Jaguar Car Club of Victoria

The birth of the C Type probably came from a suggestion from that great engineer Walter Hassen in a memo to Lyons where he pointed out that all Jaguar's serious opposition came from special competition cars. He believed it essential that Jaguar should build a competition model themselves.

In October 1950 Lyons gave the green light to develop the CK120C - C meaning competition. It was patently obvious to Lyons that a successful car at Le Mans would provide excellent publicity with resultant increased sales, at home and overseas, especially in the lucrative USA market.

With the exception of the wonderful XK engine, an entirely new car was designed. A tubular space frame was developed. Malcolm Sayer, Jaguar's aerodynamicist provided the stroke of genius with his beautiful and sleek aluminium body. Weight was reduced to 1016kg, 300kg lighter than the XK. Rack and pinion steering and a mass of other mechanical improvements were designed, built and developed in time for the June 1951 Le Mans race )October 1950 - June 1951 - an astonishing effort). Three cars were completed in time for the race. History books show the C Type of Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead won with a record average speed of more than 93mph (150kph)!

1954 saw the all new D Type unveiled. The magnesium alloy monocoque construction gave excellent structural strength. A substantial front subframe was attached to carry the engine and suspension and the rear axel and suspension were attached to the rear mono bulkhead.

A major change to the engine was to use a dry-sump lubrication system which allowed a lower frontal height and provided improved oil flow via 2 oil pumps and an oil cooler. Power output was up to 250bhp. However Le Mans success did not come to the Jaguar D type until 1955 with Hawthorn/Bueb winning a race marred by the tragic accident involving the Mercedes driven by Revegh.

The announcement of the XKSS in June 1957 was seen by some as a handy way of shifting unwanted D Type stock but just 16 were converted from D Types when a disastrous fire at Browns Lane on 12 February 1957 consumed 300 finished or near finished cars including 5 D types scheduled for conversion together with all the relevant tooling. This put an end to the now fabled XKSS line.