JAGUAR RACING CARS a MONTHLY SERIES - Part 6
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JAGUAR RACING CARS A MONTHLY SERIES - Part 6 By Neville Barlow Jaguar Mark 2 The Mark II arrived in 1959 and it was very obvious from the Mark I. It had a wider rear window and more glass all around because of the slimmer door pillars. The rear track was widened by 3.5 inches, which gave the car more all- round stability. There were three new engine op$ons. The 2.4 litre was increased in ower to 120bh , the 3.4 litre to 210bh and the 3.8 litre had 220bh . The Mark II saloon was received with ra turous su ort because it eliminated many of the minor shortcomings of the earlier models. Many road tests were 1959 Mk 11 2.4 undertaken by Motoring ublica$ons. The A)TOCA, led the way with an introduc$on test in -ebruary 1960, by saying ./ery few cars indeed set out to o0er so much as the 3.8 litre Mark II 1aguar and none can match it in terms of value for money. In one com act car, an owner has 2ran Turismo erformance, town carriage manners and lu3urious family a ointments. The changes made for 1960, without doubt, re resent the greatest im rovements so far achieved between a 1aguar model and its redecessor, short of a whole new design4. To s eed 125 m h and 0- 60 m h in 8.5 seconds with 16 second standing 5uarter mile. They were a li6le disa ointed in the fuel consum $on of 17 miles er gallon but conceded that if you could a0ord to buy one of these vehicles it would be of li6le im ortance. 26 8owever, these 9gures were considerably enhanced by the many organi:a$ons that decided to go racing with the Mark II As soon as the ,ight-8and Drive Mark II became available, Lo=y England, 2eneral Manager of 1aguar Motors, allocated many of them to well-known teams and drivers including Coombs, Bruce McLaren, Tommy So with and Aeter Barry ,acing, who em loyed drivers 1ack Sears, 2raham 8ill, S$rling Moss and ,oy Salvadori. 1ohn Coombs made a name for himself racing MB ICs and MB IICs. 8e o0ered a range of o $ons ada ted from his own racing modi9ca$ons and carried that on with all his MB IICs. The successes on the track were considerable and 1aguars Engineering De artment was heavily involved with making the Coombs cars generally acknowledged as the fastest on any circuit in Britain. There were two famous MB II Coombs cars. Both were factory built. The 9rst was usually driven by 2raham 8ill with the registra$on of B)D 1 and the second registered B)D 12. Some records say that Coombs converted 19 cars but it is thought there was many more, most of which were not raced. In 1962 MB IICs began their run of 20 Graham Hill at the wheel consecu$ve victories. The E5ui e Endeavour team won class D for the second $me with 1ack Sears and Tommy So with driving MB IICs. The MB IICs were so dominant that the result of the 12 th Silverstone Interna$onal tro hy in 1960 clearly shows they were ahead of the 9eld. -rom 19 startersE 1st ,oy Salvadori 1aguar MB II 3.8 2nd S$rling Moss 1aguar MB II 3.8 3rd 2raham 8ill 1aguar MB II 3.8 4th 2waine Bailie 1aguar MB II 3.8 Finning average s eed 140k h 29 1ohn Coombs ,acing entered 41 races and won 12. 1ack sears won the Bri$sh Saloon Car Cham ionshi in 1959 and 1963 in a 1aguar and had 12 wins all told. Mike Aarkes and 1immy Blumer won in 1962 The Motor 6 hour Interna$onal Saloon Car ,ace, in a MB II. Aeter Nocker won the 1963 Euro ean Touring Car Challenge and ,oy Salvadori with Denny 8ulme won the 1963 Brands 8atch 6 hours all of course in 1aguar MB IICs, with Aeter Linder and Aeter Nocker 2 nd in a similar car. Also in 1963 Aeter Lunsden, Aeter Sargent, 1ohn Bekaert, 2eo0 Duke and Andrew 8edges using a standard MB II 3.8 litre broke 4 Interna$onal records by driving 16,093 kilometres (10,000 milesI and averaged 170.6 k h (106 m hI. There was many Arivateers winning various classes, 8ill climbs and s rint races. In Australia, Bob 1ane dominated saloon car racing with his much-altered MB II 3.8. Even though he was told by 1aguar in England that he would destroy his engine if he bored it out to 4.1 litres. Not only did he increase the si:e of the engine but he won the to Australian Touring Car Classic in 1962, 1963 and 1964. 