I reckon I've come up with the trump card that settles for all time the current argument about whether the unique Jaguar E2A should be raced

This month I’ve hit on a real shock-horror story.  Believe it or not, the owner of a racing car has been using it in – stay calm and wait for it – races. Okay, that’s my flippant reaction to an animated debate that’s now raging on a chat forum. The car at the centre of this apparently never-ending battle of words is the unique Jaguar E2A, as featured in our track test earlier this summer (Octane issue 85). Well, I reckon I’ve come up with the trump card that settles this argument for all time.

The forum fuss all started in late August, when somebody posted a comment about E2A, including the words: ‘This car is a vital link in the evolution of both the E-type and the IRS used on Jaguar cars from MkIX to XJS and beyond. It has never been stuffed, never mind miraculously recreated from a sub-frame, like one or two other machines out there. I love historic racing, but feel different about this car. Would anybody else join me in urging the owner to reconsider?’

Opinion is divided. Some of the views expressed are sensible but others are quite ridiculous, such as the notion that preparing E2A for historic racing would effectively ‘destroy’ it. Let’s get this straight: E2A has been bought by a true connoisseur who appreciates its heritage and who will preserve the car correctly.  That’s why he has taken it to CKL Developments, people who understand how to care for a car of this importance.

Once a car becomes so precious that it can’t be used, something in it dies. Owners of that persuasion would probably marry a beauty queen and keep her on a pedestal. Perhaps the lady would prefer a bit of action? Otherwise, what’s the point?

Originally, E2A’s one and only race this side of the Atlantic was the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours, in which it ran with a 3-litre engine but retired. Then, quickly converted to a 3.8-litre plus other changes, E2A ran in North America briefly but never raced again after 1960 – until July of this year, when it was driven in the Le Mans Classic by Stefan Ziegler, Rob Newall and myself. By late September, it will also have been seen racing in the Goodwood Revival, where I shall be driving it again.

Should E2A be as it was at Le Mans in 1960: a 3-litre with a high windscreen? Should it be as it raced in the USA in 1960: a 3.8-litre with a low screen? Either way its huge rear fin, lost years ago, should surely be recreated. We should not forget either that, once the car had served its purpose as a prototype, the factory intended to follow normal procedure and cut it up. Only the determined action of a visionary enthusiast saved it then.

That’s quite enough waffle. As I said at the start of this column, the matter has been settled, finally and absolutely. The oracle has spoken; judgement was delivered on Thursday 2 September at Jaguar Cars in Castle Vale, when some 90 guests attended a splendid dinner in order to celebrate the 90th birthday of Norman Dewis, Jaguar’s legendary test driver.  Norman joined the marque in 1952, and was charged with developing all the competition and road cars. He raced D-types as part of the works team at Le Mans in the 1950s, and his final task before his retirement in 1985 was to sign off the XJ40.

His brilliant book Norman Dewis of Jaguar, Developing the Legend, originally published in 2006, is now in its fourth printing – a best-seller because his long and fabulous story is so well told within its pages. Back in 1960, Norman tested the then-new E2A and drove it in qualifying at Le Mans. Later, when E2A became the test bed for the Dunlop-Maxaret anti-lock braking system, he was again the driver in charge.

Before we went in to enjoy his celebration dinner, I asked Norman whether E2A should be racing today. He gave me a sharp glance and said: ‘Of course it should.’ I then mentioned that E2A was sold by the factory in the 1960s on the condition that it would not be raced again – and some say that promise has been broken.  He replied briskly that any such restriction is ancient history, long since expired and completely irrelevant now.

There you have it – subject closed. At the end of a wonderful evening, I asked Norman to sign the menu for me. Looking down as he did so, I saw he was smiling. Quietly, he said: ‘You be careful with E2A, now.’ Oh, yes, Norman, I shall be.

TONY DRON

Having started his racing career in Formula Ford, Tony made a name for himself in 1970s Touring Cars and since then has raced an astonishing variety of sports and historic machinery. He is also a hugely respected journalist.