Jaguar D-type
Encyclopedia
The Jaguar D-Type, like its predecessor the C-Type
, was a factory-built race car. Although it shared the basic straight-6
XK
engine design (initially 3.4 litres and uprated to 3.8 litres in the late fifties) with the C-Type, the majority of the car was radically different. Perhaps its most ground-breaking innovations were the use of disc brakes, and the introduction of a monocoque
chassis
, which not only introduced aircraft-style engineering to competition car design, but also an aeronautical understanding of aerodynamic efficiency
. The D-Type was introduced purely for competition, but after Jaguar withdrew from racing, the company offered the remaining, unfinished chassis as the roadgoing Jaguar XKSS
, by making changes to the racers: adding an extra seat, another door, a full-width windshield
and primitive folding top, as concessions to practicality. However, on the evening of 12 February 1957, a fire broke out at the Browns Lane plant destroying nine of the twenty five cars that had already been completed or in semi-completion. Production is thought to have included 53 customer D-Types, 18 factory team cars, and 16 XKSS versions.
The new chassis followed aircraft engineering practice, being manufactured according to monocoque
principles. The central tub, within which the driver sat, was formed from sheets of aluminium
alloy. To this was attached an aluminium tubing subframe carrying the bonnet
, engine, front suspension, and steering assembly. The rear suspension and final drive were mounted directly onto the monocoque itself. Fuel was carried in deformable bags inside cells within the monocoque; another aircraft innovation.
The highly efficient, aerodynamic bodywork was largely the work of Malcolm Sayer
, who joined Jaguar following a stint with the Bristol Aeroplane Company
during the Second World War. Although he also worked on the C-Type, the limitations of the conventional separate chassis did not allow full expression of his talent. For the D-Type, Sayer insisted on a minimal frontal area. To reduce its height, Haynes and former-Bentley
engineer Walter Hassan
developed dry sump
lubrication for the XK engine. By also canting the engine over by 8° (resulting in the trademark, off-centre bonnet bulge) the reduction in area was achieved. Care was taken to reduce drag caused by the underbody, resulting in an
unusually high top speed; for the long Mulsanne Straight
at Le Mans
, a large vertical stabiliser was mounted behind the driver's head for aerodynamic stability with minimum drag. For the 1955 season, factory cars were fitted with a revised, long-nose version of the bodywork, which increased top speed even further.
Mechanically, many features were shared with the outgoing C-Type. The ground-breaking disc brakes were retained, as was the XK engine. Apart from the new lubrication system, as development progressed during the D-Type's competition life the engine was also revised. 1955 saw the introduction of larger valves
, and an asymmetrical cylinder head
design within which to accommodate them.
Elements of the body shape and many construction details were used in the iconic Jaguar E-Type
.
The D-Type, produced by a team whose leader was Jaguar's race manager Lofty England
, was expected to perform well at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans
race. In the event, the cars were hampered by sand in their fuel. When it had been removed, the entry driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt
speeded up to finish less than a lap behind the winning Ferrari
.
For 1955 the cars were modified with long-nose bodywork and engines uprated with larger valves. At Le Mans
they proved a good match for the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs
, which had been expected to win; but the contest was curtailed by one of the worst accidents in motorsport history
. Early in the race, Pierre Levegh's
SLR clipped the tail of an Austin-Healey
driven by Lance Macklin
, sending Levegh’s car into the hay-bale barrier. It erupted in flames, and exploded into the crowd. More than 80 people, including Levegh, were killed, and many more injured. Mercedes withdrew from the race, although at the time of the accident Juan Manuel Fangio
’s SLR was in the lead, and Jaguar opted to continue. The D-Type driven by Mike Hawthorn
and Ivor Bueb
went on to win the race. Afterwards, some blamed the accident on Hawthorn for swerving his D-Type in front of the Austin-Healey.
Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1955 season, and Jaguar again entered Le Mans in 1956
. Although only one of the three works cars finished, in 6th place, the race was won by a D-Type entered by the small Edinburgh
-based team Ecurie Ecosse
and driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson
. The car beat works teams from both Aston Martin
and Scuderia Ferrari
.
Away from Le Mans, the Cunningham team raced several Jaguar D-Types after being offered the automobiles by Jaguar's head, Sir William Lyons
, if Briggs Cunningham
would stop building his own automobiles. In May 1956, the Cunningham team's entries in the Cumberland circuit in Maryland included three D-Types, in the white-and-blue Cunningham Team colors, for drivers John Fitch
, John Gordon Benett, and Sherwood Johnston.
Although Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season, 1957 proved to be the D-Type's most successful year. D-Types took five of the top six places at Le Mans
; Ecurie Ecosse (with considerable support from Jaguar, and a 3.8-litre engine) again took the win, and also second place. This was the best result in the D-Type’s racing history.
A change in the rules for the 1958 Le Mans race
limited engine size to 3 litres for sports racing cars, which ended the domination of the D-Type with its 3.8-litre XK engine. Jaguar developed a 3-litre version to power D-Types in the 1958, 1959 and 1960 Le Mans races but it was unreliable, and by 1960 it no longer produced sufficient power to be competitive.
The D-Type’s star waned as support from Jaguar decreased and the cars from rival manufacturers became more competitive. Although it continued to be one of the cars to beat in club racing and national events, the D-Type never again achieved a podium finish at Le Mans. By the early 1960s it was obsolete.
Jaguar C-Type
The Jaguar C-Type is a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" designation stood for "competition"....
, was a factory-built race car. Although it shared the basic straight-6
Straight-6
The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...
XK
Jaguar XK6 engine
The renowned Jaguar XK dual overhead camshaft inline 6-cylinder engine was introduced in 1949 and continued in manufacture until 1992. It was produced in five displacements for Jaguar passenger cars, with other sizes being made by Jaguar and privateers for racing...
engine design (initially 3.4 litres and uprated to 3.8 litres in the late fifties) with the C-Type, the majority of the car was radically different. Perhaps its most ground-breaking innovations were the use of disc brakes, and the introduction of a monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
, which not only introduced aircraft-style engineering to competition car design, but also an aeronautical understanding of aerodynamic efficiency
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
. The D-Type was introduced purely for competition, but after Jaguar withdrew from racing, the company offered the remaining, unfinished chassis as the roadgoing Jaguar XKSS
Jaguar XKSS
The Jaguar XKSS was a road-going version of the Jaguar D-Type racing car.After Jaguar withdrew from racing the company offered the remaining, unfinished chassis as the roadgoing Jaguar XKSS, by making changes to the racers: adding an extra seat, another door, a full-width windshield and folding...
, by making changes to the racers: adding an extra seat, another door, a full-width windshield
Windshield
The windshield or windscreen of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike or tram is the front window. Modern windshields are generally made of laminated safety glass, a type of treated glass, which consists of two curved sheets of glass with a plastic layer laminated between them for safety, and are glued...
and primitive folding top, as concessions to practicality. However, on the evening of 12 February 1957, a fire broke out at the Browns Lane plant destroying nine of the twenty five cars that had already been completed or in semi-completion. Production is thought to have included 53 customer D-Types, 18 factory team cars, and 16 XKSS versions.
Design
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
principles. The central tub, within which the driver sat, was formed from sheets of aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
alloy. To this was attached an aluminium tubing subframe carrying the bonnet
Hood (vehicle)
The hood or bonnet is the hinged cover over the engine of motor vehicles that allows access to the engine compartment for maintenance and repair. In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car...
, engine, front suspension, and steering assembly. The rear suspension and final drive were mounted directly onto the monocoque itself. Fuel was carried in deformable bags inside cells within the monocoque; another aircraft innovation.