8e then sold the car to 8ugh Bryson who con$nued to race successfully. This car was oJcially $med at Bathurst at 151m h Bob Janes Jaguar Mk 11 (242k hI a record that stood for over 10 years. 8is Mark II was regarded as the fastest MB II in the world. This car recorded 70 wins and set la records at every circuit it com eted at. In 1984, S$rling Moss drove his MB II in an a endi3 1 historic class. 8e es$mated that he s ent over $100,000 on modi9ca$ons and re airs for his car and thought it would be one of the fastest around even though it was registered and was a sedate road car. Between 1958 and 1965 MB ICs and MB IICs in Australia entered 190 races. They were 1st 108 $mes, 2 nd 39 $mes and 3 rd 31 $mes with only 12 DN-s. ,acing in New Lealand ,ay Archibald, o=en referred to as 2entleman ,ay and was the most rominent of those that Mew the Mag for 1aguar in New Lealand. 8is feats in his NB 120 are legendary however, it was not un$l 1957 when he raced the 9rst of the Archibald 1aguar saloons that he stood out. It was with a 3.4 litre MB I with Disc brakes and wire wheels that he won the Saloon car race at the 1959 2rand Ari3. 31 8e also won a 8andica race at Figram and he had a 4 th at Faimate. Because of increasing com e$$on this car became out dated. Many years later it was found in a oor condi$on. It has survived and has been restored by the Christchurch 1aguar enthusiast ,oy Larsen. A new MB II arrived in 1962. This was the car in which he became a Ray Archibald’s 3.8 Jaguar Mk 11 .legend4. It was a 3.8 litre factory re ared car in 1961, one of only 8 built. The motor was 96ed with a gas Mowed head, 9.1 istons, twin 2 inch S) carbure6ors, a s ecial cranksha= and bearings, a com e$$on e3haust system, a close ra$o gear bo3, high ra$o steering, s$0ened sus ension, com e$$on shock absorbers and racing seats Fith this car ,ay won the New Lealand Saloon Car Cham ionshi in 1962 and 1963. 8e also won the Fills 6 hour race at Aukekohe in 1962 and 1963 with Tony Shelly. 8e won again in 1966. In 1959 at the 2rand Ari3 day ,ay won the Ardmore Saloon car race with 2avin Ouirk in second lace also in a 1aguar. 2avin in -ebruary 1959 won the Saloon car race at Ohakea and in March, the Saloon car race at Levin. So ,ay did not have it his way all of the $me. ,ay had many duels with Ernie S rague in his Le hyr, usually winning but in the late 1960Cs Ernie ac5uired a 1aguar 3.8 litre and they had many $tanic struggles on tracks around New Lealand. ,ayCs love of s eed culminated at a 1981 Air show at Figram air force base. Driving his 3.8 litre 1aguar he beat an air force 8arvard lane in a la of the air 9eld. ,oss 1enson in his 9rst drive of his 3.8 litre MB II, at Ardmore in 1991 won handsomely, with S Taylor also in a 3.8 in 3rd lace. In the same year ,oss won at Levin with Taylor again 3 rd . At both Figram and Dunedin ,oss was again successful. Teretonga brought only a 2 nd however, at Faimate he won again, therefore winning the 1961 New Lealand Saloon car Cham ionshi . In 1962 Alistair McBeth arrived on the scene and soon became known as .Mr Ouickly4 8e won or was laced in most of his races. In 1963 at Aukekohe at the 2rand Ari3 mee$ng, he won the Saloon car race, driving his 3.8 Paguar, interes$ngly bea$ng Bruce McLaren. At Figram he was 2 nd behind ,ay Archibald while Ian Dow was 3 rd , all of them in MB 11 3.8sQ It is interes$ng to note that the 1962 New Lealand Saloon Car Cham ionshi , while being won by ,ay Archibald, McBeth was 2 nd and Ian Dow 4 th , an almost clean swee for the 1aguars. 33 Police Cars Fhile 1aguar had become renowned for su lying various Bri$sh Aolice forces with vehicles from the 1930s, these cars Archibald and Sprague racing were standard and only 96ed with u rated ba6eries for their radio e5ui ment. It was not un$l the introduc$on of the MB II in 1959 that a Aolice S eci9ca$on model became available.