1952 Jaguar XK 120 @ Goodwood Review [June 07]
Jaguar's famous and much-envied motor sport heritage is to be celebrated at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed with an irreplaceable array of its most prestigious cars. With models from the 1950’s to present day, the crowds will be left in no doubt that Jaguar remains an icon of British motor manufacturing.
Taking to the Goodwood hill will be Jaguar’s Le Mans-winning XJR-9. Powered by the Jaguar V12, the XJR-9 earned its place in the history books after claiming first, fourth and sixteenth place at the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hour Race.
Other cars gracing the hallowed hill climb will be the record breaking XK120 ‘Montlhéry’ Fixed Head Coupé. Famous as the ‘Seven Days and Seven Nights’ car driven by Stirling Moss, Bert Hadley, Jack Fairman and Leslie Johnson, the car averaged 100.31mph (161.43 km/h) for seven days and nights covering 16,851 miles. Joining the XK120 in the ‘Classic Endurance Cars’ group will be the 1956 long nose D-Type which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of an unparalleled 1-2-3-4-6 finish at Le Mans in 1957. Finally in the International Sports Cars category Jaguar will be entering the stunning and unique XJ13.
Not only will Jaguar be paying homage to its illustrious racing past, it will also be demonstrating the supreme ride and handling of today’s award winning XKR; one is a standard factory specification model in the expert hands of Jaguar’s Driving Dynamics expert, Mike Cross and the other a specially modified PalmerSport XKR, usually found racing around the Bedford Autodrome corporate circuit.
This 420bhp, 4.2 litre V8 supercharged car has been stripped of its luxury interior and fitted with uprated brakes and a lowered, stiffened suspension enabling it to achieve a stunning top speed of 185mph with a 0-60 time of just 4.5 seconds.
Geoff Cousins, UK Managing Director, Jaguar Cars, said: “Goodwood is always a great opportunity for Jaguar to demonstrate it is a great British brand not only with a rich and illustrious heritage but an exciting future with a new contemporary design direction that is relevant to today's customers.”
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is open from Friday 22nd June to Sunday 24th June 2007. All Jaguar cars will be on display and heading up the famous Goodwood hill climb.
1952 JAGUAR XK120 FIXED HEAD COUPÉ
The XK120 took the world by storm when it was introduced in the 1948 London Motor Show. A particularly enthusiastic XK120 owner and driver was Leslie Johnson, who drove one of the three works XK120s to victory in the Touring Car Race at Silverstone in 1949.
Using his own XK120, Johnson in 1950 decided to go in for endurance records. In October of that year, together with Stirling Moss as his co-driver, he did a 24 hour non-stop run at the Montlhéry race track near Paris at an average of 107.46mph (173 km/h). In the following year, in the same car at the same venue, Johnson completed a one hour run at an average of 131.83mph (212 km/h).
Jaguar provided the car for Johnson's next venture. The car was only the second right-hand drive version of the new XK120 fixed head coupé, and the idea was to drive this for seven days and seven nights at an average of over 100mph (161 km). Johnson's co-drivers in the attempt were Moss, Bert Hadley and Jack Fairman. The seven day run was made at Montlhéry, in early August 1952.
The first attempt had to be abandoned after the car hit a block of concrete, but after repairs the team started again. A spring broke on the fifth day, and although it was replaced and the run continued, no more records could be officially accepted. Nevertheless, Jaguar's goal was achieved, as the car averaged 100.31mph (161.43 km/h) for the seven days and nights, having covered 16,851 miles (27,120km). In addition, five new class records and four World Records were set for shorter distances, up to four days and 10,000 miles.
1956 JAGUAR D-TYPE ‘LONG NOSE’
This was the penultimate D-Type, built in March 1956 and originally fitted with the latest specification fuel injection engine. It was allocated to the Jaguar works racing team, and was entered for the Reims 12-hour race which it won, driven by Duncan Hamilton and Ivor Bueb.
1966 JAGUAR XJ13
Built as a potential Le Mans contender, THE XJ13 never competed in any race. Its development inevitably had to take second place to that of the much more important new saloon car which became the XJ6, launched in 1968. By the time XJ13 was completed, its design had become obsolete against new cars from Ferrari and Ford, never mind the Porsche 917. Anyway, the Le Mans regulations were changing, and prototype cars were limited to engines of 3 litres. To run cars with larger engines, manufacturers had to build fifty examples as production cars (later reduced to twenty-five).
This did not stop XJ13 from being one of the most beautiful racing cars of all time nor should anyone doubt the potential of its unique 502bhp, 5-litre V12 engine. During early testing in 1966, it lapped the MIRA test track at over 161mph (259 km/h), establishing a lap record in the hands of Norman Dewis, Jaguar’s legendary test driver, despite the car still being in the development stages.
1988 JAGUAR XJR-9
In 1988 Jaguar went to Le Mans in strength, with an entry of five XJR-9 cars, all powered by the Jaguar V12 engine producing 750bhp from a capacity of 7.0 litres. Two of the cars retired but the remaining three went on to finish first, fourth and sixteenth. The winning Jaguar, driven by Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace, completed 394 laps and covered a distance of 5332.79km (3313.63 miles), in comparison the winning D-type of 1957 covered a distance of 4397km (2732 miles).
1952 Jaguar XK 120 @ Goodwood Review [June 07]
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