Le Mans Classic 2014

[Forumadmin]

3m46sec into this videothere is a brief glimpse of Richard Gane's blue jup.

[Forumadmin]

There is a report of the event here. The Jups were in Plateau 2. The results are linked from the report but can be found in two parts. The first are the scratch results and the second are modified results based on a performance index.

The perfomance index results
..................................................................... RACE 1 ......RACE 2.... RACE 3 Index ....... Gap
29 59 R. WHITESIDE / R. THORNE JOWETT Jupiter - 1953 ..47'50.250 41'34.197 39'50.119 2:09'14.567 38'58.381
50 65 R. GANE / J. ARNOLD JOWETT Jupiter - 1953 ...... 1:18'48.146 36'40.626 36'32.798 2:32'01.571 1:01'45.385

The scratch results.
32 59 R. WHITESIDE / R. THORNE JOWETT Jupiter - 1953 6 47:19.834 5 45:47.190 5 50:54.508 16 2:24:01.532 6 Laps
54 65 R. GANE / J. ARNOLD JOWETT Jupiter - 1953 ...... 0 57:00.000 6 47:23.642 6 53:44.704 12 2:38:08.346 10 Laps


Due to a petrol pump wiring failure in race 1, car 65 (Richard Gane/John Arnold) dropped down the order. During the other two races car 65 with a Dave Harris prepared engine was well ahead of car 59 (Roger Whiteside/Richard Thorne) which was still running in having only put the Dennis Sparrow prepared engine in a couple of weeks before.

Of note is that our local hero from Classic Autos , Nick Finberg, won scratch overall in his C type Jag.

[Keith Clements]

A look at the extensive results shows that during race 1 Richard managed a lap time of 6:24 which works out at 128kph average. That is 79.5 mph which compares to the 71.9 mph averaged over 24hrs by the Jup in 1951. Now the circuit has changed a few times since then and probably is slower with a few more chicanes. You can see the difference by going to here.
I have not been able to find fastest lap times or fastest lap speeds for that period or even top speed data, but it really does show how amazing it was to get a Jowett to run for 24 hrs and do such a high average on what was a very limited budget and without the benefit of modern technology and knowledge.

Richard and Dave have spent a lot of time and money getting the Jup to where it is and hope to get a bit more out of it. So come and see them at Oulton Park on 23/24 August.

[Keith Clements]

Richard Gane invited me to go with the Jowett Racing team to the Le Mans Classic. On Tuesday evening Richard picked me up and we set off towing the race car trailer with its impressive artwork. Following was race engineer Dave Harris and Penny in their Alfa. We met up with Steve Kirby and his motorhome at Dover the following morning after an overnight in Ashford and a few pints of Hooke Norton beer.

We did some transfer of weight including me from the tow van to the motorhome because the back of the VW was sitting low. We had to beware of the illegal immigrants around Sangatte whilst doing this.

There was a long wait to get into the camp site, but tents were put up and then off to have a good meal at the Buffalo Grill.

Scrutineering was a breeze, much easier than trying to get the car's FIA papers that had required modifications to appearance.

Qualifying practice was dry with Richard taking the first stint and managing to get a fantastic 6:32 lap, before John Arnold took over driving. John did not manage a lap before the practice was red flagged (stopped). Richard reported the accurate speedo and rev counter showed topping 120mph(5950rpm) down the Mulsane straight.

During night practice John reported a misfiring on coming in for driver changeover. Richard only managed a kilometre before the car stopped. Towed back to the pits , investigation ensued and, when started up, petrol poured out of the carburettor bango. Quickly fixed we went back for a couple of hours sleep.

It was amazing to see the Jup so high up on the grid (44th out of 78) ahead of many Healeys, XK120s, Triumph TR2 and some Jaguar C types.

The first race was a Le Mans start with Richard leaving the car in 1st gear and managing to overtake 8 cars at the start. Richard only managed to do 2 laps (but was going extremely well) before stopping in exactly the same place. Back in the pits Dave changed the suspect electronic petrol pump, but it was not this but the circuit going to it. So that circuit was bypassed with a wire direct to the battery through a switch.

The second race was at night and the track was wet but John Arnold was overtaking everything in sight, until the first chicane on Mulsane where he took the escape road, turned round and managed to get through a gap in the bales and back onto the track. He proceeded to catch back up noticing how slippery it was on the Ford chicane before the pits. He had managed to split the Frazer Nash and the Porsche 356 by overtaking coming out of the corners. He also got the Ace Bristol under braking into the Mulsane chicane. It was amazing to see the Jupiter beating the old rival the Porsche 356 after a 2 lap dice, but also beating a handful of XK 120 and 140s coming 32nd scratch and 21st after performance index adjustment in a field of 78.

The third race was extremely wet with Richard having to sit in the car in the holding area whilst a thunderstorm filled the car. The track had a lot of deep standing water so two laps were under safety car. Shall we say it took a lot of balls to keep up with the safety car at 100mph on a track with standing water! Anyhow the Jupiters performed well even though Dave was fretting he had not put water repellent on the car before the race. A quick squirt at driver changeover made him happier. I was doing pit board and timing which was a challenge as cars had to come in for driver change within 30 minutes and had to spend 90 seconds in the pit lane. This was not easy when two of the laps were under safety car and laps were slower than expected, now around 7:45. But the experienced drivers made the right decision and came in without seeing the pit board. Luckily I predicted this and got the changeover crew in place, although the driver had difficulty seeing our pit in the rain. The Gane Jup finished 21st on the same lap as the winner and almost a lap (over 7 minutes ahead of the Thorne Jup) in Race 3 but because of the failure in Race 1 was below in classification.

[Forumadmin]

A few more pics in Gallery provided by Noel Stokoe.

This one I like...

[Keith Clements]

Just to show you how wet it was, and this was when it cleared up!

A nice piece of kit. Although not original.