Glenister 1936
1953 Jaguar C-type rear
Jaguar Cars Ltd., better known simply as Jaguar is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Coventry, England. It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors Ltd. since March 2008 and is operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business.
Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before switching to passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War II due to the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials.
The Jaguar C-Type (also called the Jaguar XK120-C) was a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" designation stood for 'competition'.
The car used the running gear of the contemporary XK120 in a lightweight tubular frame and aerodynamic aluminium body. A total of 52 C-Types were built.
The road-going XK120’s 3.4 litre twin-cam, straight-6 engine produced between 160 and 180 bhp (134 kW). The version in the C-Type was originally tuned to around 205 bhp (153 kW). Later C-Types were more powerful, using triple twin-choke Weber carburettors and high-lift camshafts. They were also lighter, and from 1952 braking performance was improved by disc brakes on all four wheels. The lightweight, multi-tubular, triangulated frame was designed by Bob Knight. The aerodynamic body was designed by Malcolm Sayer. Made of aluminium in the barchetta style, it was devoid of road-going items such as carpets, weather equipment and exterior door handles.
The C-Type was successful in racing, most notably at the Le Mans 24 hours race, which it won twice.
In 1951 the car won at its first attempt. The factory entered three, whose driver pairings were Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman, Leslie Johnson and 3-times Mille Miglia winner Clemente Biondetti, and – the eventual winners – Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead. The Walker/Whitehead car was the only one to finish, the other two retiring with lack of oil pressure.
In 1952 Jaguar, worried by a report about the speed of the Mercedes-Benz 300SLs that would run at Le Mans, modified the C-Type’s aerodynamics to increase the top speed. However, the consequent rearrangement of the cooling system made the car vulnerable to overheating. [1] All three retired from the race. The Peter Whitehead /Ian Stewart and Tony Rolt/Duncan Hamilton (racing driver) cars blew head gaskets, and the Stirling Moss/Peter Walker car, the only one not overheating, lost oil pressure after a mechanical breakage.
In 1953 a C-Type won again. This time the body was in thinner, lighter aluminium and the original triple SU carburetors were replaced by three Webers, which helped boost power to 220 bhp (164 kW). Philip Porter mentions additional changes:
Further weight was saved by using a rubber bag fuel tank . . .lighter electrical equipment and thinner gauge steel for some of the chassis tubes. […] [T]he most significant change to the cars was the [switch to] disc brakes.”
Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt won the race at 105.85 mph {170.34 km/h} – the first time Le Mans had been won at an average of over 100 mph. 1954, the C-Type's final year at Le Mans, saw a fourth place by the Ecurie Francorchamps entry driven by Roger Laurent and Jacques Swaters.
1953 Jaguar C-type rear
Jaguar Cars Ltd., better known simply as Jaguar is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Coventry, England. It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors Ltd. since March 2008 and is operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business.
Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before switching to passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War II due to the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials.
The Jaguar C-Type (also called the Jaguar XK120-C) was a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" designation stood for 'competition'.
The car used the running gear of the contemporary XK120 in a lightweight tubular frame and aerodynamic aluminium body. A total of 52 C-Types were built.
The road-going XK120’s 3.4 litre twin-cam, straight-6 engine produced between 160 and 180 bhp (134 kW). The version in the C-Type was originally tuned to around 205 bhp (153 kW). Later C-Types were more powerful, using triple twin-choke Weber carburettors and high-lift camshafts. They were also lighter, and from 1952 braking performance was improved by disc brakes on all four wheels. The lightweight, multi-tubular, triangulated frame was designed by Bob Knight. The aerodynamic body was designed by Malcolm Sayer. Made of aluminium in the barchetta style, it was devoid of road-going items such as carpets, weather equipment and exterior door handles.
The C-Type was successful in racing, most notably at the Le Mans 24 hours race, which it won twice.
In 1951 the car won at its first attempt. The factory entered three, whose driver pairings were Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman, Leslie Johnson and 3-times Mille Miglia winner Clemente Biondetti, and – the eventual winners – Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead. The Walker/Whitehead car was the only one to finish, the other two retiring with lack of oil pressure.
In 1952 Jaguar, worried by a report about the speed of the Mercedes-Benz 300SLs that would run at Le Mans, modified the C-Type’s aerodynamics to increase the top speed. However, the consequent rearrangement of the cooling system made the car vulnerable to overheating. [1] All three retired from the race. The Peter Whitehead /Ian Stewart and Tony Rolt/Duncan Hamilton (racing driver) cars blew head gaskets, and the Stirling Moss/Peter Walker car, the only one not overheating, lost oil pressure after a mechanical breakage.
In 1953 a C-Type won again. This time the body was in thinner, lighter aluminium and the original triple SU carburetors were replaced by three Webers, which helped boost power to 220 bhp (164 kW). Philip Porter mentions additional changes:
Further weight was saved by using a rubber bag fuel tank . . .lighter electrical equipment and thinner gauge steel for some of the chassis tubes. […] [T]he most significant change to the cars was the [switch to] disc brakes.”
Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt won the race at 105.85 mph {170.34 km/h} – the first time Le Mans had been won at an average of over 100 mph. 1954, the C-Type's final year at Le Mans, saw a fourth place by the Ecurie Francorchamps entry driven by Roger Laurent and Jacques Swaters.