1951 Jaguar XK120

This car took part in the Aston Martin + Other Pre-War/50's Sports Cars Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Nicholas Wilkins and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc Jaguar XK engine. The XK120 was produced from 1948 to 1954 and was used for racing and rallying from the start, leading to the Le Mans winning C-Type and D-Types. It was later succeeded by the XK140 and then the XK150.

Jaguars

I took this photograph of two Jaguars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting in July 2000.

On the left is a 1950 Jaguar XK120 with the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK engine. The car on the right appears to be a Jaguar D Type and the DVLA records say that it is a 1956 Jaguar XKSS D Type, first registered (presumably in its converted form) in 1990, with a 3.8 litre engine. The original XKSS cars were produced in 1957 when Jaguar converted 25 unsold D-Types into road cars, although 9 of these cars were destroyed in a fire at the Browns Lane factory before they left the production line.

1950 Jaguar XK120

This was one of the exhibits at the Northern Classic Car Show in Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1984.

It's Ian Appleyard's 1950 Jaguar XK120, most famous for its exploits in the Alpine Rally, where it won a Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Cup) in 1950, which was awarded for finishing the event unpenalised. Ian Appleyard repeated this feat with the car in 1951 and 1952, thus being awarded a Coupe d'Or (Gold Cup) for winning a Coupe des Alpes in three consecutive years. He also won the RAC Rally and the Tulip Rally in 1951 with NUB 120.

1951 Jaguar XK120

This car took part in the Aston Martin + Other Pre-War/50's Sports Cars Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Nicholas Wilkins and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc Jaguar XK engine. The XK120 was produced from 1948 to 1954 and was used for racing and rallying from the start, leading to the Le Mans winning C-Type and D-Types. It was later succeeded by the XK140 and then the XK150.

 

1954 Jaguar XK120

I took this photograph at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It's a 1954 Jaguar XK120 drophead coupé with the 3,442cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK engine. The XK120 was introduced in 1949 as an open 2 seater, followed by the fixed head coupé in 1951 and the drophead coupé in 1953. 12,055 cars were built in total before production ended in 1954.

1951 Jaguar XK120

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the ITD Consultants/JEC Jaguar XK Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

It's Geoffrey Ottley in his 1951 Jaguar which he purchased in 1981 and has been competing with continuously since 1985, driving the car to and from the meetings on most occasions. It has the 3,442cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK6 engine. This article tells the story of Geoffrey Ottley's ownership of the car.

1950s Sports Car Racing at Oulton Park

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

Leading is Tim Reid in his 1960 Lola MkI followed by Paul Kennelly in a 1950 Jaguar XK120. The next car is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont then the 1955 Austin Healey 100M of Robert Rawe, and Mark Hoble's 1954 Triumph TR2.

Mainly Jaguars

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane on the first lap of the AMOC 50s Sports Cars and Verdenstein JEC XK Challenge Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

The leaders have already gone past, but at the head of this group is the Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas followed by the Jaguar XK120 of Darren McWhirter and the Austin Healey 100/4 of Martyn Corfield. The white car is the Jaguar XK120 of Andrew Wenman then the Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and the Jaguar XK140 of Alexis De Beaumont.

1956 Lotus Eleven

This car competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven of Neil Davies which the programme of the event says has a 1,480cc engine. The Lotus Eleven was designed by Colin Chapman and the aerodynamic body by Frank Costin and was intended to compete in the 1,100cc sports car class. A Lotus Eleven with a 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine driven by Reg Bicknell and Peter Jopp finished in seventh place in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, winning the 1,100cc class. The Lotus Eleven was raced with various other engine sizes up to 1,500cc, and for the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour Race Coventry Climax produced the 744cc FWC engine that enabled the Lotus Eleven of Cliff Allison and Keith Hall to win the 750cc class, and also the Index of Performance.

The car immediately behind the Lotus is the 1956 Cooper T39 Bobtail of Marshall Bailey that competed (with the number 19) in the Bonhams Drum Brake Sports Car Race. The number 6 car appears to be the 1955 Jaguar D-Type XKD505 that won the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour Race driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb, but the car isn't listed in any of the races in the programme of this event. Just visible on the right-hand side with the WEB 6 number plate is the 1950 Jaguar XK120 of Nigel Webb.

1952 Jaguar XK120 Jabbeke Special Replica

This car was displayed by Jaguar XK specialists Guy Broad Parts on their stand in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

In 1953 Jaguar's test and development driver Norman Dewis in a Jaguar XK120  set a World Speed Record for production cars in a 2-way run over a flying mile of Belgium's Jabbeke motorway with an average speed of 140.789mph. Later in the year the record was beaten by a Spanish Pegaso with 150.13 mph, but Norman Dewis and the Jaguar returned to Jabbeke in October 1953 and reclaimed the record at 173.159 mph. The car pictured above is a replica of that car, constructed by Guy Broad's Broadsport company.

1950s XK Jaguars

These cars all competed in the AMOC 50sSports Cars Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

This car is not listed in the programme of the event, but it's the Jaguar XK120 of Siamak Siassis and should have the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. 12,055 of these cars were made between 1949 and 1954.

Another car not shown in the programme, this is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont, chassis S804523, and has the 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine. The Jaguar XK140 was produced between 1954 and 1957, and was only offered with the 3,442cc version of the engine, so the larger engine must be a subsequent replacement.

