"Name That Car" competition is at the end of this Newsletter!
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Ta Daaa Let’s hear it for El Presidente!
THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – SEPTEMBER 2007
If you have not participated in our club’s events, then you missed many opportunities to enjoy your Jaguar and have fun with friends. After catching our breath from hosting the JCNA AGM, your club offered a slalom, a tea, a rally and a “just for fun” car show to raise money for the Jaguars helping jaguars program. In addition to these events, many JCOH members have been busy participating in the 12th Annual Keels and Wheels, the Classy Chassis show and the “Ferrari Safari” Rally. Unfortunately, rainy weather prevented us from participating in an event with the Houston Polo Club. All in all, the JCOH calendar for 2007 has been filled with diverse events. If you haven’t heard, the club is active and the fun is back!
THE EYNON CHALLENGE REPORT
JCOH has accepted the challenge from JCNA President Dennis Enyon and intends to win this national competition. This section of my message for this newsletter is to report on our progress in the competition among the JCNA clubs and to ask for your help in our push to win. The winning club will be the club with the best overall improvement in six areas of competition.
The first area of competition is to increase the number of club members by a minimum of 10% over 2006. The official JCOH membership on 12/31/06 was 100 members. We currently have 111 members. You can help our club grow by asking Jaguar owners not in the club to join JCOH.
The second area of competition is to enlist at least 5 members in the Youth Enthusiast Program during 2007. If you know any Jaguar Lovers under the age of 25, ask them to join the club.
The third area of competition is to hold at least one 2007 event of a type never before held by your club. JCOH hosted the JCNA AGM (03/22/07 – 03/24/07).
The fourth area of competition is to increase the number of Jaguar participants at one of the club’s established JCNA sanctioned events by at least 10% over the number of 2006 participants. The numbers for the 2006 events and the 2007 events to date are below:
- 2006 Momentum Jaguar Rally (15 Participants/7 Jaguars)
- 2006 Concours d’Elegance (49 Participants/39 Jaguars)
- 2006 LoneStar Vintage Restoration Slalom (19 Participants/8 Jaguars)
- 2007 LoneStar Vintage Restoration Spring Slalom (16 Participants/9 Jaguars) (12%Increase!)
- 2007 Jaguar Land Rover Houston North Rally (10 Participants/7 Jaguars) (0% Increase)
- 2007 30th Anniversary Concours d’Elegance (___ Participants/___ Jaguars)
You can help by entering your Jaguar in our 30th Anniversary Concours d’Elegance on October 27, 2007!
The fifth area of the competition is to increase the exposure of your club to the community through local media, charity events and/or multi-marque car events. JCOH is again strong in this area of the competition. To date, the following articles have been published about JCOH members and/or JCOH activities:
Local/National/International Media:
Winter 2007 Roar Magazine “Driving Force” by Tim McGraw and Adam Schnitzler – an article about interaction and cooperation between Jaguar Clubs and Jaguar Dealerships – (Chris Goldsmith was one of the people interviewed by the authors)
April 2007 – The E Type Magazine “Texas Time Machine” by Paul McNabb – an article about Ebbe Christensen finding his Series I E Type Coupe
Charity Events:
GarageTown Texas Grand Opening Event Featuring Jaguars Helping Jaguars (06/02/07)
Multi-Marque Car Events:
- Track Event with Lotus Owners of South Texas @ the Houston Police Academy (03/03/07) (4 Jaguars participated)
- Ferrari Club Fun Rally – Hot Summer Nights VII – A Ferrari Safari (07/14/07) (2 JCOH teams/4 members attended)
The sixth and last area of competition is submission of proposed articles on the areas of competition to Jaguar Journal. This year, the following articles about JCOH members and JCOH activities have appeared in Jaguar Journal:
- JCOH Welcomes All to the Bayou City for the 2007 AGM – January/February 2007
- The November to Remember/JC Houston Hosts Five Events in 16 Days – January/February 2007
- An Invigorating AGM, But Still Some Questions – May/June 2007
- Getting Down to Business in Houston…With Some Fun on the Side – May/June 2007
- Why Every JCNA Club Should Work With Their Local Zoo – May/June 2007
- O’Quinn Collection Will Be in Museum – May/June 2007
- 2006 Fred Horner Award Goes to Dave Belanger – July/August 2007
- A Texas Sized Car Show for Charity – July/August 2007
THANK YOU AGAIN
A rally requires a rallymaster and check point workers. Our rallymaster for the Jaguar Land Rover Houston North Rally was Dave Belanger. Our check point workers were Dave Belanger, Merilee Belanger, Sandy Rhodes and Clay Ownby. Please remember to thank them for their work making the rally a success the next time you see them.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED/HELP WANTED
We never have a surplus of volunteers to help organize and manage events. If you are willing to help during our Concours d’Elegance, contact either Patrick McLoad or Ebbe Christensen. We need a minimum of fifteen volunteers for this event.
