Well, cool but a bit long and tenuous!

Though I live in Virginia, I was born in Scotland of Scottish parents, who are both in their 80's now. Ian Callum, the F-Type designer (and Design Director for Jaguar Cars) as everyone probably knows is also a Scotsman.

The racing history of Jaguar cars includes 7 Le Mans wins over the years, and that number is why the recent limited edition F-Type is called the Project 7. One variant of the Project 7 cars is the Ultra Blue one:




and it looks the way it does (that white stripe, the blue color) because its ancestors were blue D-Types that won Le Mans in the 1950's. They were actually painted a shade of blue (not Ultra Blue) called Flag Blue, the flag in question being the Scottish Saltire (which also forms part of the British Union Flag if you look closely) - also has the white stripe element too.



The reason they were Scottish Flag blue is because the racing team that ran the D-Types was Scottish, and called Ecurie Ecosse (Team Scotland), and they ran a number of Jags at the time, transporting them in a specially built transporter:



In the 1950's the team took up residence (garage space) in an unimposing location on a cobbled street in Edinburgh called Merchiston Mews.




which rang a bell with me - way back then my grandparents and my mother lived on a street called Merchiston Crescent, which is literally a 10min walk from the Ecurie Ecosse garage:





so I was thinking - wonder if my mother saw or was aware of this Scottish racing team that was literally around the corner from where she lived. So I asked her, and she said...

NO! (I was like, how could you NOT know? They won Le Mans??)

She said - "Well, I never saw them there, but..."

but what?

Well, back in 1945 I went with my Mum and Dad on holiday to Cullen in Banffshire to a small hotel called "The Wakes". It was owned by a Mrs Lawrence. Her niece from Stirling was visiting for the holidays and as Mrs Lawrence didn't know what to do with her, she thought she might hang around with me and we became friends which has lasted through the years. Betty did nursing at Edinburgh Royal and got married in 1963 (you and your brother were dumped on your grandparents while we went to the wedding) and went to live in South Africa.

Mrs Lawrence had two sons - John and James. The older one, John ran a garage in Cullen, James did medicine and I think became a GP somewhere on Speyside.

John was daft about cars and racing and he became a driver for Ecurie Ecosse. When I was there (in Cullen) in the late fifties, Ecurie Ecosse had just won Le Mans for the second time and John was in the car which came second with Ninian Sanderson - Ron Flockhart was first with someone else. (Sanderson and Flockhart had won the year before.) Lo and behold Ninian Sanderson appeared at "The Wakes" to stay.

A few years later I heard from Betty that John had more or less bankrupted his Mother who kept him going with the racing. He gave it up and went to live in New Zealand. End of story!!!

So, my mother's good friend that she has known for 70 years was the cousin of one of the drivers (John aka Jock Lawrence) of the #2 Jaguar D-Type that came second in Le Mans in 1957 (second only to the other Ecurie Ecosse D-Type - they got 1st and 2nd in 1957), and she met his co-driver, Ninian Sanderson at Jock's mother's hotel and HE previously drove the D-Type that WON Le Mans in 1956!

and I never knew until I asked her last week.

 

Forgot to say - Ecurie Ecosse went bust and resurrected a couple of times since then (currently racing Astons and BMWs), but you can get the team badge sticker for your Sapphire F-Type (or heck, any F-Type) from them - stick 'em on the door under the mirror! Only you will ever know what it is....





Merchandise : Ecurie Ecosse: British GT and Blancpain Endurance Series

 

That was a terrific story! Thanks for sharing that.

 

+1. Fantastic story.

 

Awesome story! I love hearing small world scenario stories, especially when it comes to Jags

 

That's a great story. What a beautiful blue colour for the Project 7.

 

Great Story...now I am kind of sorry ordered mine in BRG.

 

I just ordered the 'jumper' off the website.
Lawrence

 

Don't be, there were plenty of BRG D-Types as well, including the one that won (otherwise horrific) 1955 Le Mans. I used to see a BRG one from time to time around the villages in Buckinghamshire, England back in the 80's - I guess they took it for a spin from time to time.

 

FWIW, there was an 'Ecurie Ecosse' edition of the XF a few years back made by a third party:





Jaguar XF by Ecurie Ecosse

 

BITE THY Tongue.

We have the most elegant color of the lot. You will lose your mind when you see it. It's moody. It's about 5 colors... it has emotions. =)

That was the best story. Share that in more places! Or I will on reddit, etc.

It would be incredibly neat if we could find someone that could put together a history or arcana and minutia, along with a little store to buy fun old history or recreations like that Ecurie Ecosse site!

 

This is such a cool story.

My F-Type in dark sapphire now sports Ecurie Ecosse emblem (on a rear side window).

 

Awesome story indeed! Just bought a sticker too.

 

I need to get me one of those car haulers. Too cool.

 

These stories are truly one of those rare treats of the internet. Some people spend a LOT of time compiling concise stories with pics on reddit and imgur about various stuff, and it's always very cool to learn about stuff outside your interests... so it's even cooler to learn about things you are passionate about. But back to the BRG...

If there's a story for blue decals, there might be one for BRG? Anyone know history of BRG that could lead to a cool sticker, let me know! =)

 

Thank you for sharing this story! I am James Lawrence’s grandaughter. 1st daughter to his 4th child. Reading your story was the first I had ever heard of great uncle John’s success or involvement with Ecurie Ecosse.
John was not talked about much in my family.
My father, was also christined James Martin Lawrence (and now goes by Martin formally; to avoid having 2 Jimmys in the family), he was one of 5 children between James and Margaret. They lived in Aberlour, Banffshire. You are right, he was the local GP. He sadly is in the nursing home now, but he is still well.
I don’t remember spending much time with my grandad till he retired, so conversation was quite low on the family history front. I’m sure my Dad or uncles may know more.
I think John was somewhat of an ‘eccentric’ character, that put his mother through a fair bit of financial trouble.
I am so pleased to know a little bit more about him. Hearing you speak of Cullen and Edinburgh gave me goosebumps. I loved visiting Cullen for the BEST ice cream Scotland has, which is a few doors from my grandads home - I am guessing this might be ‘The Wakes’ you were talking of.
Amazingly I also went to Napier University to study Architecture and Design, and knew NOTHING of the history that lay a few streets away. How sad.
My uncle Duncan (eldest son, of 5 children by James and Margaret) still lives 5 mins up the road in the gorgeous Morningside area of Edinburgh.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Mairi x

 

Kinda cool? That story is very cool! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if we have any neat Welsh racing team stories.....

 

This is so WOW & now the relative chiming in for yet another connection. Super cool!

 

 

I rate stories on the scale of you're a sick mind, not cool, kinda cool, very cool, and way cool. To me this story was WAY cool.