Right, this is my first post, and I've gone for quantity over quality 
I've been lurking for ages, loving pretty much everything about the site
This started out as a write up about the Shelsley Walsh hill climb this weekend, but because its RR Le Mans week its turned into a post about the racing history of Jaguar, and I've forgotten about the rest of the event
All the photos below were taken at Shelsley Walsh this weekend, where a special Jaguar anniversary meeting was being held to celebrate 60 years of the C-Type and 50 years of the E-Type.
For those that don't know, Shelsley Walsh is a Hill Climb track and claims to be "the oldest motor sport venue in continuous use in the world."
Similar to rally the goal is to get from one point to another as fast as possible, with cars being run at intervals. This is great for the owners, as there's no body contact, but when it does go wrong you've got no-one to blame but yourself.
Over the course of the day many different classes run up the hill, all aiming to best one another. Cars range from pre-war Bugatti's to completely a stock 430 Scuderia to purpose built Hill Climb single seaters.
The overall record for the 914m course is 22.58s. That's an average of 90.55mph.
My full set of photos are available here: www.flickr.com/photos/mwggriffiths/sets/72157626911215268/
But for today we'll just focus on the Jaaaags:
XK120
The XK120 was Jaguars first post-war sports car, launched at the 1948 London Motor Show as a showcase for the firms new twin-cam XK engine, the reaction was so go it was decided to put the model into the full production.
The XK was the car to establish Jaguars reputation in motorsport. The secret to its success lay in the strength of its chassis, the reliability of the new 3.4 litre XK engine and the light weight of its all-alloy bodywork.
NUB 120, pictured below, was one of the most successful XK120's. Owned by Ian Appleyard and his wife Patrica (William Lyons's daughter) it was entered into many rallies during its 3 year competitive career. It almost won its first event and went on to win the 1950 and 1951 Alpine Rallies, a Coupe des Alpes, the 1951 Tulip Rally as well as the RAC Rally in 1951 and 1953.
C-Type
The C-Type, or XK120C to give it its full name, was designed around XK120 running gear by resident genius Malcolm Sayer, carrying over many key parts, while also being faster, lighter and more aerodynamic. Launched in 1951, it won the Le Mans 24 hours on its debut that year in the hands of Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead covering a record distance. A hurried redesign in 1952 designed to combat the emergence of the 300SL left Jaguar with a new shape without any testing, massive overheating claimed all 3 C-Types early in the race. Order was soon restored and a 1 - 2 finish followed in 1953, with Sir Stirling Moss at the helm of the 2nd car. Only 53 C-Types were ever built, and one is currently listed on Pistonheads for a cool £1.2 million.
D-Type
With Le Mans competition getting ever more fierce Jaguar had to react, and once again the task fell to Malcolm Sayer, the man who had designed the C-Type a few years previously. This time he really went mad, exploiting his aviation background in the aerodynamics of the car and heavy use of alloys. As a result the cars top speed increased to >170mph from the 144mph of the C-Type while avoiding any aerodynamic lift that affected other "streamlined" cars of the period. The D-Type won Le Mans 3 times between 1955 and 1957 culminating in a 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 6 finish in 1957.
Next to the C-Type these were common as muck, with 67 making their way out of the factory gates, two were subsequently converted to XK-SS spec with such luxuries as a 2nd seat a full windscreen and a luggage rack.
OVC 501 is special, even amongst other D-Types, for it is the prototype. Completed in May 1954 it was quickly dispatched to Le Mans where it smashed the lap record by 5 seconds.
.
The "long nosed" D-Types of 1955, as pictured below, raised the top speed once more to a claimed 186mph.
393 RW was the penultimate D-Type, built in 1956 it entered that years Le Mans driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb. A constant misfire meant it only finished 6th
E-Type
Everyone knows the story of the E-Type surely? 10 years after the launch of the C-Type, at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar stunned the world with its beautiful 150mph [claimed] sports car which would cost only £2196 [£34,000 in todays money], half what other sports cars of the era such as the Aston Martin DB4 cost. An E-Type is displayed in the New York Museum of Modern Art, a true testimony to the impact of this icon.
This is just the car park:
1 VHP was the first right hand drive production Jaguar E-Type Fixed Head Coupe.
Soon after its launch it was time to go racing once more for Jaguar. The first event the E-Type entered was at Oulton Park, where near-standard E-Type roadsters went up against established completion in the form of a gaggle of 250GT's and DB4GT's. At the hands of Graham HIll it held off the hard charging competition to win. Not bad for a heavy car with limited power, inadequate brakes, soft suspension and a very un-aerodynamic soft-top.
