Jaguar D-Type

Lore & Background

Engine displacement began at 3.4 litres, was enlarged to 3.8 L in 1957, and reduced to 3.0 L in 1958 when Le Mans rules limited engines for sports racing cars to that maximum. D-Types won Le Mans in 1955, 1956 and 1957. After Jaguar temporarily retired from racing as a factory team, the company offered the remaining unfinished D-Types as street-legal XKSS versions. In 1957, 25 of these cars were in various stages of completion when a factory fire destroyed nine of them. Total production is thought by some to have totaled 71 D-Types, including 18 for factory teams and 53 for privateers (plus an additional 16 D-Types were converted into road-legal XKSS versions). Jaguar is quoted as claiming it built 75 D-Types.

Reader's Guide

The design applied aeronautical technology, with a monocoque 'tub' of aluminium alloy. The aerodynamic body was the work of Malcolm Sayer. The engine was canted at 8½° from the vertical, and dry sump lubrication was developed. For the 1955 season, factory cars were fitted with a longer nose. Mechanically, the D-Type shared front and rear suspension and all-round disc brakes with the C-Type. Elements of the body shape and many construction details were used in the Jaguar E-Type from 1961 to 1969.

Did You Know?

• The D-Type's aerodynamic superiority is evident from its maximum speed of 172.8 mph on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans in 1954.
• In 1955, a D-Type driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb won Le Mans after the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history.
• In 1957, 3.8-litre D-Types took five of the top six places at Le Mans, with Ecurie Ecosse finishing first and second.
• On 12 February 1957, a fire at Jaguar's Browns Lane plant destroyed nine of the 25 XKSS cars in various stages of completion.