A 1961, Jaguar E-Type, Series 1, One of the original 7 factory competition cars (Ex Tommy Sopwith), on display at the 2021 London Classic Car Show
Thomas Sopwith was the son of English aviation pioneer and yachtsman Sir Thomas Sopwith – builder of the Sopwith Camel and later chairman of Hawker Aircraft – and Phyllis Brodie. He was educated at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire. His success as a racing driver saw him win the first-ever round of the British Saloon Car Championship in 1958. That year he narrowly lost out on the driver's title to Jack Sears after a ten lap shoot-out at the end of the season, after the two drivers finished on equal points. In 1961 he switched from car to powerboat racing. In 1965 he won the Cornish "100" Offshore Class 3, powerboat race in a boat called 'Thunderflash', just beating Mike Beard in 'Mongaso'. One of the original 7 factory competition cars (chassis 18) – sister car to the legendary ECD400 (Graham Hill Equipe Endeavor car that took first ever E-type victory) The first run of 7 factory competition cars were known as ‘ZP’ prototypes and are regarded as the most important E-types other than lightweights. This car (chassis 850018) was Lofty England’s personal car, then sold to Equipe Endeavor/Tommy Sopwith who’s number 1 driver Mike Parks used it to and from race tracks. It was the same spec as the full race cars. In recent years the car has raced at Revival and is eligible for many other of the world’s greatest events,
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Syon Park, Brentford, Middx TW8 8JF
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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