JAGUAR RACING CARS A MONTHLY SERIES - Part 6

By Neville Barlow

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 opons. The 2.4 litre was increased in power to 120bhp, the 3.4 litre to 210bhp and the 3.8 litre had 220bhp. The Mark II saloon was received with rapturous support because it eliminated many of the minor shortcomings of the earlier models. Many road tests were 1959 Mk 11 2.4 undertaken by Motoring publicaons. The AUTOCAR led the way with an introducon test in February 1960, by saying “Very few cars indeed set out to offer so much as the 3.8 litre Mark II Jaguar and none can match it in terms of value for money. In one compact car, an owner has Gran Turismo performance, town carriage manners and luxurious family appointments. The changes made for 1960, without doubt, represent the greatest improvements so far achieved between a Jaguar model and its predecessor, short of a whole new design”. Top speed 125 mph and 0- 60 mph in 8.5 seconds with 16 second standing quarter mile. They were a lile disappointed in the fuel consumpon of 17 miles per gallon but conceded that if you could afford to buy one of these vehicles it would be of lile importance.

26 However, these figures were considerably enhanced by the many organizaons that decided to go racing with the Mark II As soon as the Right-Hand Drive Mark II became available, Loy England, General Manager of Jaguar Motors, allocated many of them to well-known teams and drivers including Coombs, Bruce McLaren, Tommy Sopwith and Peter Barry Racing, who employed drivers Jack Sears, , Srling Moss and . made a name for himself racing MK I’s and MK II’s. He offered a range of opons adapted from his own racing modificaons and carried that on with all his MK II’s. The successes on the track were considerable and Jaguars Engineering Department was heavily involved with making the Coombs cars generally acknowledged as the fastest on any circuit in Britain. There were two famous MK II Coombs cars. Both were factory built. The first was usually driven by Graham Hill with the registraon of BUY 1 and the second registered BUY 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 MK II’s began their run of 20 Graham Hill at the wheel consecuve victories. The Equipe Endeavour team won class D for the second me with Jack Sears and Tommy Sopwith driving MK II’s. The MK II’s were so dominant that the result of the 12 th Silverstone Internaonal trophy in 1960 clearly shows they were ahead of the field. From 19 starters; 1st Roy Salvadori Jaguar MK II 3.8 2nd Srling Moss Jaguar MK II 3.8 3rd Graham Hill Jaguar MK II 3.8 4th Gwaine Bailie Jaguar MK II 3.8 Winning average speed 140kph

