The MK7 Jag is a heavy car and even in lightweight form is still a handful! Even the maestro here has found the limits of adhesion of Mr Bean's car. One excuse for involuntary spins is that the Dunlop racing tyres of the size required are only available in the old rubber compound which is far from sticky. In its day, perhaps surprisingly, the MK7 was a race winner until the MK2 turned up, and it did well in rallies too. Stirling Moss and others used to thrash these big cars around race tracks on DRUM BRAKES! My car is allowed to have front disc brakes for safety reasons. Even then we have had continuing problems with overheating and melting seals until the fitting of a revised design. So how did they achieve similar lap times in those early days? I can only put down to driver skill and asbestos. Modern drum brake linings seem to be made of cardboard and disintegrate at the slightest stress. Those drivers in the fifties were true heroes
2 comments:
I don't think many people now have any idea these big beasts ever existed..mores the pity.
I've just spotted, apart from the lettering on the shed roof (don't see much of that these days, unless it's 'Fox Food' on that pub on the A14) that it's a Wolseley Thingy in front. My father had one of these, complete with illuminated grille badge. He drove it straight into the side of a Midland Red bus and was slightly put out when I asked him if the little light had stayed on.
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