DRIVING LIKE IT'S 1961 - DAY TWO

All this week, 50 classic Jaguar E‑type cars will be driving from Coventry, England to Geneva in Switzerland to celebrate the unveiling of Jaguar’s iconic 1961 sportscar. In the second 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.

No top‑down driving today as bruise‑black skies and cold, drizzly rain kept windshield wipers wipin’ and heaters cranked up to the max.

But the English gloom didn’t stop hundreds of workers at Jaguar’s Whitley Engineering Centre from lining the sidewalk, camera phones at the ready, to watch and wave as our convoy of 50 E‑type cars paraded through the plant.

Many recognized the gorgeous 1975 Series 3 V12 roadster I’m driving by its famous ‘HDU 555N’ license plate which tells those in the know that it’s the very last E‑type ever built.

Parade lap over, we point the E‑ type cars' power‑bulged hoods south along the famous Fosse Way, an old Roman Road that takes us through the heart of the English Cotswolds. This fast two‑lane blacktop sweeps through picture‑perfect ancient towns with names like Stow‑on‑the‑Wold and Moreton‑in‑the‑Marsh, and my favorite, Tiddleywink.

On our way south to Switzerland, we’ll take‑in some of Europe’s great motor racing circuits, and the first is at the end of the Fosse Way – Castle Combe.

Opened in 1948 on the site of a former airfield, this extremely fast, flat, 1.85‑mile track is a favorite among British club racers. While our big, softly‑sprung V12 Series 3 makes a valiant effort of tackling Castle Combe’s challenging curves, there are other, more race‑equipped E‑type cars in our group that are having a ball.

Cars like the 1973 Series 3 replica of the famous Group 44 E‑type that campaigned in the US back in the 70s. Driven on the Tour by well‑known Jaguar collector Christian Jenny, it blasted around the Castle Combe track.

With no mishaps, no break‑downs, no bruised egos to report, our group of 50 E‑type cars meandered – at a slightly more sedate pace – south‑west over the rolling Salisbury Plain to our overnight stop at Goodwood, home of the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed, and Goodwood Revival.

Tomorrow, we’ll lap the famous Goodwood race circuit and take a run up the Goodwood ‘hill’ before heading through the ‘Chunnel’ to France and the Circuit de Gueux in Reims.

Catch us tomorrow on Interactive Jaguar to find out how we all made it under the storm‑tossed English Channel and into La belle France.