The 7.0-litre “Marmite” E-type preparing for the RAC TT Celebration

The paddocks during Test Days are always bustling with excitement. An open-air amphitheatre scented with fuel and frequently filled with the elegant, high-pitched scream of straight-six Jaguar E-types preparing for the RAC TT Celebration. It’s civilised; period correct. Then the Egal roars into life.

As Mowlem warns: “If you go and stand next to it when it gets fired up, you better have your fingers in your ears – it was literally deafening.” Grimes, who also owns the car, chuckled, entirely unapologetic about the acoustic assault. “Noise is something the car does very well – it’s almost theatre at its finest.”

A true appreciation for the origins of this machine can be found in its name, a portmanteau of its wildly contrasting components: 'E' for E-type, and 'Gal' for Ford Galaxie. 

Marriage between the elegant, aerodynamic lines of Malcolm Sayer’s E-type silhouette and the brutish force of the American muscle-car giant is an unlikely one, but from 1964-68 it tore up the British club racing scene, racking up 14 wins and 8 podiums with Barrie "Whizzo" Williams at the wheel.

“Whizzo was quite derogatory about the handling of the car,” recalled Grimes, “but [he] maintained that it didn't really matter because he was first off the line, and the competition couldn't see him by the first corner.”

As the decades rolled on, however, the Egal lost its way, eventually evolving into an unrecognisable, wide-body "8.0-litre monster on steroids" draped in large, modern racing tyres. The mission for Grimes’ team was simple: to return the Egal to its pure 1965 specification. This involved shrinking the bloated bodywork back to its original lines and downsizing the engine displacement to its period-correct 7.0-litre limit. 

The dedication to authenticity extended to the very rubber the car sits on. The team even contacted Borrani in Italy, who dug through its archives to find the original blueprints so it could hand-make two sets of period-correct wire wheels. Grimes explained that “by putting it back exactly as it was in 1965, [we’re] intentionally taking on all the same problems they had back in period.” The visual pay-off, however, is undeniable. “She’s gone back to being a really classy looking car — she looks beautiful and sounds beautiful,” Mowlem praised.

Getting this striking machine onto the grid of the most prestigious race in historic motorsport required a bold leap of faith. As Mowlem detailed, finding the right vehicle for the RAC TT Celebration grid involved a long process of hunting for something genuinely unique. “Bon and I were discussing a car for the RAC TT for the last year or so. He wanted something a bit different, and I fully agree with that philosophy. So when this car came up it was very, very different. We thought maybe it was gonna be a bit Marmite, you know.”

Love it or hate it, when spectators browse the entry list for Sunday's headline RAC TT Celebration and see a 500PS (373kW) E-type, the assumption is that it’s an automatic winner. However, carrying that huge heavy iron V8 block up front creates a brutal reality-check inside the cockpit. “Every time you tell someone you’ve got a 500-horsepower E-type, they don’t realise what we're giving away everywhere else to have that power,” Mowlem admitted.

The delicate cornering balance of a standard E-type is thrown out the window, turning braking and handling into a constant wrestling match against physics. The two drivers are fighting a steep uphill battle against lighter, nimbler sportscars, a challenge compounded by a distinct lack of preparation. The restored Egal only turned a wheel for the first time around three weeks before the Revival, teething issues forced the duo to miss a crucial test day at Silverstone.

“We’re not hunting for a podium. Our ultimate goal is simply survival and making it to the finish line.”

While it’s not his first time competing at the Revival, 2026 marks Grimes’ first entry in the RAC TT Celebration, an occasion for which he confessed to feeling a fluttering of nerves.

“I don’t want to be walking from Lavant [corner] for the big party. I want to be making it to the finish so I can enjoy a glass of something,” he said with a grin. Mowlem echoed the sentiment, aware that just getting this spectacular machine through the gruelling race is a victory in itself. “We have zero expectations in terms of results, we are really hoping to get it out there, get it to the finish, and allow the crowd to finally hear and see it.”

Wherever the Egal finishes, when the lights go out for Sunday’s finale, the Revival won't know what hit it. We can’t wait to see this race unfolds.

The Egal will also be featured in the October issue of Autosport magazine, out Thursday, 17^th September 2026.  

Images courtesy of Autosport and Richard Styles.

Saturday tickets and 3-Day passes for the Goodwood Revival have now sold out, and Friday and Sunday tickets are limited. 

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