The Everard Pre-66 Touring Car Championship, along with a fine roster for British Automobile Club supported Classic Touring Car Racing Club series’ will take over at Brands Hatch this weekend.

The Pre-66 grid is one of the most talked about tin-top classes wherever it goes – with its fantastic door-to-door racing, cult cars and brilliant drivers behind the wheel. One of the drivers to always get the crowd going is Grant Williams. If you haven’t seen this man behind the wheel. Where have you been! Google or YouTube Grant Williams, Jaguar and fall down the well full of drifts, burnouts, donuts and overtakes in big cat saloons!

But that’s what we see now. But where did the love affair with the Jaguar brand come from? We have to wind the clock back to when the Mk1 and Mk2 Jags were new in period – as Grant Williams himself explains.

“It started in about 1947 or 1948. Grandad wanted to start racing and did bits and pieces in the late forties and then in the fifties starting racing the Jaguar Mk1s. This is a story now… my grandfather, two uncles and my Dad would all go racing at Silverstone on one race licence! They would turn up and sign on under one race licence and all race the same car. You couldn’t do that now!

“They used the Mk1 and back in those days the cars had drum brakes so they would have buckets of water waiting, and every time they would come into the pits, they would throw on some water and go out again. It all started from that for us!”

From the sharing of a race licence – the Williams family cattery was to grow over time and this is where we find out about one of the most iconic cars in British motorsport.

“They would go on to have their own cars. The car known as ‘BUY 1’ came up for sale in 1962 and Grandad trotted up to the factory, bought it and started to race it. The original reg on the car was ‘287 JBK’, and that was a famous registration in its day as well. The factory only made seven of the MK1s and they came with aluminium doors, lightened bonnet, lightened chassis, triple carburetors and disc brakes which were only on C and D Types, and that was perceived as mega at the time. The continuation from that car was ‘JAG 400’ which I am racing this season.

The iconic grey ‘BUY 1’ can now be seen at BARC events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed or Revival – but in recent times, the dark blue Mk2 Jaguar with ‘JAG 400’ can be seen fighting at the very front of Historic saloon car races.

“We have had it since 1975 – it had been rolled and the deal was that we could never sell it and it was to be a family car, and we started to race it a couple of years ago for the Goodwood Revival. We started rebuilding it years and years ago, but we stopped because of the rules for the Revival, and with the car being quite big wouldn’t have been competitive – but they changed the rules which meant we could keep building it which is great as we now have a home for the car there and at BARC events.
Any other projects on the go then Grant?

“We’re not done yet in the Williams family. My brother has started racing – and he is using a red MK1 and that was my father’s first car which we have recently resurrected.”

One of the things we discussed with Grant was the perception perhaps that historic racing was old cars for for old boys – something which he is seeing a big shift from – with the younger generation engaging with a bygone era.

“People come along and see these cars racing and we are respectful. Also having the current generation of drivers get behind the wheel perhaps helps with the profile. Our aim of the game is to have fun, enjoy ourselves and put on a show with a straight car at the end of the day. People can relate to cars immensely – they are motoring icons.

“With the BARC paddocks, it’s very open and people come and have a chat. I have been signing Hot Wheels and Scalextric Cars the last couple of years and it’s from the younger generation having seen stuff on YouTube or Instagram or what have you. I am an old dinosaur in that sense and I thank my wife for helping me with that. Social Media has really helped connect historic racing, by bringing the older and younger generations together. Everyone has a story with these cars and racing is about making memories, enjoying hearing the stories and everyone will remember these classic cars and family moments forever.

“My passion is racing. I love racing and will do it as long as I can. I would race a wheelbarrow – anything with wheels and a story to tell and I am there!”

That’s something we would pay to see in the future! In the meantime… Grant Williams and ‘JAG 400’ are set to join the Everard Pre-66 Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend as it supports the Super Touring Power 3 event.