A brief introduction to Jaguar competition history

[dreadcontrola]

Jaguars stated mission was to build world beating cars affordable by the common man.This was epitomised by the E Type which was as quick as, but a 3rd of the price of the Ferraris of the day , at its launch at Geneva in '61.We know that Jags have struggled since nationalisation, its reliance on the US car market,and the fact that The Germans have learnt to do it better.But hey, never mind over the years its held its own on the track, where its engineering excellence has always been in evidence.

Heres some of Jaguars competion cars.
C Type . Le mans winners 1951 & 53.
Based on the first & fastest (timed at Jabbeke at 172 mph in 1954. Sos , cant find a pic anywhere...)
sports car in the world after the war, the XK 120.
These cars have , on paper, the same sort of performance as an Nissan 350Z. Much quicker on the track though



D Type. THE iconic 50's prototype. Le Mans winners 1955/56/57.
On paper as quick as the fastest 2008 porsche road car.Again much quicker on the track.These 50's racers were good for 190mph mph were often driven to & back from the tracks in Europe. The road versions were completely destroyed at a fire at the factory in 1957, but the 'XK SS' as it was known hit sixty mph in 4.2 secs.Thats in 1957! That type of performance wasnt available on the road(exept for the one & only AC Cobra in 1964) till way into the 1980's
Behind is a Lister Jag from the '50's.The Jag 'XK' engine was used in many specialist racing bodies, with great success and was still in production till the 1970's in the luxury salloon the XJ 6.



Lightwieght E Type. 4th LeMans 1964.
Based on the iconic road car, the alloy bodied Lightweights, although quick , were always beaten by Maranellos finest, the 250 GTO.This pic is of a race at one of the current classic car meets in the UK, reliving the great 60's battles between the Cobras, GTO & E Types



XJ 13.
The one that never was...Mid engined 500hp plus.1966
Crashed in testing after breaking the world speed (not land speed)curcuit record.(ave speed 161mph) in 1966.Had it been developed it may have provided a challenge to the Ford GT 40 hegemony



V12 E Type.
The V12 E Type was the first full production V12 road car,The smoothest engine in the world at the time, it went into the XJ 12 which was the template for all the fast (140mph) luxury cars from Germany that followed.
The 12 cylinder E Type was never developed for the track but in private hands,trounced all the competition in The US sports car series in 1970's, driven & prepeared by the great Bob Tullius's 'Group 44'



The Group 44 XJ S carried on where the E Type left off in The States.



The TWR prepared XJ S's below also won the European touring car series several years running in the '80's



XJ 12 C
Though the quickest racing saloon car of its era, BMW's reliability ment that the broadspeed 'coupe' won races but never the championship.



XJR 9. Won Le Mans 1986 & 88. (i think)
Production based engines: up to 900 Bhp,turbo V6 or non turbo V 12. Broke Porsches dominance of sports car racing since the fantastic 917 of 1971 & the unbeatable till then, 936/956 in the 80's (possably THE most iconic prototype racer of all time)
The group C racers pictured below were almost as quick as the F1 cars of the day, lapping Silverstone(for example) only 10 secs a lap slower than todays F1 cars. Not bad for cars designed to run at race pace for 24hrs.
Group C Turbo era cars were outlawed by Berni 'The *******' Ecclestone as it took away the prestige from F1. Sportscar racing has never fully recovered.
'Works' teams from Jag , Porsche & Mercedes were all racing in the top classes then. Its still thought of as the modern 'golden era ' of prototype racing



Based on the above Le Mans winners the XJR 15 road car had its own race series, where the F1 drivers of the day drove them against each other.Only about half the cars survived the season.
As a road car it was apperently almost undrivable...



XJ220 C.
The competition version of the supercar.
Until the Mclaren F1 , the '220' was fastest road car in the world.(218 mph) Again never developed for the track , in private hands finished 12th at le Mans in 1992 (..?..)The previous year they won their class at the 24 hrs, but were disqualified on a technicality.



Behind is a the ultimate Rob Beere racing prepared E Type 'on steroids', 750bhp V12 campaigned in the UK intermarque series.(Kind of local classic GT1) till it was taken out a Porsche in a crash a couple of years ago..(Robs still looking for funds to restart the project)
Chasing them is the car recognised as the worlds fastest Porsche 911, Richard Chamberlains highly modded example, much quicker then the current FIA spec 911's.These 3 cars were the leaders in the 'big n bruta'l 400+bhp p/ton class in Intermarque.



Jag V 12 engined Lister Storm.
Won 2 FIA GT1 titles.
Raced against the Vipers, & 550 maranellos in international GT 1 Series, till about 4 years ago



The latest GT3 supercharged XK R.
Under the new FIA GT 3 regs this may turn out to be a competitive car .2008 will tell.



Just a few bits of Jags competition history. (folk may wonder why I didnt include the Jag F1 team.As far as i know it was a team bought by Ford but branded Jaguar.It had nothing to do with Jag engineering...)
The marque has been campained succsesfully since the 1930's & in some ways has the most consistant sports racing history over the decades .(other cars have dominated eras (eg :ferrari then Ford in the 60's , porsche in the 70's & 80's Audi lately)
Lets hope it continues under the new ownership, & maybe an exhibiton race at the Indian F1 event ?
cheers D

[ram_hyundai]

Somehow i love this marque.The shape is so exciting and the flow in most of the jag models are too good.Envy steeroid,lol.
ram

[HappyWheels]

great info there dreadcontrola. seems like you have done quite a lot of homework.

thanks! :-)

and from now on, this legacy belong to one of the best Indian auto companies. all the more reason for us to be proud!

[Rotorhead]

The GT3 XKR looks awsome.

[dreadcontrola]

Cheers ,but not homework just a bit of a quick classic car & Jag nut from a young age, old man had an ten year old XK briefy (here in the UK).Spent most of the time in the menders...
My connection to India came as a young adult so its a strange mix for me to witness!
Im lucky enough to see some of these cars race still , very lucky.Lets hope all those in India can too soon .
Enjoy
cheers D

[Rotorhead]

The XK R seems to have taken a lot of design cues from the aston martin DB

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by Rotorhead

The XK R seems to have taken a lot of design cues from the aston martin DB

Particularly the rear flanks.