“Since we’ve been testing for the Members’ Meeting, we’re having to learn a few things about it because it’s never really been driven in anger or properly raced,” says Ben de Chair of Ten Tenths. “So we’re learning about handling and oil pressures, that sort of thing. We’ve done quite a lot and it’s been apart a few times. We’re not intending to break any records or win any races, but we’ll try. I’m not anticipating it to be massively competitive. It’s just lovely to see it out with all the other ones. It’s very low mileage for a car of its age. We’re also trying to work out if the engine as whole has ever been out. Bits of it have been apart. It’s so lovely and original, it’s a timewarp of a car.”
And it does have real motorsport pedigree. In period it was raced at both Daytona and Nassau by John Rutherford. When it came back to the UK, it was owned by Jaguar enthusiast Alan Clark MP before changing hands once more before Nick Mason bought it. For the last four and a half decades, it has been beautifully preserved and is now one of the most original D-types in existence.
Photography by Toby Whales.