Jaguar XJ 13

jaguar
Jaguar XJ 13 at the Heritage Motor Center
XJ 13
Presentation year:	1966
Vehicle fair:
Class :	race car
Body shape :	Roadster
Engine:	Petrol engines : 5.0 liters (369 kW)
Length:	4813 mm
Width:	1803 mm
Height:	1003 mm
Production model:	none

The Jaguar XJ 13 was a sports car prototype with a V12 mid-engine that Jaguar wanted to use again in the Le Mans 24-hour race after a long break in 1966 or 1967 .

development

Jaguar had been thinking about a twelve-cylinder engine for racing since the early 1950s. In 1964 the project took shape, and a test engine with two overhead camshafts was soon available. The lines of this prototype developed from design studies by Malcolm Sayer , which was already completed as a single piece in mid-1966. However, the optimization in the small Jaguar development department could not be advanced with the necessary vigor. However, the rejection of racing engagements in the BMH , to which Jaguar had merged with Austin , Morris and MG in 1966 , and the success of the Ford GT40 , which has meanwhile dominated in racing , meant that this project was not pursued from 1967 onwards.

Accident and restoration

Jaguar XJ13

Rear view

Cockpit view

When the standard version of the V12 engine with only one overhead camshaft celebrated its world premiere in the Jaguar E-Type in 1971 , a short film sequence was also shot with the XJ 13 in support of advertising, in which it drove past the camera at top speed. On January 20, 1971, a rear tire burst during the filming at the MIRA test site near Nuneaton at around 220 km / h. The car overturned several times and was totaled. The driver, Jaguar test pilot Norman Dewis , was able to escape from the vehicle largely unharmed.

After Lofty England had replaced company founder Sir William Lyons at the helm, he had the XJ 13 restored two years later. Fortunately, the wooden molds that were used to make the original body parts still existed so that they could be faithfully reproduced. It was different with the wheels - in the accident two of them were completely destroyed and the mold used was no longer there. Therefore, other, wider wheels were mounted on the vehicle.

In its current condition, the vehicle is not an exact reproduction of the original. The wheelhouses are now exposed to accommodate the wider wheels. Some of the electrical and mechanical components have also changed.

literature

• Schrader, Halwart: Jaguar type compass - passenger cars since 1931 , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart (2001), ISBN 3-613-02106-4
• Stertkamp, ​​Heiner: Jaguar - The complete chronicle from 1922 to today , 2nd edition, Heel-Verlag (2006), ISBN 3-89880-337-6
• "Oldtimer Markt" magazine, August 2006 issue, ISSN  0943-7320
• Road & Track magazine , March 1972 issue, pp. 34–36 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JDHT Museum Tour - Jaguar XJ 13 jaguar.com, archived from the original on 1 October 2000 ; Retrieved July 26, 2013 .