The Romans were more prolific at road building than Highways England today, and many of these ancient routes remain the backbone of the British network. One of the oldest and most famous is the Fosse Way, built when Christianity was still in its infancy. It remains a direct route between Lincoln and Exeter.
What better car to explore this ancient road than the oldest model in Jaguar’s current line-up, an F-TYPE convertible? Like the Fosse Way, old doesn’t mean out of date. It’s time to put on my sandals and go
It looks like any other British junction – typically busy with morning commuters and endless lorries – but the Hykeham Roundabout (just outside Lincoln) marks the known start of the Fosse Way, one of the Romans’ most important British roads.
Of course, it would have been a lot different when it was built in around 43AD: the road signs would have been smaller and there would have been fewer BMW drivers hogging the fast lane.
With the natives adopting the Roman roads after the conquerors left, this ancient road is more or less intact, still linking Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) in the East Midlands to Isca Dumnoniorum (the current location of Exeter) in the southwest, some 230 miles.
Unsurprisingly, as any child will tell you, Roman roads are straighter than hipster jeans, and the Fosse Way is no different. Look on a map and it cuts the country in half more effectively than Brexit. It is an incredible feat, never straying more than six miles (10km) from a straight line. If only the bloke who landscaped my garden had been that accurate.
Bu hikaye Jaguar World Monthly dergisinin January 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Jaguar World Monthly dergisinin January 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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The Old Way
With manufacture of the X351 XJ now finished, the F-TYPE takes over the mantle of Jaguar’s oldest production model. To discover more about the continuing allure of this six-year-old sports car, we drive a 380PS V6 convertible from Lincoln to Bath on the UK’s oldest road, the Fosse Way
Saving Jaguar
On the brink of the abyss in the early Eighties, Jaguar saw its fortunes turned around by a new chairman, John Egan. We meet up with him at the Jaguar Heritage Trust at Gaydon to talk about his strategies for the company’s recovery
Rolling road
A SNOWY February morning is not the ideal time to be taking out a pristine Jaguar E-type, and an early Series 1, flat-floor model at that. But my mate Bryan Smart has booked his in for a three hour session on a rolling road, and doesn’t want to miss the appointment. He’s not looking for more power – this car is standard, but it doesn’t idle as smoothly as it should. He’s not bad with spanners himself, but neither he nor a couple of specialists have been able to solve the issue.
Jaguar World's Technical Advice Service
E knock off
1966 E-Type Fixed Head Coupe
Trimmed and ready to be toned, Jim’s E-type Series 1 fixedhead returns home fromMCT Restorations
Favourite things
With a 300PS diesel engine and a lightweight, handsome body, the XF 3.0 TDV6 S could be the editor’s best-choice saloon of the current range. To discover if that’s true, he takes an example to a well-loved location of his, the Yorkshire Dales.
Jim Patten
MOT exemption
Time Warp
Carcoon will be 25 years old in 2018, so we meet the people behind the scenes to discover how the bubble idea came about
1984 XJ6 Series 3 4.2 Sovereign
Iain relays the joys and disappointments of buying an XJ6 Series 3 project car for our sister title, Classics Monthly
Family Ties
Despite the thirty years that separate the E-type 2+2 Series 1 from the XK8 they have many similarities – such as being fun and the added practicality of four seats to attract the family man. We test 4.2-litre versions of both cars back-to-back.