Celebrity News

Jaguar Hamptons racers speed through Sag Harbor

“Just because you are in a British car doesn’t mean you are James Bond,” drivers in the inaugural Jaguar Hamptons rally were told by race organizer Andy Duncan, founder of Bullrun, which masterminds high-end automotive rallies around the world.

Jaguar brought to the Hamptons a fleet of 25 supercharged F-Type coupes and convertibles, some with V8 engines, 550 horsepower and capable of doing 0 to 60 in 3 ¹/₂ seconds — except on the famously jammed Montauk Highway.

A mix of Jag owners, some in gorgeous vintage E-Types, and overexcited journalists started at the wheel with a police escort onto the crawling highway, but soon were roaring raucously through the quieter roads of Sag Harbor and East Hampton, shattering an otherwise peaceful Saturday afternoon.

The elegant F-Type R Coupe, which Jaguar says is the most serious sports car it has ever made, emits such a guttural growl that it was branded “the devil’s own horn” by Motortrend.com and “an X-rated hardcore monster” and “one of the best looking cars ever made” by UK Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson.

Despite Duncan’s warning about responsible driving, two contenders were pulled over by police and slapped with a $250 ticket for rolling through a stop sign in Sag Harbor, with the officer seething, “This is a residential area, not a race track.”

But after six thrilling hours at the wheel, all made it safely to the finish line at Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton. And — to some accusations of James Bond-style villainy by other competitors — a Page Six editor and her co-pilot were declared the winners of the rally.