Jaguar XJ13 will FINALLY run at Le Mans – 50 years on

The Jaguar XJ13 – a 1960s prototype mid-engined V12 Jaguar – will finally run at Le Mans, 50 years later than Jaguar had planned.

The Jaguar XJ13 isn’t exactly the best known Jaguar, but that’s probably because there’s only one, and it never fulfilled what it was built for – to race at Le Mans – although it does rank in the Top Ten Jaguars of all time list.

But the Jaguar XJ13 will race at Le Mans in 2016 – at the Le Mans Classic – finally fulfilling its destiny and purpose, although Jaguar are clearly more interested in the ill-fated XJ13 now than they were in the 1960s.

Created to challenge at Le Mans, the XJ13 got a 5.0 litre V12 engine created from a pair XK 6-cylinder engines, an aluminium body created by Malcolm Sayer (the man responsible for the aerodynamics of the C-Type, D-Type and E-Type), with David Hobbs as the main test driver.

The XJ13 also had a five-speed manual gearbox, similar suspension to the E-Type and terrific looks, although it was never a ‘lucky’ car, but it did set a closed lap record at Silverstone in the XJ13 in 1967, which stood until it was broken by the McLaren F1.

Not much loved by Jaguar management, the XJ13 was actually obsolete by the time it was finished, as racing regulations changed, so it never raced in period and was effectively mothballed.

The XJ13 was dragged out of mothballs in 1971 to help promote the new Series 3 E-Type, but it crashed heavily at MIRA during filming in the hands of Jaguar’s test driver Norman Dewis (who was, at the time, considered fully to blame) and ended up almost a wreck – although Dewis was unharmed.

The car was eventually rebuilt to a similar spec to the original, which has allowed Jaguar to roll it out for the Classic Le Mans this weekend.

Tim Hannig, JLR Classic Director, said:

Seeing the Jaguar XJ13 finally on track at Le Mans is going to be a real privilege for me and for everyone in the Jaguar Classic team. We have such an incredible history at this circuit, and it’s just a shame that the XJ13 never had the opportunity to write its own chapter there in period.

No celebration of Jaguar’s heritage would be complete without the XJ13 and we’re incredibly excited about hearing that incredible mid-mounted V12 flat-out on the Mulsanne straight.

The 2017 Le Mans Classic takes place this weekend – 8-10 July.