The highly efficient, aerodynamic bodywork was largely the work of Malcolm Sayer
Malcolm Sayer
Malcolm Sayer was an aircraft and car designer. His most notable work being the iconic E-Type Jaguar. He spent the last twenty years of his life working at Jaguar Cars and was one of the first engineers to apply principles of aerodynamics to car design.-Background:Sayer was born in Cromer,...
, who joined Jaguar following a stint with the Bristol Aeroplane Company
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines...
during the Second World War. Although he also worked on the C-Type, the limitations of the conventional separate chassis did not allow full expression of his talent. For the D-Type, Sayer insisted on a minimal frontal area. To reduce its height, Haynes and former-Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
engineer Walter Hassan
Walter Hassan
Walter Hassan OBE, C.Eng., M.I. Mech.E. was a distinguished UK automotive engineer who took part in the design and development of three very successful engines: Jaguar XK, Coventry Climax and Jaguar V12 as well as the ERA racing car....
developed dry sump
Dry sump
A dry sump is a lubricating motor oil management method for four-stroke and large two-stroke piston internal combustion engines that uses external pumps and a secondary external reservoir for oil, as compared to a conventional wet sump system....
lubrication for the XK engine. By also canting the engine over by 8° (resulting in the trademark, off-centre bonnet bulge) the reduction in area was achieved. Care was taken to reduce drag caused by the underbody, resulting in an
unusually high top speed; for the long Mulsanne Straight
Circuit de la Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe, located near Le Mans, France, is a semi-permanent race course most famous as the venue for the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. The track uses local roads that remain open to the public most of the year...
at Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
, a large vertical stabiliser was mounted behind the driver's head for aerodynamic stability with minimum drag. For the 1955 season, factory cars were fitted with a revised, long-nose version of the bodywork, which increased top speed even further.
Mechanically, many features were shared with the outgoing C-Type. The ground-breaking disc brakes were retained, as was the XK engine. Apart from the new lubrication system, as development progressed during the D-Type's competition life the engine was also revised. 1955 saw the introduction of larger valves
Poppet valve
A poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. The shaft guides the plug portion by sliding through a valve guide...
, and an asymmetrical cylinder head
Cylinder head
In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders on top of the cylinder block. It closes in the top of the cylinder, forming the combustion chamber. This joint is sealed by a head gasket...
design within which to accommodate them.
Elements of the body shape and many construction details were used in the iconic Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
.
Competition history
Lofty England
Frank Raymond Wilton "Lofty" England was an engineer and motor company manager from England. He rose to fame as the manager of the Jaguar Cars sports car racing team in the 1950s, during which time Jaguar cars won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race on five occasions...
, was expected to perform well at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans
1954 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 22nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 12 and 13 1954. It was also the fourth round of the World Sportscar Championship.-Official results:-Not Classified:...
race. In the event, the cars were hampered by sand in their fuel. When it had been removed, the entry driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt
Tony Rolt
Major Anthony Peter Roylance "Tony" Rolt, MC & Bar, was a British racing driver, soldier and engineer. He won the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix without scoring a championship point...
speeded up to finish less than a lap behind the winning Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
.
For 1955 the cars were modified with long-nose bodywork and engines uprated with larger valves. At Le Mans
1955 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 23rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 11 and 12, 1955. It was also the fourth round of the World Sportscar Championship....
they proved a good match for the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was a sportscar racing car for the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season, which it won.-Technical highlights:...
, which had been expected to win; but the contest was curtailed by one of the worst accidents in motorsport history
1955 Le Mans disaster
The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, when a crash caused large parts of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. The driver was killed, as were 83 spectators. A further 120 people were injured...
. Early in the race, Pierre Levegh's
Pierre Levegh
Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904...
SLR clipped the tail of an Austin-Healey
Austin-Healey
Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker. The marque was established through a joint-venture arrangement, set up in 1952 between Leonard Lord of the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation and the Donald Healey Motor Company, a renowned automotive engineering and design...
driven by Lance Macklin
Lance Macklin
Lance Noel Macklin was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952....