FEEDBACK WELCOME
As club President, I am always available to listen to new ideas and I will always listen to any concerns about the club. I hope you will consider attending a Monthly Meeting, as these meetings are where future events are planned. If you cannot attend a monthly meeting, then contact me by phone or e mail. Our club exists to serve the membership.
— Chris
Houston Driving Events Dodge Rain and Competing Events
by Dave Belanger
Even the forecasters can't accurately predict what the weather will be two days out, so scheduling an event in Houston is a matter of picking a date and praying. Those who were at the JCNA AGM in Houston may have noticed that we used up a lot of our credit with the weather gods for that weekend, but we still had enough left to present two more driving events. After that, our luck ran out, and it rained almost daily through the middle of August.
On April 21, despite threatening skies and strong competition from the Houston Grand Prix and the auction of a major Texas collection, 16 competitors assembled in the parking lot of Sam Houston Race Park for the club's second slalom sponsored by Lone Star Vintage Restoration. Half of the cars were Jaguars, and the turnout was only three cars less than in 2006.
'The First Lone Star Restoration Slalom,
these guys sound like trailer-queen builders
but they are drivers and they are great at their
day jobs" |
Alas, as happened last year, the fastest car around t he circuit was not a Jaguar but a Caterham. The Lotus Owners of South Texas (L.O.S.T) dominated, taking first and second overall with times of 43.629 (Paul Kwan) and 43.868 (Les Albin). Robbie Duthu, after a mechanical failure in 2006, drove a '65 Mustang fastback into 3rd, ahead of his brother, with a time of 44.614. David Duthu, who had led the field with a 40.56 last year in his Lotus Seven, was the fastest Jaguar with a modified XK120M at 45.441. 2nd and 3rd place Jaguars were a pair of XKRs driven by Terese Verklan (48.642) and Eric Jandik (48.842).
After the official runs were in the books, the club left the cones up and the timers operational for anyone who wanted to practice for JCOH's planned fall slalom.
To listen to the "Slalom Sound Bite", click here.
Within four hours, all managed to arrive at the sixth and final check point, although a few teams engaged in some off-course sightseeing. Despite comments of "This was a lot harder than last year" and "You really had to watch the signs carefully," there were only 9 "Max" scores (300 Points) on the 60 scored legs. Everyone commented favorably on the winding and wooded road s in northwest Houston.
In a repeat of 2006, first place with a score of 337 went to Bill Davis and Brian Blackwell in an '86 XJ6. Second went to Pat Phillips and Chris Goldsmith in a silver '74 E-Type Roadster with 516, and third was claimed by JCOH members Tom and Dani Ostrowski in a Mustang with 625 points. The winners of the coveted Stray Cat award, and we understand, the losers of a bet involving margaritas, were Peter Ferrer and Chuck Rhodes in an XJR. Their score is not mentioned because Chuck has promised to do better, but the way that they missed a checkpoint was so ingenious that we couldn't have thought of a better trap if we had tried!