29 John Coombs Racing entered 41 races and won 12. Jack sears won the Brish Saloon Car Championship in 1959 and 1963 in a Jaguar and had 12 wins all told. and Jimmy Blumer won in 1962 The Motor 6 hour Internaonal Saloon Car Race, in a MK II. Peter Nocker won the 1963 European Touring Car Challenge and Roy Salvadori with won the 1963 6 hours all of course in Jaguar MK II’s, with Peter Linder and Peter Nocker 2 nd in a similar car. Also in 1963 Peter Lunsden, Peter Sargent, John Bekaert, Geoff Duke and Andrew Hedges using a standard MK II 3.8 litre broke 4 Internaonal records by driving 16,093 kilometres (10,000 miles) and averaged 170.6 kph (106 mph). There was many Privateers winning various classes, Hill climbs and sprint races. In Australia, dominated saloon car racing with his much-altered MK II 3.8. Even though he was told by Jaguar in England that he would destroy his engine if he bored it out to 4.1 litres. Not only did he increase the size of the engine but he won the top Australian Touring Car Classic in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He then sold the car to Hugh Bryson who connued to race successfully. This car was officially med at Bathurst at 151mph Bob Janes Jaguar Mk 11 (242kph) a record that stood for over 10 years. His Mark II was regarded as the fastest MK II in the world. This car recorded 70 wins and set lap records at every circuit it competed at. In 1984, Srling Moss drove his MK II in an appendix J historic class. He esmated that he spent over $100,000 on modificaons and repairs 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 MK I’s and MK II’s in Australia entered 190 races. They were 1st 108 mes, 2 nd 39 mes and 3 rd 31 mes with only 12 DNFs. Racing in New Zealand Ray Archibald, oen referred to as Gentleman Ray and was the most prominent of those that flew the flag for Jaguar in New Zealand. His feats in his XK 120 are legendary however, it was not unl 1957 when he raced the first of the Archibald Jaguar saloons that he stood out. It was with a 3.4 litre MK I with Disc brakes and wire wheels that he won the Saloon car race at the 1959 Grand Prix. 31 He also won a Handicap race at Wigram and he had a 4 th at Waimate. Because of increasing compeon this car became out dated. Many years later it was found in a poor condion. It has survived and has been restored by the Christchurch Jaguar enthusiast Roy Larsen. A new MK II arrived in 1962. This was the car in which he became a Ray Archibald’s 3.8 Jaguar Mk 11 “legend”. It was a 3.8 litre factory prepared car in 1961, one of only 8 built. The motor was fied with a gas flowed head, 9.1 pistons, twin 2 inch SU carbureors, a special cranksha and bearings, a compeon exhaust system, a close rao gear box, high rao steering, sffened suspension, compeon shock absorbers and racing seats With this car Ray won the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship in 1962 and 1963. He also won the Wills 6 hour race at Pukekohe in 1962 and 1963 with Tony Shelly. He won again in 1966. In 1959 at the Grand Prix day Ray won the Ardmore Saloon car race with Gavin Quirk in second place also in a Jaguar. Gavin in February 1959 won the Saloon car race at Ohakea and in March, the Saloon car race at Levin. So Ray did not have it his way all of the me. Ray had many duels with Ernie Sprague in his Zephyr, usually winning but in the late 1960’s Ernie acquired a Jaguar 3.8 litre and they had many tanic struggles on tracks around New Zealand. Ray’s love of speed culminated at a 1981 Air show at Wigram air force base. Driving his 3.8 litre Jaguar he beat an air force Harvard plane in a lap of the air field. Ross Jenson in his first drive of his 3.8 litre MK II, at Ardmore in 1991 won handsomely, with S Taylor also in a 3.8 in 3rd place. In the same year Ross won at Levin with Taylor again 3 rd . At both Wigram and Dunedin Ross was again successful. Teretonga brought only a 2 nd however, at Waimate he won again, therefore winning the 1961 New Zealand Saloon car Championship. In 1962 Alistair McBeth arrived on the scene and soon became known as “Mr Quickly” He won or was placed in most of his races. In 1963 at Pukekohe at the Grand Prix meeng, he won the Saloon car race, driving his 3.8 jaguar, interesngly beang Bruce McLaren. At Wigram he was 2 nd behind Ray Archibald while Ian Dow was 3 rd , all of them in MK 11 3.8s! It is interesng to note that the 1962 New Zealand Saloon Car Championship, while being won by Ray Archibald, McBeth was 2 nd and Ian Dow 4 th , an almost clean sweep for the Jaguars. 33 Police Cars While Jaguar had become renowned for supplying various Brish Police forces with vehicles from the 1930s, these cars Archibald and Sprague racing were standard and only fied with uprated baeries for their radio equipment. It was not unl the introducon of the MK II in 1959 that a Police Specificaon model became available. They featured a number of modificaons to make them as praccal as possible for Police work. The back seat was removed to accommodate warning signs, lights and so on. The carpets were replaced with non- slip mang. The Dashboards had provision for radio equipment, plus calibrated speed meters, warning lights, a loud hailer and sirens. They were not ‘souped up’, finding the 3.4 litre engine had sufficient enough power. Some had close rao gear boxes and uprated springs to take all the weight of the equipment they carried. Popular believe was that the best getaway car for bank robbers of the day was the MK II. This was very much the opinion of Bruce Reynolds, the main insgator of the 1964 Great Train Robbery.

Jaguar 3.4 Police Cars

34 He escaped capture and was on the run for 5 years but eventually was captured and sentenced to 25 years behind bars. Upon release aer 10 years, he wrote his book entled, The Autobiography of a Thief. In it he features the Jaguar MK II. He said “The 3.4 arrived in 1957. It was the best car ever. Fast with vicious acceleraon to match. It was an instant hit with anyone who could afford one, or those who stole one. In the never ending war with the cops and robbers the, ’ opposion’, caught up with us by changing from their Wolseleys 6/90 to the Jags. However, Jaguar brought out the 3.8 and that gave us a temporary supremacy, but they soon caught up with their own new Jaguars. The ironic postscript , to my criminal career saw my arrest for complicity in the Great Train Robbery ending in my last, almost, drive to Aylesbury in a MK II 3.4 for my trial” , as has been reported many mes was a Jaguar fanac. He and Duncan Hamilton got the idea that Jaguar should produce an Estate car. They suggested to Sir their thoughts but he was not interested, so they decided to pursue the idea themselves. The Coach Builders Jones was asked to build one using a MK II 3.4 chassis. It was to be called a County. With Mikes unmely death the project lost momentum and only one example was made. Ironically enough, the Jaguar Transport Department acquired and used it as a work horse for many years.

I recently read an arcle in a 1997 English magazine, about a group of Jaguar enthusiasts who visited a company in Sweden called Jagsport. It was owned by a gentleman called Berl Backstrom who specialized in re-powering . The car these people had come to see was a 3.4 MK II in to which Berl had installed a 5.3 litre V 12 Jaguar engine. Imagine over 500 horses stuffed into a so called compact car! Crazy?

In 1967 the 3.8 was disconnued and the 2.4 and 3.4 were rebadged as 240 and 340. These cars were simplified and sold at a somewhat reduced price. The reason being, that the new XJ 6 was due in 1969. So to fill the gap and use up all MK II parts, these models were produced. A special 380 was produced for those wishing to go racing. Only 18 were ever made. Total Producon of MK IIs 2.4 26,322 3.4 29,531 3.8 27, 848 240 4430 Contact Gavin for a special price on a baery for your Jaguar 340 2840

Neville

Jaguar Mk 11 County 35