Jaguar E2A

This car was one of several Jaguars on display at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 - you can see some of the others in the background.

After Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season the defunct racing department was charged with developing a road car based on the Jaguar D-Type which would be a replacement for the Jaguar XK150. The first prototype in 1957 was E1A which had an aluminium monocoque chassis with a 2.4 litre Jaguar XK engine and fully independent rear suspension. It was only used  for factory testing and was eventually scrapped when testing ended. The second prototype, built in 1960, was the one shown above, E2A, which had a steel chassis and aluminium body and was built with racing in mind as this was thought to provide a better testing ground. In line with the World Sportscar Championship's regulations at that time a 3-litre version of the Jaguar XK engine was fitted. American Briggs Cunningham was allowed to enter the car in the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hour race bearing the USA racing colours (as above) and was driven by Dan Gurney and Walt Hansgen, but failed to finish the race due to a blown head gasket. After Le Mans the car was given a 3.8 litre XK engine and raced in the United States by the Briggs Cunningham team till the end of the 1960 season when it was sent back to the Jaguar factory. The resultant production model was, of course, the Jaguar E-Type.