DRIVING LIKE IT'S 1961 - DAY THREE

All this week, 50 classic Jaguar E‑type cars are driving from Coventry, England to Geneva in Switzerland to celebrate the unveiling of Jaguar’s iconic 1961 sportscar. In the third of a series of daily blogs, US auto writer Howard Walker reports on the Tour from behind the wheel of the last E‑type ever built.

Talk about soul‑stirring stuff. The sight of 50 hard‑charging Jaguar E‑type cars, lapping southern England’s famous Goodwood race circuit, was enough to bring tears to the eyes of any sportscar lover.

We kicked off day three of this epic Jaguar E‑type 50th Anniversary Tour with a procession up the famous Goodwood hill climb course, followed by some hot laps on a frigid‑cold morning around the Goodwood track.

The historic circuit started off as a lumpy perimeter road at an old Royal Air Force airfield before it transformed into the iconic track it is today. The first race took place in September 1948, in which a young Stirling Moss won the 500cc class. The massive accident that ended Stirling’s professional racing career, happened at Goodwood’s infamous St. Mary’s Corner in 1962.

St. Mary’s is still a fast, sweeping left‑hander and it’s given the respect it deserves as I steer our 1975 E‑type Series 3 V12 roadster – the famous Last E‑type Ever Built ‑ around the extremely quick 2.4‑mile track.

Adrenaline fix over, we set‑off east along England’s southern coast for the drizzly 106 mile run to Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel to France.

For part of the trip, we run in convoy with passionate Jaguar enthusiast Gary Bartlett, from Muncie, Ind., and his 1966 E‑type Series 1 4.2 fixed‑head coupe. Gary bought the completely unrestored ‘E’ back in 1995 with just 17,000 miles on the clock, from a retired GM engineer in Warren, Mich.

While the car has been mechanically restored and upgraded for use on the race track, he’s left the faded and weathered dark gray‑green paintwork completely untouched to keep the car’s lovely patina.

The trip through the ‘Chunnel’ is quick and uneventful. You don’t actually drive through the 31‑mile tunnel that runs 250 ft beneath the English Channel. Instead, you ease into one of the massive train cars, sit back, relax and after 30 minutes or so you’re driving out in Calais, France.

We’re heading to the town of Reims 170 miles south of the coast, along the fast A1 motorway. Tomorrow we’ll drive around the historic Circuit de Gueux, the fabulous old road course that dates back to 1926 and hosted Formula 1 races in the ’50s and ’60s before closing in 1972.

But first, as a reward for our long trek south, we have a tour of the Taittinger Champagne House – Reims is in the heart of Champagne country – followed by the inevitable tasting, and a toast to a safe trip all the way to Geneva.