Reverend Simon Butler, who has driven modern Formula One cars, now tries his hand at vintage racing behind the wheel of a ’52 Jaguar C-Type that hasn’t been on the track for a decade.
Currently Associate Rector of Ashtead Parish, in Surrey, UK, Reverend Butler started karting at an early age and has a great deal of experience in modern single-seaters.
“I think I’m the only Anglican clergyman who has ever driven a modern Formula One car,” he says, “but this will be my first experience in historics. The C-type is owned by one of my parishioners, Tony Allen, and he invited me to share the car with Jonathon Crouch for the full series of Woodcote Trophy races.”
“Historic cars have no brakes! Seriously, though, I’ve really enjoyed the transition to historics, so much so that I might not go back. With a historic car, you need to keep it moving around a lot; there’s still a lot of precision needed, but it’s a different sort of precision.”
Allen’s drum-braked C-type (XKC 016), was supplied new in 1952 to the French Jaguar importer – hence its French racing blue paint. It competed in European events in 1953, until it crashed on the Mille Miglia, killing driver Pierre Gilbert Ugnon and leaving his team-mate and lead driver, Luc Descollanges, badly injured.
“The damaged car sat in a yard for almost 20 years, until it was restored, piece by piece, in the 1970s by a prominent French Jaguar collector,” explains Simon, right. “It did a little historic racing in the 1990s, but has now been brought back to its original specification and is ready to compete in 2012.”
For more information about the historic racing series, please visit, http://www.motorracinglegends.com/
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