After everyone checked in at El Rancho Grande Mexican restaurant near Tomball, most stayed for nachos, margaritas, and a rehashing of rally stories. Results were e-mailed two days later after careful verification of the scores.
One of the truly remarkable feats was that JCOH managed to run 6 checkpoints with only four workers. This involved some very creative logistics on the part of the rally planners (Dave and his wife, Marilee) and illustrated the need for any club contemplating such an event to put at least as much effort into finding checkpoint workers as recruiting participants.
Some inane rambling by the Lack of Communication Officer, Pat Phillips.
Introduction
Well another enormous amount of time has elapsed since my last News letter, what has happened? I hear you call! Well all sorts really, now that Kitty is almost there I fell into the same mode of behavior as Patrick (Venus in Blue paint) and Ebbe (Troll with S1 Coupe), the Welshman buy’s a Triumph TR4 (Thought this was a Jaguar club?). We have news from our guy’s who recently attended The Goodwood Revival they also visited Browns Lane or what is left of it and have sent us this picture of the XJ13, for me a terrible missed opportunity by Jaguar. If this car had raced and a form of it had gone into production I wonder if today Jaguar would rival Ferrari?
For those of you interested in Boy Bands I apologize for the line up behind the car, I understand they are available but not cheap!
The only one ever built! A prototype V-12 engine (Four Cam) that was later developed into the famous 5.3L V-12 that was introduced in the series 3 E-Type in March of '71. This picture was Taken at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust next to the Browns Lane factory in Coventry, England on 9/4/07.
Mike, Chuck, Ebbe, and Patrick from the Jaguar Club of Houston, not to be confused with Los Lonely Boy’s, Boyz 2 Men, Police or any others that don’t come to mind.
Police Academy Track Day
A fantastic day we joined the Lotus Club of South Texas at the Police academy in North Houston near the Big Airport. Lotus were out in force and the Elise was their choice of car along with one Lotus 7. The usual culprits from JCOH turned out.
Garage town event
The Garage town event was very well attended, several of the club traveling from the other side of town. Several of the cars were brought in trailers but there were a number of Red Headed step children who, I am not sure I should say this but, they drove their cars! I know how this sounds but it seems to be a trend that is catching on.
Keith Owen with an Autographed poster From Keels & Wheels. Autographed by Sir Sterling Moss and Carol Shelby.
The Pres (Chris Goldsmith) Flanked by two lovely Ladies (Tracey Goldsmith and Lona Leigh) Lona (A Director at Houston Zoo) has developed a relationship with the Club through several events involving the Jaguars at Houston Zoo.
One of the Red Headed Step children with Joe Foster of RICHBROOK, Joe is one of the sponsors of the event his company RICHBROOK make the excellent fitting car covers for many Marques of cars including Jaguar & Ferrari.
Patrick McLoud receiving his award for least tire wear or something.
This is a lovely XK150 S provided by the John O’Quinn collection, but it had a lot of interest beyond its fantastic lines. There, on the Drivers door (American spec) is a silver insignia, having an instant Welshman (just add wine) in the team he immediately bored people to death explaining That it was that of a British Regiment associated with the Prince of Wales (you know the one, Likes architecture and used to be married to a Total babe), Well anyway after some research I discover the regiment is the 9th/12th Royal Lancers. Perhaps I should have kept this for the ‘Spot the Car” competition!
The spectacular turnout of Ferrari’s, this of course is the Enzo.
All the Garages were blessed by Thoroughbred sports cars.
Now we have a real challenge, Name the make, model and year!
Now we are getting exotic, no more “Spot the Bolt” and know what car should it be attached to; this time you have the whole car.
First to email communications@jcoh.cc will have the bragging rights
Good Luck Patrick, but I think I have you this time!!
