Now that autumn is very much upon us and the weather is becoming more and more unpredictable we have completed our last events for 2022.
Once again, we made the trip up to Elvington for the final two day event of the year. The straightliners guys had pulled out all the stops for the last chance to make or break records over one and a standing start quarter mile.
Having proven both the security and stability of our flat floor we decided to run without it, saving a lot of weight for such a short distance.
This would be an event to test the engine and to try and improve on our ‘short’ distance speeds.
As we were queing for our first run TV’s Guy Martin, TT racer, engineer and fellow racer, couldn’t resist coming over for a closer look. He was very interested and asked a lot of very infomed technical questions.
Our first run went reasonably well and for the first time we saw 155 on the GPS speedometer. This was made particularly impressive as Ian actually slipped up, by changing into 6th gear too early the car dropped out of the turbochargers boost range and as such we missed most of our power.
The second run was slightly more ‘exciting’! As Ian was accelerating just above 130 mph the windscreen suddenly got a coating of liquid from the engine bay and the oil pressure dropped in the engine.
This was a first test of our emergency test procedure and Ian managed to get the engine shut down before too much damage was done (we hope).
As it transpires this ‘event’ was more exciting from outside the car as there was a sizeable amount of white smoke pouring from the car until Ian got the engine shut down.
As it transpires, the problem was nowhere near as terrible as it first seemed. Possibly the cheapest part of the car, the rubber seal on the top of the oil filter, had failed. Squirting high pressure oil all over the exhaust system and engine bay.
The ensuing clean up, time it took to locate the replacement parts and changeable weather conditions then put paid to our final Elvington trip.
Our next and indeed final outing of the year was a lot less stressful, for all if not Ian.
2022 saw the 60th anniversary of the launch of the Jensen C-V8. To commemorate this event an event was held at the famous Brooklands race circuit in Surrey.
When the event was first planned Ian was asked to be the after dinner speaker. This made perfect sense as he should have just got back from Bonneville speed week with many tails of derring-do.
But, with all credit to the organisers, they stuck to the arrangement and risked Ian standing up at a black tie dinner with potentially nothing to say.
Luckily, as those that have met him can attestify Ian can talk for England, especially about the car and his presentation went down very well.
We were especially proud, that team member Bruce and his lovely wife Leonora had made the trip from southern California to join us for the event. It was a fantastic opportunity for us all to catch up.
The next morning all of the attending C-V8’s and other Jensens assmebled on the start finish straight at Brooklands. Our car was given pride of place in the display of cars and attracted an awful lot of attention. Not only fellow Jensen owners but also members of the general public that were visiting the museum.
There are four Jensen C-V8’s that have some racing pedigree, as one of them is in New Zealand, he was excused. The other three however have never been at the same event together and the photo opportunity could not be missed,
The green car on the left of the image has competed in many sprint and hill climb events.
The dark blue car ran in the Inca rally some years ago. It has only recently been restored to roadworthy condition by the son of the original driver.
