A 1952 Jaguar C-type participating in the RAC Woodcote Trophy for Pre '56 Sports Cars, during the 2017 Silverstone Classic
The Jaguar C-Type (also called the Jaguar XK120-C) is a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" stands for "competition". The car used the running gear (Moss gearbox) of the contemporary road proven XK120 in a lightweight tubular frame (devised by William Heynes) and aerodynamic aluminium body designed by Malcolm Sayer. A total of 53 C-Types were built, 43 of which were sold to private owners mainly in the UShe 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 triple Mille Miglia winner Clemente Biondetti, and the eventual winners, Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead. The Walker-Whitehead car was the only factory entry to finish, the other two retiring with lack of oil pressure. A privately entered XK120, owned by Robert Lawrie, co-driven by Ivan Waller, also completed the race, finishing 11th. 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 cars vulnerable to overheating, and all three retired from the race. The Peter Whitehead-Ian Stewart and Tony Rolt/Duncan Hamilton cars blew head gaskets, and the Stirling Moss-Peter Walker car, the only one not overheating having had a full-sized radiator hurriedly fitted, lost oil pressure after a mechanical by Norman Dewis at MIRA after the race proved that the overheating was caused more by the revisions to the cooling system than by the altered aerodynamics: the water pump pulley was undersized, so it was spinning too fast and causing cavitation; also the header tank was in front of the passenger-side bulkhead, far from the radiator, and the tubing diameter was too small at 7/8 inch.
Size: 3645px × 2182px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, UK
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -type, 24, 1952, 2017, 3442cc, 56, car, cars, classic, competition-sports, driver, green, historic, hours, jaguar, le, mans, nigel, pre, rac, race, rare, roadster, silverstone, sports, trophy, webb, woodcote