This is the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and has the 3,781cc version of the XK6 engine. The XK150 was produced from 1957 to 1961, initially with the 3,442cc engine, and the 3,781cc unit was offered as an alternative on the S and SE models from 1959.

This is the 3,781cc Jaguar XK6 engine of the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas, the larger unit  replacing the original 3,442cc engine.

Jaguars

I took this photograph at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's a line of Jaguars, three XK120 fixed head coupés and, second from the left, an XK150 drophead coupé. The Jaguar XK120 was introduced at the 1948 London Motor Show, the early cars having a wood-framed open two-seater body with aluminium panels, but replaced by an all-steel body early in 1950. All the XK120s had the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. In 1954 the XK120 was succeeded by the XK140 which was outwardly very similar to the XK120, but had various improvements including the engine and dashboard being moved forward 3 inches to give the driver more legroom. The XK140 was then succeeded in 1957 by the XK150 which was rather more obviously different to the two earlier cars, having a one-piece windscreen, a wider grille and a straighter wing line from front to rear. It started production with the same 3,442cc engine, but from 1959 the 3,781cc engine became available as an alternative. Production of the XK150 ended in early 1961 with the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type.

1951 Jaguar XK120

This car took part in the HSCC Historic Road Sports Championship race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

It's the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Melvyn Floyd, originally built with a 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc engine, but having a 3.8 litre engine according to the programme of the event.

Here's the car at Foulstons chicane during the race leading the 1967 Ford Mustang of Adam Simmonds. He is followed by the 1973 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV of Jonathan Hartop and (I think) the 1971 Lotus Elan of Richard Lawson.

1952 Jaguar XK120

This is one of the cars that was displayed at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester, in August 1990.

It's a Jaguar XK120 and the only note about it I made at the time is that it was a 1952 model. It will have the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc engine. The DVLA record says that the XK 1 registration still exists on a black Jaguar, though it doesn't say which model, just that it was manufactured in 1950. Strangely for such an eye-catching number I can't find any reference to it on the Internet.

Jaguars

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

The car on the left is a 1950 Jaguar XK120, chassis 670128, which has the 3,442cc straight 6 engine, but I can't make out a race number on it and it doesn't appear to be listed in the programme of the event. On the right is the 1952 Jaguar C-Type replica of Nick Rossi, also with the 3,442cc engine, and is one of several cars created by Peter Jaye, this one being based on a Jaguar XK120. The C-Type took part in the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship race at this Gold Cup meeting.

Jaguar D-Type

This photograph was taken at McLeans Corner on the first lap of the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race at the HGPCA's Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting in May 2004.

Leading is the Ben Eastick in his 1955 Jaguar D-Type with another Jaguar, the 1950 XK120 of Nigel Webb, in second place. Bringing up the rear is John Clark in his Lola Mk1.

TVR Griffith

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the HSCC Historic Road Sports Championship Race at the HSCC's Historic Tribute Meeting at Silverstone in June 2004.

Leading is Laurence Bailey in his 1965 TVR Griffith with a 289 cu in (4.7 litres) V8 engine followed by Graeme Dodd's 3.8 litre 1954 Jaguar XK120. In the background and approaching Priory corner are the yellow 2 litre 1969 Porsche 911T of Nobu Asai and the red 2 litre 1965 Porsche 911 of Michael Masters.

Jaguar XK120

Here are three Jaguar XK120s that took part in the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

This is Andrew Wenman's 1952 car which the programme of the event says had a 3.8 litre engine instead of the 3.4 litre unit of the original XK120.

This is the 1951 car of Chris Keith-Lucas, again with the larger 3.8 litre engine.

This is another 1951 car, that of Simiak Siassi, and it's a replica of the three lightweight Jaguar XK120s that were prepared for the 1951 Le Mans 24 Hour race when it was thought that the new C-Types would not be ready in time. The XK120s did not race, however, as the C-Types were available for the race which was won by one of those cars, driven by Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead.

You can see all three of these cars in a couple of the photographs I took at Britten's chicane during the race when I featured an Austin Healey 100/4 on 7 March 2018, though Simiak Siassi's car is almost hidden behind a blue Jaguar XK140 Coupe.

Jaguar

These cars took part in the Italy v Rest of the World Race for Pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

On the left is the 1952 Jaguar C-Type of David Wenman that was driven in the race by Tony Stephens. It's chassis XKC008 and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine that powered all the C-Types, and was originally owned by Leslie Johnson who drove it in the 1953 Mille Miglia but failed to finish the race. The car on the right is the 1954 Jaguar XK120 of George Holt, again with the 3,442cc XK6 engine.

Scrutineering Bay

The first thing competitors have to do when they arrive at a circuit is to take their car to the scrutineering bay for it to be checked to ensure that it complies with all the relevant regulations and is in a safe condition to take part in the racing. I took this photograph at the scrutineering bay at Oulton Park at the Gold Cup meeting in August 2002.

Car number 28 (actually number 24 in the programme of the event) is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Trevor Groom, chassis number 804394. This car has the straight-6 DOHC 3,442cc XK6 engine whereas the car next to it, the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Richard Hackett, has the larger 3,781cc version of that engine. The red car behind is the 1,995cc 1977 Lancia Beta Monte Carlo of Gordon Russell, and the car number 6 in the background waiting its turn to be checked is the 7,206cc Chrysler V8-engined 1970 Jensen Interceptor of John Gadbury.