Ultimate Jaguar partnership starts The Beaujolais Run

22/11/2011

John Surtees OBE, World Motorcycle and Formula One Champion and Norman Dewis; one of the legends of the British motor industry, started this year’s world-famous Nokia sponsored Beaujolais Run.

Dewis, now 91, worked for 33 years as Jaguar’s chief test engineer; instrumental in the development and testing of some of the most fantastic British cars ever to grace road and track.

Dewis is no stranger to driving long distances; having completed over a million test miles at 100mph-plus average! When the Jaguar E-Type was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, such was the media excitement and clamour for demonstration runs that Jaguar founder, Sir William Lyons, instructed Norman to drive through the night from Coventry to bring another model to Switzerland. Norman recounts: “Coventry to Dover took me two hours and I completed the run to Geneva in just 11 hours. I averaged 68mph and as there were no motorways back then so it was quite a drive."

Surtees and Dewis flagged away the entrants from the Royal Automobile Club's prestigious Woodcote Park in Surrey on Monday 14 November. Surtees, The Beaujolais Run patron, joined Dewis as he was reunited with the famous D-type 774 RW in which Mike Hawthorn won the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race; to open the 2011 ‘Run.

Every year, the third Thursday of November is a very special day for the inhabitants of the little French town of Beaujeu, just north of Lyon. At one minute past midnight, the 2011 Beaujolais is released and the locals can start celebrating their year of labour by drinking the results of their endeavours. Initially a race to get the first bottle back to England, The Beaujolais Run has become a navigational shootout through a cryptic checkpoint course that begins in the UK and ends in Burgundy, with 100% of entrants’ sponsorship monies going to the Henry Surtees Foundation.

The Henry Surtees Foundation lists, amongst its aims; to raise funds to assist people with accidental brain or physical injuries. In 2009, Henry Surtees - son of World Motorcycle and Formula One Champion John Surtees - tragically died in a racing accident, leading to the formation of the Henry Surtees Foundation. In 2010, The Beaujolais Run raised more than £80,000 in support of the Henry Surtees Foundation.

Each year, The Beaujolais Run celebrates a different vehicle marque. In 2011, the ‘Run will be commemorating Jaguar and 50 years of the E-type. To find out more about the event and make a donation to qualify for participation in a future year, visit www.beaujolaisrun.com

To watch the video from the start at Woodcote Park click here.