C-Type Abuse
On the E-Type mailing list, “the Flying Dutchman” pointed out this article, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph:
How might you react if, on prime-time television, you saw the Mona Lisa awash with slops as a result of being used as a tea-tray, or one of those epochal Harrison chronometers from the Greenwich Maritime Museum being tumbled down a staircase? Pretty much the same, one suspects, as genuine car lovers reacted on June 1 when BBC TV’s Top Gear saw fit to abuse and damage the 1953 Le Mans-winning Lightweight C-type Jaguar for the cameras.
One of the show’s two professional test drivers, who are dressed from head to toe in black and only ever referred to as “The Stig” (in this case Perry McCarthy, useful journeyman racer, failed F1 aspirant, author of an entertainingly frank racer’s autobiography), took the car to the far side of Dunsfold aerodrome (the programme’s Surrey base), well away from its unsuspecting owner, then burned out the rear tyres, twisted the drive-shafts and destroyed the clutch in televised sequences of over-revving “doughnut” spins and getaways. Absolutely not the use for which the car had ever been designed, or which any modern-day guardian of such an iconic museum piece would have expected — unless he was familiar with Top Gear and its customary standards.
TV programme production groups and racing teams have much in common. If they’re together for a while, they develop customs, practices and standards uniquely acceptable to themselves, and despite inevitable internal frictions they instinctively unite against outside assault. Sadly, some unite in mutual, uncomprehending ignorance.
Old “053″ has been owned and preserved for years by Duncan’s son Adrian, a former merchant navy officer turned purveyor of high-quality classic cars. With a special place in motor-racing history, his dad’s car is much sought-after for display and demonstration (as at Le Mans this weekend) and was created for one purpose — to win the 1953 race. The accomplished engineers who created it would be bouncing off the rev-limiter in their graves if they’d seen the Beeb abusing the old lady so. Worse, there is serious doubt that the Top Gear team has any appreciation whatsoever that such treatment was at best unacceptable, at worst despicable.
Philistines at the gate, indeed. DN
What, are these guys 14 years old? I’ve enjoyed a number of clips from the show but when entrusted with a one-of-a-kind artifact, you take care–let alone damage a car which is an important part of Jaguar lore.
