First I must acknowledge my wonderful fiancée, Jennifer. She is the main encouragement for this endeavor: while we were talking about our goals for 2011 we got to talking about dreams. In that conversation I apparently mumbled something, and she ask what I had said to which I replied that I had wanted to race a classic sports car for a long time. Jennifer then asked why I was not doing that, to which I replied that I wanted to race a 1963 light-weight “E” Type Jaguar, and they start at around $250,000 and I was just a bit short on that kind of funding…and she responded with the obvious question that I had been ignoring – why don’t you race something you can afford? Well there it was, the truth right out on the table!
Being a teenager in England and around the private school, I was exposed to some very nice sports cars. Like most boys in those circles I wanted one. In fact I knew that I wanted an “E” Type Jag since age 5 when I had one as a toy and I told my mother that one day I would take her for a ride in mine. Unfortunately that won’t happen because my mother has passed on, but I still want the Jag! Also, one of my best friends in the whole world, once my brother-in-law, Jim who taught me to speak proper English and to drive, has been racing for about 20 years in a 1955 Jag XK 140 Roadster, a Lotus 19 and a 1964 Ford Galexie 500…quite a contrast and I have told him many time that I would join him one day…
After Jennifer gave me the kick in the ass I needed to get going on the idea, I knew exactly who to call, my friend Judd Evans. He had wanted me to buy a car from him for some time and join him on the track. We have been friends and competitors for over 20 years. Jennifer and I went to look at the car – I already knew it and wanted it, and Jennifer liked it too. So Judd and I talked, figured out a game plan to deal with rebuilding the engine and beginning the process of applying for competition school to get a license to race with Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing (rmvr.org). I am buy a 1967 Sunbeam Alpine from him, all kitted out for racing – it is a full blown race car and going for it. Progress will be in the next post.
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