Where It All Began
You’ll probably remember that Jaguar enjoyed much heady success with racing in the 1950s, but did you also know that a competitive streak was noticeable back in 1924?
It was during 1924 that William Lyons showed his interest in racing by entering three Swallow sidecar combinations in the Isle of Man TT.
Driving all the way from John O’Groats, the SS1 won its class in the Monte Carlo rally in 1934 and 1935 —The SS100 excelled in the RAC Rally and won in 1937, 1938 and second in 1939.
The Great Racing Era
A new circuit was formed near Silverstone and the first major meeting was the Daily Express sponsored ‘One-Hour Production Car Race’. This was a race for series production cars of which Jaguar entered three XK120s and won with a model that was converted to right-hand drive for the race.
In the 1950s Jaguar attacked the most loved race of them all, the ‘Le Mans 24-heures’.
The competition model — the XK 120C or simply C-type, was based on the XK 120, but with a lighter body and chassis. Jaguar took famous victories in 1951 and 1953.
The D-type, often dubbed the ‘aircraft on wheels’, came next, missing a winning début by seconds, but it made up for this by winning in 1955, 1956 and 1957.
It’s also worth noting that while this was going on, Ian & Pat Appleyard (Pat was William Lyons’ daughter) took an XK120 on the Alpine Rally and finished the rally three times in a row, from 1950 to 1952, winning the coveted Coupe d'Or (Gold Cup).
Ronnie Adams won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1956, in a Jaguar Mark V11 proving the saloons were certainly no slouches either.
Jaguar had great success in the 1960s — notably with the beautiful E-type, which had grace and pace in equal measure.
In 1961, the E-type had its debut and won at Oulton Park, in the hands of Graham Hill and again at Crystal Palace for Roy Salvadori.
In 1982, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) began an association with British Leyland, preparing the Jaguar XJS and Rover 3500 Vitesse, for both the BTCC and European Touring Car Championship.
TWR Jaguar cars won the WSCC outright in 1987, 1988 and 1991 and won the prestigious ‘24 Hours of Le Mans’ and the ‘24 Hours of Daytona’ in 1988 and 1990. The series started in 1985 with XJR-6, designed by Tony Southgate, with a carbon-fibre chassis and a highly tuned Jaguar V12 engine. Vroom!
This was followed by XJR-8, which won the ‘WSCC Manufacturer's Championship’ in 1987, then XJR-9 which won the ‘WSCC Manufacturer's Championship’ in 1988 and also secured victory at Le Mans the same year, returning in much the same form as the XJR-12 to win Le Mans again in 1990.
TWR developed its own engine for the next series of cars, the XJR-10 (for IMSA) and XJR-11 (for WSCC) of 1989 and 1990, a V6 turbo-charged 3.5 litre, which was capable of far more power than the V12, but was less suited to 24-hour racing.
So, where’s next for Jaguar?
Jaguar is due to compete this year in the FIA Formula E Championship, in an electric car.
Do you think Jaguar will continue their heritage of success in this new age of racing?
Here at Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club, of course we’ll all be watching and rooting for them.
All we need now is a return to Le-Mans…
Interested in racing?
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Terry Dye has been the head of our racing for nearly 20 years now and has forged a great team of drivers and supporting companies to make the JEC Racing on of the most accessible and enjoyable forms of Motor Sport you can enjoy, in our opinion anyway.