After WW2, the race track at Le Mans was in deplorable condition. It had been used as an airfield by the Luftwaffe, and had been repeatedly bombed by the Allies. Pockmarked with craters, it's reopening as a speed course in 1949 required a tremendous engineering effort. The cars of 1949 were hardly brilliant racers, but 49 vehicles took to the field, including one Diesel powered entry. When Luigi Chinetti piloted a Ferrari across the finish line, post war sports car racing had captured the attention of the continent, a bellweather of better times to come.

The symbolism of Le Mans quickly attracted the attention of many manufacturers. For the 1950 race, Bill Heynes and Lofty England watched from the stands, sizing up the competition. There were three privately entered XK120's in the race that year. Perhaps the most "standard" of any cars ever raced by Jaguar, the three put up a credible show and convinced Heynes and England that the race could be won by a prepared XK 120. They went back to the factory and convinced Bill Lyons to allow them to build a fully developed racer. The car would be built for the sole purpose of winning Le Mans.

The car was built using production components where practical. An enhanced XK engine of 3.5 liters was fitted, producing 180HP. A very light tubular space frame chassis was designed, employing stressed steel panels for rigidity. The sinuous body was designed by Malcolm Sayer, his first car for Jaguar.

In 1951, the first of the XK120C's, or C-Types competed at Le Mans. Three cars were entered but just one, piloted by Walker and Whitehead, went on to finish. Jaguar had won it's first Le Mans. The win had tremendous public relations value for Jaguar, and the racing program was continued.

In 1952, an unfortunate modification, intended to make the C-Type more competitive with Mercedes, caused the cars to overheat. All three cars were forced to retire early. But the 1952 cars were the first to carry disk brakes, soon to prove a strategic advantage to Jaguar's racing efforts. Helped by their disk brakes in 1953, a convincing victory was won, with C-Types placing 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th. This was the C-Type's last year at Le Mans.

The photo above shows the Walker/Whitehead car in competition. To provide a better understanding of how these cars were constructed, the photo has been mapped to additional web pages discussing the various internal components. Simply point and click on a section of the car that interests you, and the associated page will display.

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About the author - Michael Frank is Vice President and Webmaster of the Jaguar Touring Club. His red 2+2 E-Type is a familiar sight at JCNA events in the Northeast. Currently, he is building a reproduction of the 1963 Cunningham Lightweight E-Type.

Copyright © 2001 Michael Frank, New York. All rights reserved.

Posted: 5/2001