1999 JCNA International Festival - The Festival part 1

South Florida Jaguar Club

1999 JCNA International Jaguar Festival
Colorado Springs, sept 27 - Oct

The festival, part 1

5 days in paradise...

For any car enthusiast, when your favorite "marque" is the feature of a concours or a festival, it is great. But when it is organized the way JCNA put together this first International Jaguar Festival, it's paradise ! especially considering the magnificent setting of the Rockies, who could ask for anything more. ? maybe a hillclimb simulation up Pikes Peak, a rally and a slalom ?

Day one, registration and dinner...

When I got to the Broadmoor on monday to get the registration material, the valet knew right away he wasn't going to park my 72 E-type.... there were already a few E-types and XKs in sight and by then he knew and he let me park it myself in the valet section. Right next to green XK8... nice...I go upstairs to retrieve my registration package, very well done, nice color program with pictures of most of the cars attending the festival; well done. Time to buy a few festival shirts and sweater, very necessary considering the temperature and I was on the way to pick up my wife and daughter at the airport.

Later on, back to the Broadmoor for the cocktail and dinner, opening welcome speeches and last minute news.

Tuesday, rally and slalom...

As some of you know, I am new to all this. I got my E-type back in march and I am still discovering some of the club activities. As this was going to be my first time in a JCNA rally, I didn't know what to expect for sure. I had read the material and rules and was very eager to try it ! Disappointment as we head to the Broadmoor that morning, snow starts falling. Not too much but just enough to accumulate on the cars in the parking from which we are supposed to start. I have a heater in my E-type, but it is disconnected with a bypass hose since it's missing the control valve. Here in south Florida, the important thing is to make sure that the heater is off... the V12 gives out enough heat as it is. So no heater and we must use cold air to defrost the windshield... needless to say, my wife wasn't too pleased !

After a short wait, just long enough to admire the incredible selection of cars, ranging from an SS100 to an XJ220, the driver's briefing gets underway: the rally is on despite the weather which starts to improve anyway. The snow stops and clouds starts to clear up. By the end of the rally, we will actually see sunshine and blue skies.

The principle of the rally is time accuracy, we must cross each of the 3 checkpoint and finish line exactly at a precise time and in the right direction. If we get there early, there is a standoff area a few hundred yards ahead to wait for the right time to cross. Sounds easy....

Soon the cars get underway, at one minute interval and it's on to the first checkpoint. Instructions were misprinted and the first map is not very clear, it's a photocopy, but we get to the stand off a little early. I try to time my run to the checkpoint itself accurately but miss it by a handful of seconds... not too bad so far.

Checkpoint nr 2 is on the other side of town, and there are plenty of construction and traffic to get there, at least on the route we picked. Anyway we get there, it's a the Colorado Dpt of Transportation, on top of a hill. With temperature in the upper 30's and a good 15 mph wind, I really felt bad for the checkpoint volunteers.... I couldn't even read the handwriting on the time slip. I thought we were within a minute but it turned out we were off by 4 minutes or so... I was too cold to get out of the car and check the time with them...

Now the trip to the third check point was a challenge as they were actually 3 possible routes. I picked the middle route which turned out to be closed for construction forcing us to the third road. A long stretch of rural 2 lane road, very straight a little rough... and they said that everything had been timed so that it could be done under the speed limits... right... and on paved road only said the rally master... well the map showed a road we'd have to take to get to the check point on the proper heading but it didn't say it was a dirt road... rough and dusty and muddy... We get to check point in time and go through within a few seconds.

I will remember the last leg to the Pikes Peak Raceway for a long time... not for the scenery but for the run behind a beautiful red XK120 FHC, which my wife forbid me to pass. But the sound of its exhaust just ahead of us was the real reason I didn't pass... better than anything else I've heard ! We did get to the final stand off early, and waited a few minutes to cross the finish line at the (almost) right time. There again, it was cold and windy, making it almost impossible for the check point volunteers to do their work. In the end, it turned out that we placed fourth in the rally, not bad for a first time ! Most of the almost 5 minutes error coming from the 2nd check point, but we had a great time !

