1966 Jaguar XJ13

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

There are now several replicas around and the first was built by Proteus in the early 1990s, but I think that this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.

1966 Jaguar XJ13

 

This car was on display in the Paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

There are now several replicas around, but this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.

Jaguar XJ13

This car was part of a display by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

There are several replicas around, but this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.

The Jaguar C-Type seen behind the XJ13 is a 1953 car, bought by Italian Mario Tadini and in which he and Pietro Cagnana took part in that year's Mille Miglia race but failed to finish. The car's chassis number is XKC045.

Three Jaguars

This was a display by the Historic Sports Car Club at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

Only one prototype Jaguar XJ13 was ever built and the first car here is a replica constructed by Proteus Cars. The second car is a 1952 Jaguar C-type, chassis number XKC004, and the third car is a 1955 Jaguar D-type long nose. Only 6 of these cars were built and the one in this photograph bears the registration number and race number of the 1955 Le Mans winning car. It isn't necessarily that car though, and could even be another Proteus replica.

Proteus Mercedes Benz 300SLR

This is a photograph taken at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996 and is of a replica of a Mercedes Benz 300SLR made by Proteus Cars Ltd. Proteus are better known for their replica Jaguar D-type, C-type and XJ13. The car next to the Mercedes is a Jaguar XJ13 and the E-Type Lightweight on the far left is also possibly a Proteus car. The 300SLR replica has been built to resemble the Stirling Moss/Denis Jenkinson 1955 Mille Miglia winning car, is one of six replicas made and is possibly the one shown in this Hofmann's website. That website calls it a recreation rather than a replica, but I recall that Denis Jenkinson called all such cars 'fakes'.