Unable to compete with the 250 GTO, Jaguar rebuilt one of their early E-Types with a new alloy chassis and hard-top, D-Type wheels and plenty of scoops and apertures for cooling. The resulting car came in more than 100kg less than the original, and more significantly, lighter than the GTO. The car was further developed throughout the season with a 5 speed ZF gearbox and fuel injection. This car, 4WPD, became the basis for a further 12 "lightweight" E-types. Remarkably all but one survives to this day:
Two of the 13 were given "low drag" bodies and campaigned with some success in the 60's, one even being made road legal with the registration CUT 7.
The second Low Drag Coupe has an even more amazing past. It was bought as a "standard" Lightweight in 1963 by Peter Lindner, the official Jaguar distributer for all of Germany. It was promptly given the Low Drag treatment to match the other car. The engine was then completely overhauled. The alloy block was replaced by cast iron and tuned to produce 344BHP. It was then entered into the Le Mans 24hrs in 1964. To say it didn't go to plan would be an understatement: Early on it was lying 5th in the GT class when it began to suffer water loss, and while in the pits for a top up a Ferrari ate its rear axle and spat parts of its diff all over the Jaguar pit, catching the back of the car. Fortunately the car was able to resume, but that wasn't the end of their troubles. The car was given a new cylinder head during the race but eventually had to retire at 7.30am.
The car continued to compete throughout the season until the car aquaplaned off the road at speed at Montlhery Circuit near Paris resulting in the untimely death of its owner, Pete Lindner. The car was completely destroyed.
I know what you're thinking, but this was not the 1 Lightweight to not survive. No, instead it was locked away for 10 years, before changing hands several times. It was then rebuilt on a new lightweight tub, but the wrecked tub stayed with the car. Eventually it found its way into the hands of Peter Neumark (Also responsible for the restoration of 1 VHP) who decided it should be re-rebuilt on the old, wrecked, chassis. Every part of the car was dismantled, straightened and reassembled. The car made its public debut in this form this weekend at Shelsley Walsh:
Other honourable mentions
The only Jaguar actually competing was a tidy XKR with a tasty exhaust:
Stratstone donated an epic XFR course car. I know it's got baffles in the exhaust and as such sounds fake, but I fell in love, I want one. Now. The sound was just incredible:
Nearly there! As a reward for getting this far, I've save the best 'til last for you.
The XJ13.
Possibly the most beautiful racing car of all time.
A full run down of this car can be found here: retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=105676 and is well worth the read, but I'll just leave you with this one picture:
Matt
I've been lurking for ages, loving pretty much everything about the site
This started out as a write up about the Shelsley Walsh hill climb this weekend, but because its RR Le Mans week its turned into a post about the racing history of Jaguar, and I've forgotten about the rest of the event
All the photos below were taken at Shelsley Walsh this weekend, where a special Jaguar anniversary meeting was being held to celebrate 60 years of the C-Type and 50 years of the E-Type.
For those that don't know, Shelsley Walsh is a Hill Climb track and claims to be "the oldest motor sport venue in continuous use in the world."
Similar to rally the goal is to get from one point to another as fast as possible, with cars being run at intervals. This is great for the owners, as there's no body contact, but when it does go wrong you've got no-one to blame but yourself.
Over the course of the day many different classes run up the hill, all aiming to best one another. Cars range from pre-war Bugatti's to completely a stock 430 Scuderia to purpose built Hill Climb single seaters.
The overall record for the 914m course is 22.58s. That's an average of 90.55mph.
My full set of photos are available here: www.flickr.com/photos/mwggriffiths/sets/72157626911215268/
But for today we'll just focus on the Jaaaags:
XK120
The XK120 was Jaguars first post-war sports car, launched at the 1948 London Motor Show as a showcase for the firms new twin-cam XK engine, the reaction was so go it was decided to put the model into the full production.
The XK was the car to establish Jaguars reputation in motorsport. The secret to its success lay in the strength of its chassis, the reliability of the new 3.4 litre XK engine and the light weight of its all-alloy bodywork.
NUB 120, pictured below, was one of the most successful XK120's. Owned by Ian Appleyard and his wife Patrica (William Lyons's daughter) it was entered into many rallies during its 3 year competitive career. It almost won its first event and went on to win the 1950 and 1951 Alpine Rallies, a Coupe des Alpes, the 1951 Tulip Rally as well as the RAC Rally in 1951 and 1953.
C-Type
The C-Type, or XK120C to give it its full name, was designed around XK120 running gear by resident genius Malcolm Sayer, carrying over many key parts, while also being faster, lighter and more aerodynamic. Launched in 1951, it won the Le Mans 24 hours on its debut that year in the hands of Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead covering a record distance. A hurried redesign in 1952 designed to combat the emergence of the 300SL left Jaguar with a new shape without any testing, massive overheating claimed all 3 C-Types early in the race. Order was soon restored and a 1 - 2 finish followed in 1953, with Sir Stirling Moss at the helm of the 2nd car. Only 53 C-Types were ever built, and one is currently listed on Pistonheads for a cool £1.2 million.
