Jensen C-V8

A Jensen C-V8 climbing up to Montmartre during the 2018 Traversée de Paris.

Pour plus de photos de la Traversée de Paris 2018, suivez ce lien.

For more photos of the 2018 Traversée de Paris classic car event, click here.

Jensen Motors, West Bromwich, England.   Alan and Richard Jensen were the brothers who set up Jensen Motors that originally built vehicle bodies and then went on to build complete cars.  The Jensen C-V8 was the last Jensen with which the brothers were actively involved in the conception.  It was launched in 1962 and produced until 1966.  It was a two door, four seater, front engine, rear wheel drive, luxury fast sports car.  It had a steel chassis, glass fibre body and was powered by big American Chrysler six litre V8 engine.  Performance was exceptional for the time both in terms of straight line speed and handling..  The MkI had a top speed of 132mph and a 0-60 time of 8 seconds.  The MlIII had a top speed of 139mph and a 0-60 time of under 7 seconds.   With the big V8 the fuel consumption was quite high at around 13 to 14 mpg.  Depending on your point of view, the Jensen is either rather beautiful or an ugly duckling.  Personally, I think it is rather desirable.   Only 500 were built so quite rare but quite good value as a classic car.  Not often raced, it did win the 24 hour Commander's Cup at Snetterton in 1965 with a team that included Roy Salvadori.   It featured in the sixties TV series The Baron and later London Spy.  

EMKA-Aston Martin C83/1

Richard Hope, EMKA-Aston Martin C83/1, Le Mans Classic 2016 Group C racing.

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For more photos of the Group C cars at the Le Mans Classic 2016.

EMKA, Godalming, UK.  EMKA was the initials of Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke's daughters. He invested in this Group C racer in partnership with Michael Cane who managed the program and assembled the car.  The body was a very aerodynamic design by Len Bailey.  The chassis was an aluminium monocoque but the innovative part that Len Bailey did was redesigning all of the engine accessories so that the bulky Tickford tuned Aston Martin V8 could fit into this small package.  In May 1983 it made its debut at Silverstone and qualified 17th but failed to finish.  At Le Mans it finished 17th driven by Tiff Needell, Steve O'Rourke and Nick Faure but was hampered by lack of top speed and many reliability issues.    The EMKA did not run in 1984 due to lack of funds but reappeared in 1985 as the C84/1 at Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Spa and Le Mans.  It retired in all of these except Le Mans. There with the same driving team as before but with aerodynamic changes it went much better, achieving 216mph on the straight and finishing 11th ahead of the Group 44 Jaguar and the Tom's-Toyota.  With more funding this could have been a good car.