Jaguar in Motorsport

HISTORY OF JAGUAR IN MOTORSPORT

Jaguar has had major success in sports car racing, particularly in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Victories came in 1951 and 1953 with the C-Type, then in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the D-Type. The manager of the racing team during this period, Lofty England, later became CEO of Jaguar in the early 1970s. Although the prototype XJ13 was built in the mid-1960s it was never raced.

In 1982, a successful relationship with Tom Walkinshaw Racing commenced, with the XJ-S competing in the European Touring Car Championship, which it won in 1984. A TWR XJ-S won the 1985 Bathurst 1000. In the mid-1980s, TWR started designing and preparing Jaguar V12-engined Group C cars for World Sports Prototype Championship races. The team started winning regularly from 1987, and won Le Mans in 1988 and 1990 with the XJR series sports cars. The Jaguar XJR-14 was the last of the XJRs to win, taking the 1991 World Sportscar Championship.

Jaguar XJ-S won the 1984 European Touring Car Championship.

In 1999, Ford decided that Jaguar would be the corporation's Formula One entry. Ford bought out the Milton Keynes-based Stewart Grand Prix team and re-branded it "Jaguar Racing" for the 2000 season. The Jaguar F1 program was not a success, achieving only two podium finishes in five seasons of competition between 2000 and 2004. At the end of 2004, with costs mounting and Ford's profits dwindling, the F1 team was seen as an unneeded expense and was sold to Red Bull and re-branded Red Bull Racing.

The Jaguar R5 being driven by Mark Webber in 2004—the team's last season in F1

On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Jaguar would return to motorsport for the third season of Formula E.

On 15 June 2018, Jaguar Vector Racing broke the world speed record for an electric battery powered boat. The Jaguar Vector V20E recorded an average speed of 88.61 mph across the two legs of the 1 km course on Coniston Water, England.^[75]

Notable sports racers:

Credit: Wikipedia