A day in Sebring

mvc-566s.jpg (31633 bytes) A day in Sebring

An airplane on a Jaguar Club page ?

Sure, planes ( especially when older or classic ) have a lot in common with classic Jaguars... temperemental, expensive and they leak oil...

Seriously, the reason for our drive up to Sebring, FL was to visit the Bob Tulius collection. Bob Tulius who drove various Jaguars to victory in the 70s and 80s also has a passion for airplanes and his hangar in Sebring contains a quite a few beauties... both three wheeled and four wheeled.

This day was organized by the Orlando and Suncoast clubs and mostly by Phyllis Chishlom of Suncoast who made the arrangements with Bob Tulius. It was a rare opportunity made even better by the fact that Bob Tulius was there and spent a we moments talking about his passions.

The most spectacular plane in Bob Tulius collection is his P51 Mustang, nicknamed Donald and we were not only lucky to see Donald but even to see Bob Tulius flying it as he departed for nearby Tampa... quite a sight !

If you've missed this tour and happen to go to Sebring, check out the Group 44 hangar, it's next to the airport terminal. While not a museum, there is a sign on the door inviting visitors in, with a collection box for the local humane society.

After the visit, we headed to the the nearby track, an historic and challenging 3.7 mile course built around the airport. While we didn't get to drive our cars on the track the way some of us would have liked to... it was fun to drive a couple of laps in line behind the pace car.

After lunch at the Chateau Elan restaurant / hotel, a new complex on the edge of the track with great view of the action, we headed to the paddock to see some of the vintage racers up close and watch Team Predator in action. Larry Ligas and David Hinton are a dominating force on the Jaguar Vintage racing scene combining their experience in building, restoring and preparing Jaguars in their clearwated shop with some of the best components like Terry's Jaguar engines or Medatronic JT5 transmissions.

From a south floridian view, it was a fun day... about 300 miles, good company, etc... Only glitch was Bob and Brenda Matzner 2000 S-type blowing a coolant hose forcing them to come back in rental courtesy of Jaguar while their car would be fixed. Nothing's perfect !

A big thank you to Phillys Chisholm of the Suncoast Jaguar Club for making this possible !

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These problems appear to be solved in Netscape 6.x .