AGUAR SMATTERINGS

Once loved and doted over, these former Jaguar racers are mostly missing. Can we find them?

WHEN A RACING CAR IS COMPETITIVE IT IS LOVED and given doting attention. Then it is mostly forgotten to all but distant memory. Here are six Jaguars we need to identify.

01 This E-Type probably only had one race and that was the legendary Surfers Paradise 12 Hours event in 1966. Shepparton truck sales owner Bryan Thompson bought it used, overhauled the engine and drove it the 1800 kilometres to the track. He had local star Glynn Scott partner him and they won their class - after which Bryan drove it home! What happened next?

The event was contested by Ferrari 250LMs, Ford GT40s and international drivers the calibre of Jackie Stewart, Frank Gardner, Peter Sutcliffe and Paul Hawkins.

02 The most successful E-Type to race in Australia was Bob Jane's Series 1 FHC which he bought in England in 1962. It is RHD chassis #621, had a short career after Jane got his Lightweight E-Type, but disappeared long ago.

03 Sydney businessman Niel Allen took up racing as a distraction from work pressure, and began by racing his Series 1 E-Type Roadster, then this later Coupé which is believed to have been built with a close ratio gearbox. Allen is thought to have been a descendant of the Allen law family mentioned on the previous page. He died in 2022. Niel became a star with Mustangs, big sports cars and F5000s. He retired following two serious crashes, but won the NZ Grand Prix twice, is best remembered as the outright lap record holder on the original layout at Mount Panorama set in 1970. The E-Type was his daily work car, and is likely to have survived after its race days.

04/05 Our editor raced this E-Type after it had been modified by Bryson Industries mechanic Vin Boyle following a road crash. When Les. got it the car had no bonnet, cycle guards at the front, bolt-on head and indicator lights, dummy fuel fillers at the rear and wildly flared rear guards packed out with fibreglass 'bog' - ohand ten inch wide wire wheels at the rear!

Vin did simlar to an aluminium-bodied XK120 which may be the car in 05, but would later be even more severely hacked. The XK120 was recently offered for sale, but the E-Type has not been seen for decades.

06 A gorgeous E-Type run in the Geelong Sprints during the early 1960s, and may be Colin Hyams in his ex-Leech Coupé RHD #166. If so, it was the first E-Type to race in Australia and also belonged to Ray Delaney.