Tuesday 29th September marked the 60th anniversary celebration of the Le Mans winning Jaguar D-type, with a wonderful reception at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon. Key members of the Jaguar Heritage team hosted it, with Jonathan Partridge, Anders Clausager, Faye McLeod and Karam Ram leading the celebration.
Star guests of the occasion included the wonderful Norman Dewis, and of course OVC 501 the short nose D-type, 393 RW, the long nose D-type and the legendary XJ13.
The ceremony began with talks from Jonathan and Anders, followed by a Q&A with Norman Dewis joining Anders. Norman, as always, delighted us with ‘from the pits’ chat from his time as a test driver with Jaguar. Anders also played a fantastic video of Sebring and Le Mans winner Mike Hawthorn narrating from the drivers seat:
A look round the D-type 60th display followed, with a special Malcolm Sayer tribute cabinet on show including personal memorabilia and prototype models, and a guided talk from Faye detailing everything in the exhibition.
One of Malcolm’s paintings and the XJ13 model
After the tour, a lovely buffet was served, preceding the cutting of the fantastic D-type cake prepared by Karam Ram.
The cake was cut by my mum Kate and Norman Dewis, much to their delight!
For me, the icing on the cake was a spin in 393 RW, driven by David Withers. What an exhilarating experience! Here we are before:
During:
After:
All in all, a fantastic day – lovely to see Gaynor Cauter from JDC, Tony Ridge from JEC and everyone else there.
Special thanks to Karam Ram for letting us use a couple of his photos, and to Faye McLeod for inviting the family to the occasion.