, sending Levegh’s car into the hay-bale barrier. It erupted in flames, and exploded into the crowd. More than 80 people, including Levegh, were killed, and many more injured. Mercedes withdrew from the race, although at the time of the accident Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio , nicknamed El Chueco or El Maestro , was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing...
’s SLR was in the lead, and Jaguar opted to continue. The D-Type driven by Mike Hawthorn
Mike Hawthorn
John Michael Hawthorn was a racing driver, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, and educated at Ardingly College, West Sussex.-Racing career:...
and Ivor Bueb
Ivor Bueb
Ivor Léon John Bueb was a sports car racing and Formula One driver from England....
went on to win the race. Afterwards, some blamed the accident on Hawthorn for swerving his D-Type in front of the Austin-Healey.
1956 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 24th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 28 and 29 1956.Following the events of 1955, the front stretch and pit lane were redesigned in order to enhance driver and spectator safety...
. Although only one of the three works cars finished, in 6th place, the race was won by a D-Type entered by the small Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
-based team Ecurie Ecosse
Ecurie Ecosse
Ecurie Ecosse was a motor racing team from Scotland. The team was founded in 1952 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson, its most notable achievement was winning both the 1956 and 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team also raced in three Formula One races...
and driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson
Ninian Sanderson
Ninian Sanderson was a car dealer, sports car racing driver, and winner of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans....
. The car beat works teams from both Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
and Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
.
Away from Le Mans, the Cunningham team raced several Jaguar D-Types after being offered the automobiles by Jaguar's head, Sir William Lyons
William Lyons
Sir William Lyons , known as "Mr. Jaguar", was with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley, the co-founder in 1922 of the Swallow Sidecar Company, which became Jaguar Cars Limited after the Second World War....
, if Briggs Cunningham
Briggs Cunningham
Briggs Swift Cunningham II was an American entrepreneur and sportsman, who raced automobiles and yachts. Born into a wealthy family, he became a racing car constructor, driver, and team owner as well as a sports car manufacturer and automobile collector.He skippered the victorious yacht Columbia...
would stop building his own automobiles. In May 1956, the Cunningham team's entries in the Cumberland circuit in Maryland included three D-Types, in the white-and-blue Cunningham Team colors, for drivers John Fitch
John Fitch (driver)
John Cooper Fitch is a racecar driver born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the first American to race automobiles successfully in Europe in the postwar era...
, John Gordon Benett, and Sherwood Johnston.
Although Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season, 1957 proved to be the D-Type's most successful year. D-Types took five of the top six places at Le Mans
1957 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 25th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 22 and 23 1957. It was also the fifth round of the World Sportscar Championship.-Official results:-Did Not Finish:-Statistics:...
; Ecurie Ecosse (with considerable support from Jaguar, and a 3.8-litre engine) again took the win, and also second place. This was the best result in the D-Type’s racing history.
A change in the rules for the 1958 Le Mans race
1957 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 25th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 22 and 23 1957. It was also the fifth round of the World Sportscar Championship.-Official results:-Did Not Finish:-Statistics:...
limited engine size to 3 litres for sports racing cars, which ended the domination of the D-Type with its 3.8-litre XK engine. Jaguar developed a 3-litre version to power D-Types in the 1958, 1959 and 1960 Le Mans races but it was unreliable, and by 1960 it no longer produced sufficient power to be competitive.
The D-Type’s star waned as support from Jaguar decreased and the cars from rival manufacturers became more competitive. Although it continued to be one of the cars to beat in club racing and national events, the D-Type never again achieved a podium finish at Le Mans. By the early 1960s it was obsolete.
Value
The first factory production D-Type (XKD-509) was sold at Bonhams auction for £2,201,500 in July 2008. The previous highest confirmed price was £1,706,000, set in 1999.External links
- Coventry Racers - Pages for each of the 71 D-Types, including photos and short histories for many.
- Steve McQueen's XKSS