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| Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar XF | ||
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by David Finlay (25 Aug 08)
Ecurie Ecosse has two histories. In its current form, under the patronage of Hugh McCaig, it dates back to the 1980s, and has been involved with Chevron sports cars, Vauxhall Cavaliers (competing in the British Touring Car Championship with David Leslie, among others, at the wheel) and its own racer which won the C2 class of the 1986 World Sportscar Championship. The original Ecurie Ecosse was founded by Edinburgh businessman David Murray in 1952 and lasted until 1971. The team ran quite a variety of cars in that period too, but it's most famously associated with Jaguars, and it was with Jaguar D-Types that it won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in both 1956 and 1957. How appropriate, then, that the first Ecurie Ecosse road car should be a Jaguar. Hugh McCaig gave his permission for the team's name to be associated with the project, but the Ecosse XF was actually dreamed up in an accessory shop in Glasgow. That probably sounds strange, but it shouldn't, since Drivers Ltd - founded in 1985 by George Gibson - has a long history of creating show cars for manufacturers, dealers and audio companies. (It's also a pleasant surprise to discover that the company's current premises were formerly owned by Ninian Sanderson, who drove both the winning D-Type at Le Mans in 1956 and the car that finished second the following year.)
According to Gibson, when the XF was first announced, "we knew the tuners would have a go at it," and there seemed no reason why Drivers shouldn't become involved at an early stage. The result is the car shown here, and although it's the only one in existence right now - you may have seen it at the British International Motor Show earlier in the summer - Drivers is taking orders for replicas. |
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