have the pleasure of interviewing noted Oregon collectors Alex and Amy Haugland. They have an eclectic and interesting 140-car collection in Eugene.
Last year we entered our 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 coupe and our 2006 Lotus Elise. I noted that this year the Jaguar Club is offering a chance to participate in a slalom.
Mechanics love for you to enter cars in slaloms and track days as you can easily put 10,000 miles of wear and tear on your car in one afternoon.
I’m considering entering the Jag in the slalom. But should I?
Now, this is no lightweight, petite sports car. While the 1963 S1 Jag coupe weighed a spritely 2,481 lbs, the “super-sized” 1971 V12 coupe tipped the scales at 3,451, nearly 1,000 pounds heavier. In its favor, it offered 314 hp vs the 246 hp of the 4.2 liter straight-six.
The V12 has a Borg Warner 3-speed automatic transmission, and my guess is we would simply leave it in first for the entire course.
The Jag is a 32,000-original miles car, with all original surfaces. It’s been a great high-speed GT car for the 10,000 miles driven since we acquired it on BaT five years ago.
Is there any compelling reason to fling this lovely car around a slalom course, giving it full throttle then slamming on the brakes, time after time? What will I gain, and what could I lose?
If this were your car, would you leave it to bask in the display class all day, or take it out and smoke the tires?
I look forward to your comments below.
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I would be concerned the wire wheels couldn’t handle the stress of hard cornering and heavy braking.
Ahem,
This is an automobile. It may have sculptural lines, but it was intended to be driven. Why not drive it? And it was intended to be driven fast and braked hard, so why not do those things, too?
Just for fun, get out some cones and a stopwatch and find a safe place for your own slalom dress rehearsal. This afternoon. Push it a little, but don’t punish it. Then think about doing the same thing tomorrow. By Friday or Saturday, you’ll know whether you want to do it with people watching and whether you’ll want to do it as fast as you can.
Or you can engage a really talented photographer to take pictures of the car and just look at them. That won’t cause any wear and tear.
What was it that great racing duo, Spanky and Alfalfa used to say? Oh, yeah, ARE WE MICE OR ARE WE MEN?
Keith, I’ve done it for years and have seen a couple of E types compete during that time. It’s all about fun so go for it!
I wouldn’t run that car in a slalom. The combo of autobox and weight means no fun and, like
Paul said, possible damage.
Don’t do it!!
I would NOT run the Jag in the slalom for obvious reasons.
Your choice, Keith. But you well understand that the car wasn’t designed for this sort of thing.
If you run it, do so very gently as you’re not going to be competitive anyhow, so why tear up the car. The folks in attendance might enjoy seeing a beautiful old Jag crawling through the course.
Drive it! Autocrosses and time trials are actually good for cars because they force you to make sure everything is in good shape: brakes, fuel systems, cooling systems, suspension, and more. In the past, I time-trialed a 300SEL 6.3 and a Vanagon, and I’ve seen Isettas autocrossed. The world needs more zanyness.
I had a ’74 V-12, 4-speed and likely, a better transmission for the slalom. Indeed, I would NEVER subject the old girl to that kind of wear and tear. They don’t make any more of them. Stand down and watch.
No, do not do it. Its a touring car.
Keith, what are you trying to prove? Or, whom are you trying to impress? The “risk/reward” factor is so weighted on the risk side that I’m amazed you are even considering participating. Personally, I love my 1956 Jaguar XK140 FHC with the same Borg Warner transmission too much to ever consider treating it so badly.
“This only proves that we must make the most of the time we have together, because tomorrow is never guaranteed“
That was in the JOCO presidents message in the link you provided. If you think you will have fun, and make great memories, drive it.
I’m in the do it if you really want to camp. That said, I doubt that flinging the old girl around is going to be so much fun that it is worth the risk. The weight, slush box, wire wheels and legendary British reliability…what could possibly go wrong? Seems like the Elise would be infinitely more fun for this.
I restored and had a 1958 Alfa 2000 Touring Roadster. I built up a hot engine out of the Brazilian derivative of the 2000 engine. Tons of HP and torque. I installed modern American 16″ Pirellie tires on steel – spoke Dayton wire wheels.
I would drive this car up and down the curvy highway from Carson City, NV to Lake Tahoe, where various fun-type things took place. The car was a thrill, in spite of NOT being a sports car, and very much a Grand Tourer.
Then, I reinstalled the original steel wheels with original spec Pirelli 400 mm tires. And headed off to the curvy route to Tahoe.
I seriously thought I had met my maker. Curves taken at speed when going downhill caused the outer tire to feel like it had folded under, causing a serious lean and tuck to the outside of the curve. With a several hundred-foot drop off to the cliffs and valleys below.
I’d leave the Big Jag on the highways, creating smiles not terror.
How could you not, Kieth. The opportunity to experience extreme acceleration, handling and braking, doesn’t come along every day. Check your fluids, pump your tires up a bit and have a great time!!
Thanks everyone for the great comments!
I’d say go for it. An automatic E-Jag may not be the ideal auto-crosser, but so what? This is probably a one-time thing and it’s not like you’ll be competing for an SCCA autocross national title. I’m guessing you aren’t going to push the car super hard. Those hard skinny street tires aren’t sticky Hoosiers and shouldn’t overly stress those wire wheels. Or, run the OEM steel wheels instead (if you have them). In any case, no big deal. Go have some fun!
Keeping that automatic in 1st gear throughout the exercise? What could possibly go wrong…there’s a difference in use and abuse when it comes to all automobiles.
No – not even maybe. It wasn’t designed for this. Inline 6 with stick -maybe, V-12 with automatic – no.
You have a beautiful, vintage car – it’s not rust bucket or unreliable pile of junk. It’s all original, and it’s a model that is very desirable and hard to find in any good, non-restored condition.
No.