Donington 1

"JAGUAR. THE ENGINE WITH THE HOLE."

Definitely a "one that got away" story for the pub.

A fairly normal qualifying session left Malcolm in second place on the grid almost 1 second behind the XJ220 of Win Percy.

So, to the race....

A poor start for Malcolm meant that it was almost four abreast going in to the first corner, but with the help that only a Jaguar V12 engine can provide the car was first out with the XJ220 in second. A furious battle then ensued as the two leaders left the rest of the field standing. Win Percy was never far behind and at one point when Malcolm got a bit sideways coming out of Coppice the XJ220 was past. Seconds later Malcolm simply roared down the inside to retake the lead. On lap 11 (of 12) with 30 seconds gap to third place white smoke began to pour out of the XJ220 and Percy pulled over.

Not even 15 seconds later as Malcolm was on the main straight before the chicane a huge cloud of grey smoke came out from under the bonnet and it was obvious that something had gone pop. The momentum of the the car was enough for him to roll it into the pits where an oil fire was put out by the marshals. That was that, we thought !

Meanwhile, back at the castle...

John Dennehy in his Aston Martin spun the car in such a way as to leave the circuit too dangerous to continue, out came the red flags.

Malcolm had rolled far enough down the pit lane to cross the start/finish line and thus was in the lead on the lap before the race was stopped. A well-deserved if slightly lucky race win.

The first photo depicts "Hera" the race mechanic with the new team mascot "Dave". Dunno what she sees in him to be honest. The second photo is where the escaping parts burst free from the engine.