We wanted to recreate the great Days of competition between cars and trains - David Barzilay

In the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, a number of drivers raced against the ‘Blue Train’ in sponsored or private cars. They would race from the French Riviera to Calais, comparing contemporary automotive performance with locomotive dominance. Taking influence from this, Octane’s special projects division is to race a famous Jaguar works Long Nose D-type against the Orient-Express.

The car will leave Victoria train station on the morning of April 29, to race against the British Orient-Express and then the Venice Simplon Orient-Express, in a 29-hour battle to Venice.

‘We wanted to recreate the great Days of competition between cars and trains’ said David Barzilay, who is running the project. ‘The Orient-Express is probably the most famous train in the world, and it seemed fitting that we put one of the most famous British racing cars against it’.

Jonathan Turner, the D-type’s owner, will be driving along side Octane Editor Robert Coucher.

RSF 303 was built in 1956 and driven by Mike Hawthorn at Silverstone that year. In 1957, the car was sold to Ecurie Ecosse, placing first at St. Etienne and second at Le Mans. It finished fourth in Argentinian and Italian races finally coming sixth in the 1959 Goodwood TT, the car’s final race for Ecurie Ecosse. RSF 303 was then sold to an owner in the United States, followed by Anthony Bamford.

Both the car and train will have on board tracking devices from TrackaPhone, giving Octane readers the opportunity to follow the race as it unfolds. Jonathan Turner said: ‘After a quick beer and a short break we hope to head to Brescia and take part in this year’s Mille Miglia’.

‘We hope that the car will be flagged off by a well known personality and representatives of the Italian Government’ said Barzilay, who will also be covering the story from the train. He added: ‘We are hoping to commission a painting of the car and the train battling it out, in the same style that Terence Cuneo depicted Woolf Barnato racing ‘Le Train Bleu’ in March 1930.

Full details of the challenge and how to log on to the tracking system will be available on the Octane website shortly.