20/09/2026
Day 10
The Main Event Day
Where to begin? There is so much to report, so the morning would be a good start!
After having a very good night prior with the welcome buffet, we were all up and at breakfast. We would commence the day and send off the first cars from the hotel at 10am. There would be two groups, A & B and they would leave on two separate routes to avoid having 44 cars in a convoy which would break German law. The routes would take the cars through the countryside roads, avoiding motorways, construction zones and bike routes. This would allow the cars to be as safe as possible with plenty opportunities to pull over if needed. I have to give a HUGE shout out to Madeleine & Ralf for doing the books and physically driving the routes multiple times (even yesterday) to ensure that the directions were accurate and the roads remained open. One road had sudden closed 24 hour’s prior, so Ralf amended all of the affected group packs to circumvent the closure. I stood across the street taking photos of the departures, the faces of all of those in the cars were like children at the fairground, excited at the fun starting!
The drive was lovely and after a 90 mins or so driving through the countryside and villages, both groups arrived at Diepenbrock Castle for lunch. With the JDHT cars, D38 and Minty at the front of the castle for initial photos, I was unaware of what scene was being set in the car park where the rest of the cars were being parked. I found out though once I walked over when everyone was in having lunch to be greeted with all of the XJ40’s in a massive square, all looking at each other. I will admit, the tears did start (thanks Sam for the hug) - it was such a feeling to see these international cars all in there from many countries, all looking at each other, the biggest collection of XJ40’s in Europe since production ended in 1994. We soon reunited the 5 separated cars with the main group and all 44 XJ40’s united. With all participants gathered after lunch, Asmund took the big family photos with his professional camera, all us with our cars in one place - this was special!
We then dispersed in to our groups again, next stop would be the British Car Museum, a private collection owned by the lovely Mr and Mrs Klopfer. Here the guests would look at the collection, and eat as much cake as they could handle, but first, there was a secret surprise in store.
We gathered all attendees together at the front of the facility, and you could then start to hear a sound, something very familiar. Five Bag Pipers emerged from the facility to welcome our guests in Scottish style. Performing in front the JDHT cars, D38, Minty and Madeleine’s Sovereign, surrounded by all in attendance, we were treated to a selection of songs to welcome our guests to the next stage of our adventure. Amazing Grace particularly hit the emotions! Thank you to the wonderful Bag Pipers from Lippstadt in Germany who came all the way to perform for us. This was another special element, a nod to Scotland where XJ40 was launched in 1986, and for us to celebrate Howard, Ann, and everyone who was part of the launch back in 1986 who could not be there with us today.
After visiting the stunning collection, it was a route back to the hotel to get ready for the main meal, thank you speeches and special speakers. I put my own kilt on, which was also the Black Watch tartan worn by our bag pipers today. Madeleine went first to thank our guests. I followed with my thank you summary and a reminder of why we were there, and how important the international XJ40 community is, and listing the many countries who support the Register project. Tony O’Keeffe followed with many thanks, including JLR and JLR Classic, and then finally our friends from the JDHT, headed by Neil and Jonathan (also in attendance Jayne and Kevan).
And last but not least, Henry Smith and Darren Staples got a hold of the mic to have some speeches of their own! The humour and the summary presented fully covered just what a special group of people XJ40 owners are - and not just a group, but friends, all coming together as the XJ40 Register Family. For the third time today, the tears started!
We then had a full night of drinking, laughing, building friendships, and I eventually got to my bed at 5am the following morning.
I’m going to do a dedicated thank you post later, as I’m already near the maximum for what I can write on this entry.
But I will say this, what I saw, heard and experienced today really did remind me how lucky I am to have this international group of people in my life, and many many more across the world who we gathered to celebrate. I really don’t have the words to describe what this meant to all of us…!
***I have taken so many photos of today, I’ve put some on this post (limited to 80) but I will do back posts for each part in the coming weeks so everyone can see all of them - I’ll put the videos in the comments section below***
Paul
Distance Travelled: 95 miles
Average MPG: 22.6
