Motoring
by Aspect County

For Hans-Martin cars are about adventure...and reflecting on good times with a cigar and a glass of whiskey

Hans-Martin built his first car when he was just seventeen. We met him in his ​‘smoking lounge’ – which happens to also be home to some fine cars – to discuss his passion for adventure and the cars that have taken him there. vulputate elaboraret ad. Et vix menandri argumentum.

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Hans-Martin, thanks for chatting with us! Looking around your garage, there are some fabulous examples of Jaguars from the SS100 to the E‑Type. How did you decide to get into classic cars?

I grew up in Switzerland and there the most prestigious motorsport event is the Klausenrennen – an international hillclimb event started in 1922. The route from Linthal to the top of the Klausen Pass takes in 156 bends and is 22km long! It attracted the best drivers of the pre-war era, and today it is run as an event for prewar racing cars…I found a 3.5L SS100 and had it overhauled and brought up to concours standard. I had a lot of fun with it, running it in the Mille Miglia, Grand Premio Nuvolari and the Ennstal Classic. It also did the Concorso d’eleganza Villa D’Este, and then of course the Klausenrennen. 

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So the SS100 started your interest in Jaguar?
Yes, I really enjoyed the car and started to get interested in Jaguar as a company…I decided that the next thing was that I needed was a car with a great racing history. Of course I liked the C‑Type and D‑Type, but most of those were out of my budget at the time…but maybe I could find an XK120 with interesting racing history.

I started asking around and in 2008 a friend calls up and says ​‘you know one of the cars on your list is coming on the market at Retromobile tomorrow morning – I can arrange that we go before the show to look at the car before the show opens’. That was how I ended up with my XK120. It has a really significant history so I had the car inspected by marque expert Chris Keith-Lucas, who confirmed that it was indeed the 1950 Le Mans car…After I bought it, it went straight to CKL Developments Ltd. for a brush up. Since then I’ve done 6 or 7 Mille Miglia in it as well as the Le Mans Classic 2 or 3 times. 

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That is such a famous car for the brand and arguably the start of the Jaguar legend at Le Mans…
I got even more hooked on the brand and so started looking for a C‑Type (and bought) XKC 015 – the Masten Gregory car – I’ve used that car for the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, the 1000 Miglia, the Tour Auto, as well as showing it at Villa D’Este.

You have a beautiful set up here with the cars displayed right at your house. How is it living with these famous pieces of history?
This is my smoking lounge. If I have some spare time I do some reading, smoke a cigar…It has wooden floors and everything to make a nice place to spend time with a glass of whiskey. 

Finally, you’ve mentioned that you bring your cars from Switzerland to CKL in East Sussex to be looked after – why is that?
I am very particular with my cars, so if there is something not quite correct then I have to make it correct. I like my cars to be ready for the next event, the next adventure. Above all, they are tools for having great experiences and making great memories. I just did the Tour Auto with my daughter and that was a lot of fun. That is perfect for me. 

Photos by Rémi Dargegen Words by Simon Aldridge