Another good drive

Having mentioned some fast drives in Europe recently, we mustn’t overlook the jaunt made by 68-year-old Alroyd Lees, in his 1960 Mk. IX Jaguar. According to Johnny Walker (Holdings) Ltd. who sponsored him, Mr. Lees drove from Stroud to London and Dover, and thence through the EEC towns of Paris, Toulouse, Rome, Basle, Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam, and home via Calais and Dover. Which sounds as if he had been reading Motor Sport! He claims to have done the 4,864-mile journey, calling at the British Embassy in each capital to get his route-card signed, in 81 hr. 37 min., snatching 6-1/2 hours’ total sleep, a running-time average of almost 64.8 m.p.h. Most creditably, the run was in aid of the British Red Cross. But whether Johnny Walker are correct in calling this a “World Record Solo Drive” is open to question and they are wrong in describing the Jaguar as a vintage car.