D-Type
With Le Mans competition getting ever more fierce Jaguar had to react, and once again the task fell to Malcolm Sayer, the man who had designed the C-Type a few years previously. This time he really went mad, exploiting his aviation background in the aerodynamics of the car and heavy use of alloys. As a result the cars top speed increased to >170mph from the 144mph of the C-Type while avoiding any aerodynamic lift that affected other "streamlined" cars of the period. The D-Type won Le Mans 3 times between 1955 and 1957 culminating in a 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 6 finish in 1957.
Next to the C-Type these were common as muck, with 67 making their way out of the factory gates, two were subsequently converted to XK-SS spec with such luxuries as a 2nd seat a full windscreen and a luggage rack.
OVC 501 is special, even amongst other D-Types, for it is the prototype. Completed in May 1954 it was quickly dispatched to Le Mans where it smashed the lap record by 5 seconds.
.
The "long nosed" D-Types of 1955, as pictured below, raised the top speed once more to a claimed 186mph.
393 RW was the penultimate D-Type, built in 1956 it entered that years Le Mans driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb. A constant misfire meant it only finished 6th
E-Type
Everyone knows the story of the E-Type surely? 10 years after the launch of the C-Type, at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar stunned the world with its beautiful 150mph [claimed] sports car which would cost only £2196 [£34,000 in todays money], half what other sports cars of the era such as the Aston Martin DB4 cost. An E-Type is displayed in the New York Museum of Modern Art, a true testimony to the impact of this icon.
This is just the car park:
1 VHP was the first right hand drive production Jaguar E-Type Fixed Head Coupe.
Soon after its launch it was time to go racing once more for Jaguar. The first event the E-Type entered was at Oulton Park, where near-standard E-Type roadsters went up against established completion in the form of a gaggle of 250GT's and DB4GT's. At the hands of Graham HIll it held off the hard charging competition to win. Not bad for a heavy car with limited power, inadequate brakes, soft suspension and a very un-aerodynamic soft-top.
Unable to compete with the 250 GTO, Jaguar rebuilt one of their early E-Types with a new alloy chassis and hard-top, D-Type wheels and plenty of scoops and apertures for cooling. The resulting car came in more than 100kg less than the original, and more significantly, lighter than the GTO. The car was further developed throughout the season with a 5 speed ZF gearbox and fuel injection. This car, 4WPD, became the basis for a further 12 "lightweight" E-types. Remarkably all but one survives to this day:
Two of the 13 were given "low drag" bodies and campaigned with some success in the 60's, one even being made road legal with the registration CUT 7.
The second Low Drag Coupe has an even more amazing past. It was bought as a "standard" Lightweight in 1963 by Peter Lindner, the official Jaguar distributer for all of Germany. It was promptly given the Low Drag treatment to match the other car. The engine was then completely overhauled. The alloy block was replaced by cast iron and tuned to produce 344BHP. It was then entered into the Le Mans 24hrs in 1964. To say it didn't go to plan would be an understatement: Early on it was lying 5th in the GT class when it began to suffer water loss, and while in the pits for a top up a Ferrari ate its rear axle and spat parts of its diff all over the Jaguar pit, catching the back of the car. Fortunately the car was able to resume, but that wasn't the end of their troubles. The car was given a new cylinder head during the race but eventually had to retire at 7.30am.
The car continued to compete throughout the season until the car aquaplaned off the road at speed at Montlhery Circuit near Paris resulting in the untimely death of its owner, Pete Lindner. The car was completely destroyed.
I know what you're thinking, but this was not the 1 Lightweight to not survive. No, instead it was locked away for 10 years, before changing hands several times. It was then rebuilt on a new lightweight tub, but the wrecked tub stayed with the car. Eventually it found its way into the hands of Peter Neumark (Also responsible for the restoration of 1 VHP) who decided it should be re-rebuilt on the old, wrecked, chassis. Every part of the car was dismantled, straightened and reassembled. The car made its public debut in this form this weekend at Shelsley Walsh:
Other honourable mentions
The only Jaguar actually competing was a tidy XKR with a tasty exhaust:
Stratstone donated an epic XFR course car. I know it's got baffles in the exhaust and as such sounds fake, but I fell in love, I want one. Now. The sound was just incredible:
Nearly there! As a reward for getting this far, I've save the best 'til last for you.
The XJ13.
Possibly the most beautiful racing car of all time.
A full run down of this car can be found here: retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=105676 and is well worth the read, but I'll just leave you with this one picture:
Matt
