Blog posts of '2010' 'January'

Jaguar and Jaguar XJ13 or xj13.eu The jaguarheritage.org Hassan jaguarheritage.com Wilson jaguar heritage jag-lovers or jdht. Jaguar.com engine xclusively-jaguar Brand new website celebrating the genius of Malcolm Sayer exclusively jaguar; wiki, wikipedia - wikipaedia. Norman Dewis A team of Jaguar factory workers came up with an idea over lunch. "Let's race an XF at the Nurburgring 24h this year". Peter Wilson It never ceases to amaze me just how many original parts and original unpublished accounts/documents still turn up for the XJ13/quad-cam engines after so many years. Recent discoveries have included a complete set of UNUSED inlet valves for the quad-cam heads as well as previously undiscovered photos taken at the time of the original build in 1965. I can add these items to the growing list of items that have surfaced - including an original-spec ZF "Dash 1" transaxle which was still in its crate from the 1960s. The transaxle is currently being rebuilt and will incorporate changes made by Jaguar for the original XJ13. This includes using a pair of ORIGINAL XJ13 driveshafts used on the XJ13 during its development. I need to research a little further but it is entirely possible these driveshafts were in place when David Hobbs set the UK closed-circuit record of 167.5mph in 1967. Walter Hassan or xke and c-type and d-type - e-type - CX - CX-75 - xj-13 - building the legend - racing the legend - le mans - prototype. XJ13 - The definitive story of the Jaguar Le Mans car and the V12 engine that powered it. This was no ordinary gathering, as those present included many surviving members of the team that were originally involved in the original XJ13 car as well as the development of the engine that powered it. Those present included Norman Dewis, George Buck, Frank Philpott, Jim Eastick, Ron Greves, Mike Kimberley, Roger Shelbourne, Robert Berry, Peter Taylor and Peter Wilson himself. As the build of the "trial" all-steel monocoque/chassis progresses, I wanted to consider the materials that should be used for construction of the component parts of my final version. Jaguar themselves went through a similar exercise in 1964 when the XJ13 had reached an advanced design stage. Before then, in the few years leading up to 1964, various studies/reports were made on things such as the shape of the overall body, the design of the underlying chassis structure and suspension design. One, quite advanced, design was for a rather more integrated monocoque design as shown in the following sketch from the November of 1963: The above has now been confirmed by XJ13-expert Peter Wilson in an excerpt from his forthcoming book which appears in the November 2011 issue of "Jaguar World". I can now add further confirmation of these facts from a collection of previously unknown and unpublished original documentation. These documents were in the personal collection of the late Claude Baily - the architect of Jaguar's quad-cam V12, their legendary XK engine and quad-cam 90° 8 litre V8 amongst others. Michael J. Kimberley (“Mike”) C.Eng., F.I. Mech. E., F.R.S.A., F.I.E.D, F.I.M.I has had a remarkable career in the motor industry over the last 56 years, working with some of the great engineers, innovators and leaders of the worlds motor companies. Mike started as an apprentice with Jaguar in 1953 before rapidly progressing to becoming in Section Leader, Special Projects at Jaguar in 1965 where he lead the team developing the Jaguar XJ13 Le Mans car, under such famous names as Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons and Jaguar race director Frank (Lofty) England ...." It was David Hobbs who set the closed course record (167.5 MPH) for UK with the XJ13. This record lasted for 19 years. Hobbs' first race was in 1959 driving his mother's Morris Oxford. He turned professional in 1964 and raced extensively world wide for 30 years. His last race driven was the Masters Championship in 1993. Development Jaguar had considered the manufacture of a DOHC V12 engine as far back as 1950,[2] initially for racing purposes, and then developing a SOHC road going version, unlike the XK which was designed as a production engine and later pressed into service for racing. The engine design was essentially two XK 6-cylinder engines on a common crankshaft with an aluminium cylinder block, although there were differences in the inlet porting, valve angles and combustion chamber shape. The first engine ran in July 1964. The idea of a mid-engined prototype was first mooted in 1960, but it was not until 1965 that construction began, with the first car running by March 1966. The aluminium body was designed by Malcolm Sayer, the aerodynamicist responsible for the Jaguar C-type, D-type, E-type and XJS, who used his Bristol Aeroplane Company background to build it using techniques borrowed from the aircraft industry.[3] The task of building the car was entrusted to Bob Blake - described by his contemporaries as "An Artist in Metal".[4] The XJ13 had mid-engine format with the 5.0 litre V12 engine mounted behind the driver, used as a stressed chassis member together with the five-speed manual ZF Transaxle driving the rear wheels. The front suspension wishbones were similar to that of the E-Type, however where the E-Type used longitudinal torsion bars, the XJ13 had more conventional coil spring/damper units. At the rear there again remained similarities with the E-Type—the use of driveshafts as upper transverse links—however the rest was quite different, with two long radius arms per side angling back from the central body tub together with a single fabricated transverse lower link. The development of the XJ13, although treated seriously by the designers, was never a priority for company management (despite assistant MD Lofty England's Le Mans success in the 1950s), and became less so following the 1966 merger with BMC. By that time Ford had developed the 7.0 litre GT40, and so the XJ13 was considered obsolete by the time the prototype was complete. The prototype was tested at MIRA and at Silverstone, which confirmed that it would have required considerable development to make it competitive. The prototype was put into storage and no further examples were made. In 1971 the Series 3 E-type was about to be launched with Jaguar's first production V12 engine. The publicity team wanted a shot of the XJ13 at speed for the opening sequence of the film launching the V12 E-Type. On 21 January 1971, the XJ13 was taken to MIRA for the filming with Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis at the wheel. Unfortunately, a rear tyre deflated at speed, the car rolled heavily and was nearly destroyed although Norman Dewis was fortunately unharmed. The wreck of the car was put back into storage. Some years later, Edward Loades spotted the crashed XJ13 in storage at Jaguar and made the offer to 'Lofty' England that his company Abbey Panels should rebuild the car. The car was rebuilt, to a specification similar to the original, using some of the body jigs made for its original construction and at a cost of £1000 to Jaguar. The XJ13 finally made its public debut in July 1973 when 'Lofty' drove it around Silverstone at the British Grand Prix meeting and it is now displayed in the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust collection located in Coventry; however, this museum is scheduled to be shut down in September 2012. Plans are being made for a replacement museum although this may be a few years away.[5] Our mission at Jaguar has been to create and build beautiful fast cars. The XK, XF and XJ bring the exhilaration of driving to life. If you're interested in seeing how Jaguar cars are made, we can arrange a guided tour around our manufacturing plant at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. The two-hour visit lets you see for yourself the care and attention which goes into building every single model that leaves our facilities. Each tour includes a short film/introduction, followed by a guided tour, which lets you experience at first hand, the craftsmanship and expertise which goes into all aspects of Jaguar manufacturing. 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