77 RW at Geneva in 61

[Jukebag]

I'm sure this has been discussed at some before, but I was just wondering regarding the trip that Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis took to Geneva on the press launch with the E-Type.

I read somewhere that 77 RW (for those who don't know was the first roadster) was the E-Type that Dewis used to drive over to the Geneva show and meet the awaiting press. If 77 RW was driven there with Norman, then were are the photos of Norman with said E-Type?. From what I've seen on the net, in E-Type books and in TV documentaries, the E-Type/s photographed at Geneva were FHCs,and Norman isn't in any of them. Is it that these photos aren't in the public domain?.

[GiveItSomeWellie]

I believe the car was used for public demonstration runs around Geneva, so not actually in the hall itself.

Norman told some wonderful stories of all of the test drivers trying to beat each others times on the course, which lead to some very competitive driving with members of the public becoming increasingly nervous the faster they got throughout the day

[WJNB]

I assume Norman was too busy driving to take photographs on route.
The autocratic Sir William Lyon rudely dismissed him when he eventually arrived at Geneva complaining that he had arrived only just in time.
Dewis if he'd any sense probably just faffed off & left the knight to indulge in the photographic limelight.

[lowdrag]

77 RW, or chassis 850003, went to Geneva because the demands for test drives in 9600 HP, the coupé now belonging to Philip Porter, were too great. The actual car on display, 875005, a LHD coupé, stayed on display of course. So dear Norman (RIP) received a telephone call and was ordered to drive as fast as possible to Geneva with 77 RW to provide an extra car for demonstration purposes. I've had long chats with Norman about that drive and as always he was self-effacing, but I want you to imagine that he is at work at Coventry when he is called into the office and told he is leaving immediately for Geneva with 77 RW. They quickly stripped the timing equipment (used for press road tests) off the car, gave Norman his ferry ticket for 10pm, and had even been to his home to get Nan to pack a small travelling bag for him. So, Coventry to Dover, ferry over the water, and the long overnight slog to Geneva. Remember that there were no motorways in those days! He hit 200 miles of thick fog, but still arrived at Geneva at about 0930. And he was given no time to rest, taking the car for a check-over and new tyres before going straight out on demonstration runs. These demos turned into a competition when a Swiss arrived at the departure point with stop watches and told then that the Jaguar was the fastest of all the cars on the demo route. The news got around and the other drivers were all trying to beat the Jaguar times. As Norman says in his biography, two Alfas had gearbox changes and Mercedes problems too but the Jaguars took it all in their stride. I've owned my E-type for a long time now, ( been to Geneva with it a few times and done St Tropez to Le Mans overnight in 1994 before most motorways existed), and the headlights are dreadful, so I stand in utter amazement that Norman could have achieved the time he did.
He just shrugged it off as normal of course.

A little anecdote of my own concerning Norman; he was 90 when he sat at the wheel of my C-type for the first time, set off up the hill, and was seen to be casually opposite-locking it at the first bend. Five years later he was with us at Prescott and said he couldn't stay overnight as usual because he had to take his son to the hospital in the morning. He was a little wary of the drive though, because, as he confided to me over a pint, he only had four points left on his licence.

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 30th November 06:48

[P5BNij]

My Norman Dewis 'story' for what it's worth - a fleeting glimpse of him in the back of a Rolls Royce at the Hunningham Hill crossroads on the Fosse, a few minutes up the road from Wappenbury Hall, Sir William Lyon's family home!