Jaguar Mini Miglia

Ahead of the real thing later this month, PH joins Jaguar in Scotland for a very special shakedown

There are few motoring events more glamorous than the Mille Miglia. Even if the modern classic car tour is not quite the flat-out dash it was in the 1950s, it still attracts many of the best pre-1957 sports and racing cars. Among them are many Jaguars and PH managed to duck under the VIP red rope to join Jag's official entry line-up for some pre-event testing in Scotland.

While the rain and chill bears little resemblance to the sun of the Brescia-Rome-Brescia loop, the Scottish roads are not so different. Jaguar intends to expand its so-called 'Mini Miglia' into a bigger classic car tour next year so to add authenticity there were timed regularity sections, road books with Tulip diagrams and plenty of calculations needed on the hoof to make your timing marks.

Perfect car for the trip!

Mini adventure
While speed is not the be-all and end-all of this type of rallying, it helps to have a car with good performance should you be held up by, say, a herd of Highland cows. For the Mini Miglia, I was extremely privileged to be handed the keys to Trevor Groom's immaculate powder blue XK140 Drophead Coupe.

While it may look like other XK140s, which are delicately pretty, Trevor's has more purpose than just having the bumpers removed and some event stickers added. Early in its life TAC 743 was raced extensively by David Hobbs, who later competed at Le Mans and in Formula 1 as well as being involved with Jaguar's XJ13 project.

Hobbs improved the car with XK150 brakes, cylinder head and carburettors. He also fitted a Mechamatic gearbox of his own design that was essentially an early sequential manual. It was in this form it had a big crash at Oulton Park in 1960, after which the car continued for the rest of the season before ending up with Jack Tindell. He commissioned Freddie Owen to design an aerodynamic alloy body with more than a hint of E-Type coupe to its lines.

The car was then raced and driven regularly before it fell into disuse and was eventually bought by Trevor Groom, who is a noted expert in XK circles. Trevor restored and raced the car in its Owen-bodied form before deciding to return it to the earlier XK140 body in around 2006 and it remains in this specification today.

Easy does it

Timed regularity sections require careful calculations

Thanks goodness for a smaller wheel as there's little space between it and my thighs. The driving position also places legs nearly straight out in front, so it's not the most natural position at first. Add in Trevor's caution about how heavy the clutch is, plus the need to keep an eye on the water temperature, and it's a slightly nervous initiation to rallying a Jaguar XK.

Respect for such an important racing car meant taking it gently at first, but the four-speed manual gearbox is better with a firm hand. This one's helped by synchromesh on all four ratios and the clutch is much more progressive than I'd feared, though Trevor's words about its weight are true.

On the move, the 3.4-litre XK engine has a note that builds from woof to bark as the revs rise surprisingly quickly. Keeping pace with modern traffic is all too simple and it's easy to be suckered into dicing with faster traffic. The only thing to temper this are the brakes, which need a definite, hefty shove yet are still merely adequate compared to a modern car's.

No matter, the engine works just as well as a brake for most of the flowing roads and the unassisted, direct steering is devoid of kickback on these undulating and sometimes pitted roads.

Definitely not Rome. Or Brescia

The regularity sections are made a whole lot easier by co-driver Stuart Dyble's spot-on arithmetic and instructions about speed. While maintaining a relatively low speed might not sound very sporting, it's a challenge to make sure we hit our time checks to the exact second, which is how the Mille Miglia is now run.

Arriving at Inveraray Castle in convoy with XK120s, C- and D-Types plus a glorious Mk7 saloon, TAC 743 has proved the perfect introduction to classic road rallying. It's comfortably quick enough, the rear-drive handling is secure and, handily, the roof is completely watertight - it's just a pity I have to return it rather than heading down to Italy for the Mille Miglia proper!