Silverstone
Gail Hill was back in action in both of her Jaguar Classic Parts sponsored cars at the weekend. In her Jaguar XJ40 she was competing for the fourth time in the Jaguar Classic Parts saloon championship where she had previously finished 4th, 3rd and 2nd and in her 6 litre V12 XJ-S she was giving the car a shake down in the Powered by Jaguar race prior to competing this weekend in the Toyo Tires racing saloons series.
In very poor conditions on an extremely slippery track Gail found both cars a real handful to control. The saloons were in a combined race with the XJ-S championship so with 33 cars on the National grid life was a bit hectic. ‘The track was damp rather than properly wet for the saloon qualifying session which is actually worse so cars were sliding about and spinning left right and centre, it was great fun but a bit dodgy’ she commented afterwards. Gail was happy enough with her sixth place on the grid (3rd in her class). Conditions had worsened when she took the big V12 out but with only a set of dry tyres available to her she was more than pleased to find herself the second quickest Jaguar behind Coppock in his similar car.
The car runs on Toyo 888’s which worked well all things considered she said later and because of all the weight of the big engine up front it actually gripped well, the rear would slide out and could be controlled on the throttle so was actually easier than the saloon to drive.
The saloon race started 30 seconds after the XJ-S’s got away and Gail was soon up to fourth as the field slipped through Copse. Yellow flags were out though indicating two stranded S’s at Beckets so the chase continued on the back straight. The older series two XJ6’s though had the edge with slightly larger engines and Gail could not make up time like she normally does on the bendy bits due to the increasingly slippery conditions. She soon found herself defending hard and had to relinquish three places at mid point. Keeping her cool though she began to put pressure on Pearce’s Mk II, which eventually span at Luffield. Then when class rival Dorlin span two laps later at the same spot she was back up to fifth and try as she might that was where she finished less than a second behind the two cars in front.
I’m third in class so can’t complain and the car is still in one piece which is very pleasing considering the close racing and side by side action early on so I’m smiling was Gail’s verdict at the finish.
The last race of the day took place in pouring rain and with a double header this Saturday to look forward to Gail wanted to stay out of trouble in her immaculate V12. She got off to a good start and whilst she couldn’t catch a very quick Coppock driving on full wets she held off the chasing cars behind until a Jaguar powered Firenza slipped past at Luffield and was followed later by Merrett, the eventual winner, in another XJ-S shod with brand new 888’s which gave far more grip. With her car aquaplaning at times down the back straight and getting broadside more than once at just about every other place on track she did well to hold off the chasing pack. The car ran perfectly and was a real handful to drive but that was such fun, I spent half the time looking out of the side windows! Gail said in the paddock later. She finished 4th and again 3rd in class so still took a few more trophies home to join the growing collection in what is turning out to be a very successful year so far.
She will be at Oulton park on 8th August so come along and say hello if you get the chance.
