After a long winter break, we were eager to get back on the racetrack again, kicking off our 2025 race season at the 82nd Goodwood Members Meeting, taking place on the 12th and 13th of April 2025. Our Managing Director at P&K Thornton, Ciprian Nistorica (Cip), is a Goodwood member and received an invitation to this exclusive event back around January time. We are thrilled to be bringing our 1961 Jaguar E-Type back to the Goodwood Members Meetings after it has previously competed at the 72nd and 74th meetings, shown in the 2 photos below. This iconic event is known for its exclusivity and rich racing heritage. This marked a special milestone for us because this year is the first year our Managing Director, Cip, has raced at this event.

We began preparing our E-Type for the race over the winter period, completing a wide variety of performance upgrades to our Jaguar. This includes an engine rebuild with a new cylinder head, brakes and suspension rebuild, as well as installing a blast cage and so much more. Two weeks before the members' meeting, we attended the official Goodwood testing race, available to all the participants. This event went well and everything ran smoothly; we only made a couple of small adjustments to improve the reliability and performance of our Jaguar E-Type.

On the Friday when the team arrived, they went through a very in-depth scrutineering session. All the other participants went through the same process, which is designed to equal the playing field and to check for any discrepancies compared to how our Jaguar should be running following the FIA regulations. This session went well for us; we received no penalties and were completely compliant with the regulations. However, although we passed with no issues, some teams weren’t so fortunate.

During Saturday’s qualifying session, we ran into unexpected trouble. Despite extensive prep, the car experienced a power delivery issue, preventing it from reaching its full potential. Although we later traced the fault and resolved it, this still had an impact on our score in the qualifiers. We qualified towards the middle of the pack with a lot to play for. We were highly motivated to perform well in the race. This race is only 25 minutes long, a relatively short race in comparison to the long endurance races we have been competing in; therefore, every second counts.

On Sunday, we began the race well, moving up some positions on the leaderboard. However, disaster struck after the first corner when the drive began cutting on and off, making our E-Type undrivable. This was later diagnosed as an electrical issue, which made the power cut in and out. Not much could be done about this at the time, therefore, Cip carried on competing in the race, determined to still perform well and complete the race, despite the issue getting worse after each lap. During the final moments of the race, it was suspended due to an incident on the track as another competitor collided with the Chicane. The collision left debris on the track and Cip was following closely behind. This led to us getting a puncture, finishing the race under the red flag. Despite the setbacks, we finished the race and kept our perfect record of completing every race from start to finish intact. It was unusual for us to experience reliability issues, which we are currently working on resolving before our next race.

Overall, the event was an unforgettable experience with an amazing atmosphere. We enjoyed speaking to everyone about our Jaguar E-Type, who were impressed by what we do, how we prepared our race E-Type and what we managed to achieve at our races last year. We also competed at the Donington Historic Festival last week and we are currently preparing for our next race at Silverstone GT & SCC on the 31st of May. You can also keep up to date with our racing adventures on our social media.

Our team have a vast wealth of experience in preparing and supporting race-prepared classic Jaguars, from the sleek E-Type to the legendary XK. With a wide range of services to support your racing endeavours, including classic car race preparation, track support, race engineering and of course, classic car transportation and logistics. If you are interested in booking our racing services, please get in touch. Call us on 0115 9262266 or email us at info@thorntonrestorations.com.