The lunch that was served at the track was really welcome after such a cold morning, and a good way to warm up before the afternoon slalom session.

This was my first time at a slalom, and I sure hope it won't be the last. This is fun, a lot of fun ! Again the cold wind was... way too cold forcing most people back into their cars after a few minutes outside to watch. About 20 cars participated in the first slalom, a pretty lengthy course making good use of the size of the PPR parking lot, and long enough that I could go up to 3rd gear before a couple of the corners. Entries ranged from XKs to E-types, to a Mark 2, and a few modern Jaguars, including a red XKR convertible.

If you have never tried this, you don't know what you're missing ! As spectator, watching all the Jaguars doing what they do best is really something : an XKR with smoke coming from the rear tires ( I won't mention the spin... the only one of the afternoon ), the XK racing through, the E-type roaring through, or the modern XJ6s negotiating the course with great agility for a car this size... But then as a driver, it is really a blast to be able to push your car to the limit, and just a little bit beyond, in a safe controlled environment. Out of my 3 runs, I didn't hit any cones, my only mistake was to take on of the last one on the wrong side on the first run...

Then after all drivers had their fun, the organizers set up a shorter JCNA course that about 10 cars ran. It was a much smaller than the first one, ( all 2nd gear on my car) and more a test of precision than anything else. Again, besides the fun, it is really nice to see how far you can push an e-type into a turn without spinning !

Wednesday, Pikes Peak...

Wednesday morning, early ... below freezing... door lock is almost frozen, need to use a credit card to scrape the ice of the windshield ! Floridians playing tourist in the Rockies...

I drive up to the Pikes Peak highway, go through the gate following a very original SS100... the driver must have about 15 layers of clothing not to freeze to death. Despite the good speed at which he his heading up the first section of the highway, I pass him hoping the heat from my V12 will make him feel a little warmer...

The cars are lined up about 1/2 mile before the start line, at the visitor center. Everybody is inside trying to warm up. The scenery is magnificent... a lake, the mountain, a little bit of snow in the trees, sunshine,... The snow turns into a problem though as they had to send a sand truck up the road to clear the little bit of ice and snow and it is not sure that we will be able to make it up the summit. The organizers decide to run a first leg up to the next visitor center and stop there to give the sand truck time to reach the summit.

At the drivers briefing we are given instructions on safety procedures, flag stations, and passing instructions. Then we head back to the cars and proceed to the start line, at the very same spot that they used for the real race every July 4th.

The first car started and soon it was my turn. The road is nice and wide but rough, it's unpaved on some sections really shake the car. You can't go fast on this but I still managed to close on the preceding car, a early XJ6. He waves me through, and as pass him and upshift to 3rd... a sharp turn comes out of nowhere... back into 2nd... a short distance later, we pull in the parking lot of the 2nd visitor center.. that was fun so far. Snow and ice on the road ahead and even on the parking itself. There I find our club president, Russel Glace, who was supposed to ride up with me but he didn't make it in time at the line, and Karl Schaefer, our German member.

After a short wait, the word comes that the road is cleared to the top, except for a short stretch which will be under yellow caution flag. Back to the car and get going toward the summit. There was indeed some snow and ice on a short section, very slippery especially for a heavy footed V12 driver, and this road has no guard rail. Miss a turn a get too close to the edge and it all downhill to say the least ! More rough sections, all the instruments needles vibrate in near perfect synchronization, can't go fast even if you were crazy enough to try, and finally the summit at 14 110 feet. That was 14 110' up, plus 2300 miles, a rally and 2 slaloms in 4 days... who said a Jaguar isn't reliable !

It's almost surprising to see that the car runs that well up there, better than we humans did anyway. Can't run or move to fast or you get out of breath. I had heard about the Summit donuts, they were indeed very good ! A few pictures by the Pikes Peak summit Marker and we head back down. On the trip down, we get to enjoy the view and it is breathtaking.

next, the Concours and trip back to Miami.