On This Day (June

The Last E-Type, chassis number 1S/2872, was built on 12 June 1974, retained by Jaguar cars, registered as HDU 555N in 1975 and ownership transferred to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in September 1983. Photo : HDU 555N taken with the work force.

On 16 June 1963 Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent raced their Lister-Costin-Jaguar at Le Mans. Unfortunately they retiring with clutch problems after 29 laps.

Lister-Costin Jaguar WTM 446 was the last works Lister team car built with a Frank Costin-designed space-frame chassis. It was fitted with a D-type engine and gearbox. Although the chassis was four years old, prospects of success at Le Mans seemed good. Drivers Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent ran steadily until just after three hours when the clutch bolts sheared. It turned that they were supplied with a bad batch of bolts and it was a disappointing outcome when so much effort had gone into the car. The aerodynamic coupé was very fast but had handling problems. It turned out that there was a design fault in the rear suspension which caused the rear wheels to toe out at speed. .

Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent acquired one of the 12 Jaguar Lightweight E-Types built in 1963, the sixth Lightweight, chassis number 850663, registered 49 FXN. At the Nürburgring 1,000 km in May 1963, Peter driving in rain and hail lost control of the E-Type and rolled end over end, demolishing the car. It was rebuilt around a new aluminium tub but overtime was redesigned to reduce drag with a more raked and flush-fitting windscreen, long tapering extended nose, modified rear and lowered by four inches. At Le Mans they had problems yet again. The car was very fast and achieved 174 mph (280 km/ hr) and they were well positioned, 12th, after five hours, but gearbox trouble developed and they retired at around midnight. . On 21 June 1964 Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent raced ‘Low Drag’ Lightweight E-Type 49 FXN at Le Mans, retiring with engine problems after 80 laps.

On 23 June 1957 D-types took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th places at the Le Mans 24 hour race. Photo: the race winning Jaguar D-Type of Flockhart/ Bueb that finished 27 laps ahead of the 5th placed V12 Ferrari.

On 24 June 1951 Peter Walker & Peter Whitehead won at Le Mans on their first attempt driving a Jaguar C-type, only six weeks after the car was built. In the end, the 3.4 litre Jaguar won at a canter, finishing 9-laps ahead of the second placed car (a 4.5 litre Talbot-Lago).

The 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 25th running of the event and took place on 22 and 23 June 1957. Some 250,000 spectators had gathered with the prospect of an exciting duel between Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Porsche. The big talking point was the non-appearance of the works Jaguar team, which had retired from racing at the end of the previous year; and the arrival in force of Maserati (Juan Fangio & Stirling Moss). Never before had a single nation swept the board so completely as Britain did in 1957. The great success of the Jaguars in taking the first four and sixth places became all the more significant when it is considered that all of the cars were privately entered (albeit with some factory support), and matched against the works entries of some of the greatest sport car manufacturers. Following the death of Annie Bousquet in the 1956 12 Hours of Reims, French officials instigated a ban on female drivers.

On 29 June 1952, 22-year old Stirling Moss won the Reims GP in a disc brake equipped Jaguar C-type at an average speed of 98 mph. Stirling Moss first drove a Jaguar in competition in 1950 which led William Lyons to ask him to lead the Jaguar Team, on the day before his 21st birthday! He drove for Jaguar Cars until the end of 1954 and remained a dedicated Jaguar fan. Sir Stirling was an inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition and has been described as “the greatest driver never to win the World Championship”. In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and in third place the other three times. The popular American adage of the time – “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” – was particularly apt for Jaguar’s XK120. It was later estimated that extra sales of the US$12 million were generated in the USA alone from their Le Mans C-Type win in 1951. Photo: 1951, Stirling Moss with William Lyons