Well, after my road trip in the alps got such a positive response, I thought I'd post another of my adventures with my X350. There's still plenty more to come if people are interested: my Jag is a rather well travelled one!

From the moment I started driving, I've always wanted to go on a road trip to Le Mans, and in 2014, we finally decided to do it. We asked around, and ended up with a total of six people, which would be spread between the two cars.

We're all Pistonheads members, and have read the Le Mans threads every year, drooling over both the race cars, and the "artistic creations" of those who decide to sticker up their own vehicles for the weekend.

Many hours were spent on Facebook deciding a theme, and we eventually settled on John Prescott (not a sentence I ever thought I'd type in my lifetime!). Why John Prescott? Well, we were taking two Jags - James's silver S Type and my black XJ, so it seemed the obvious choice.

The stickers were soon ordered and being printed, just as James's car decided to punish him for not checking the oil (or lack thereof) before he bought it. This resulted in catastrophic engine failure, and a bill for several times the value of the car.

However, James wasn't disheartened and immediately went out to buy another Jag so that we could stick with the Prescott theme: £1000 got him a solid XJ8, and Team Prescott was once again ready for Le Mans.

We decided to meet on the M2 services at 7:30am. This was the first time I'd seen both the cars stickered up together, and I was very impressed - they looked hilarious.



Once we reached Dover, it became apparent that nearly everyone there was going to Le Mans. There was plenty of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other exotica, but these two were definitely the best of the bunch. The "Le Mans fun police" even had flashing blue lights and a megaphone!





On the ferry, we discussed our plans for the drive to Le Mans. After hearing many horror stories of the Gendarmes confiscating vehicles and issuing huge fines, we decided to stick to the speed limit. Having driven in France several times before, I knew I would struggle to resist the temptation of the wide, clear and perfectly smooth toll roads, but I told myself that this time, it'd be different. This lasted for at least 10 minutes, until a 911 and A5 blasted past us, chasing what appeared to be two Dutchmen in a white convertible mini. Obviously, I had to find out what kind of mini could possibly achieve such speeds, which in turn meant finding out what kind of fully loaded XJ could keep up with it. Turned out the Mini was a JCW, but we couldn't find out any more details as the 911 overtook him, and the Mini used a downhill section to reach a speed which would almost certainly get him thrown in jail. So, I backed off (a bit).

Driving in such a manner meant this happened an awful lot



We'd planned on averaging high 20s/low 30s for the journey down, but instead we just scraped over 20MPG. That wasn't so much of a problem though, as the fuel stops were all part of the fun, with everyone looking around each other's cars and laughing at our stickers.

We got to the camp site with plenty of time to spare, set up the tent, and begun to make a dent in the 100+ bottles of alcohol we'd brought with us. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same, but we didn't see any of the drunken antics we'd been warned about.



The next day, we met up with some other Pistonheads members in a field near the circuit. There were some beautiful cars in attendance and we felt a bit outclassed.....








..... by most cars, at least



Afterwards, we went down to the track before the racing started



And bumped into a photographer who offered to take some official Team Prescott photos



Then, at last, we went to watch some racing








Which was absolutely incredible! I've been to a lot of motorsport events over the years, but nothing prepared me for the sheer power and noise produced by these cars. The atmosphere is fantastic as well: it's really quite unlike anywhere else I've ever been.

So, if anyone on here is thinking of going, I can very highly recommend it. Indeed, I was tempted to go again this year, but I've decided to explore various other places over the next few months (with my Jaguar, naturally), and I'll be sure to post some photos of my trips when I've got the time.

Cheers!

 

geekman,

Another outstanding adventure report! I was just managing to keep my jealousy in check until I saw the view of the second Ford chicane just before the start/finish line. Wow! That must have been incredible to experience live.

Thanks for taking the time to share your adventures with us!

Cheers,

Don

 

What comes over very clearly from your photos, apart from the obvious enthusiasm of the participants, is the much larger physical size of the X350 compared to the previous model. The X350 really is a lot bigger than the previous XJs, although actually lighter due to the aluminium construction.

 

I must agree. My XJ8L recently sat alongside one of my bothers many Jags; a 1984 Series III XJ6, and it looked for all the world like someone put a hose in there and pumped up his car. One of the reasons I lean toward LWB X350's is the proportions keep it from looking quite so tall, and proportionally it works, but overall you end up with a hell of a lot of car, even if a LWB is claimed to be some really small number of lbs./kilos over a SWB. A number under 70 lbs. I recall. Its interesting that Jaguar uses a portion of that weight savings to add luxury and options back with less overall weight than its competitors.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone

The size difference between the X308 and the X350 is indeed very noticeable. My friend, the X308 driver, said he much preferred the looks of the X308 for that reason - personally, I think the X350 hits the sweet spot of looking a lot more up to date than the X308 but without losing the classic lines. But we would say that, wouldn't we!