New developments in our racing journey– August 2025

After competing at the 82nd Goodwood Members Meeting, the Donington Historic Festival MRL Pall Mall Cup and the GT & SCC Silverstone International Trophy earlier in the year. We are returning to the racetrack soon to compete again in the Spa Six Hours with a new engine under our hood, to ensure our Jaguar E-Type is more reliable going into the Spa Six Hours race.

Following on from our success in the 2024 race season, all of us at P&K Thornton Restorations are preparing for the final races in the 2025 race season. To recap this year’s events, our first race was the 82nd Goodwood Members Meeting, taking place on the 12th and 13th of April. On Saturday, we completed the qualifiers before participating in the 25-minute race on Sunday. We finished under the red flag after another driver collided with the Chicane.

Just a couple of weeks after the Goodwood Members Meeting, we competed in the Donington Historic Festival. We competed in two races, the Motor Racing Legends Pre-63 GT 1-hour race and the Motor Racing Legends Pall Mall Cup 2-hour race. After qualifying 8th out of 16 in the Pre-63 and 16th out of 25 for the Pall Mall Cup, we performed well, finishing the Pre-63 in 8th overall. After a fast turnaround time for the Pall Mall Cup, we managed to finish 17th overall and 1st in our class. Additionally, later in May, we also participated in the GT&SCC Silverstone International Trophy, a race held on May 31st. We competed in the 2-hour race and in the Pre-63 GT class; however, due to a technical issue, we weren’t able to complete the race.

To ensure the E-Type is performing at its best, we have upgraded to a new engine. The new engine, built by Tom Barclay, is currently being installed in our 1961 Jaguar E-Type. We are looking forward to having this Jaguar back on the track at the Spa Six Hour race, taking place between the 25th and 27th of September. This event had a spectacular atmosphere last year with great results for the P&K Thornton team, finishing first in our class (GTS7) and in the 41st position out of 81 overall. Our new engine was built for reliability and for an upgrade in power; therefore, with last year’s strong performance as our benchmark, we are optimistic about achieving even better results this time around.

Our last race of the season is the Motor Racing Legends Silverstone Pall Mall Cup, taking place between the 18th and 19th of October. Our managing director at P&K Thornton Restorations, Ciprian, will be driving our 1961 Jaguar E-Type and the notorious Jag 400 MK2 along with the legendary driver, Grant Williams. We will keep you up to date with our racing adventures through our news feed page on the P&K Thornton website and our social media channels.

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.

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