Jaguar – World Record Breaker and all-round British Icon

In the history of the motor car, there a few marques more revered than Jaguar. Formed in 1922 by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, they started to design and manufacture road going sports cars.

Their first cars were the Jaguars SS Saloon and SS 100 open 2-seater sports models which set a good precedent for their future position as the best British sports car maker. Post WW2 saw Jaguar introduce the beautifully styled and engineered XK series of sports cars, starting with the XK120 which ran from 1948-54 followed by the XK140 (1954-57) and finally the XK150 (1957-61).

William Lyons was renowned for his thrift but when it came to proving Jaguars’ prowess, he championed his cars to challenge for speed records. The 1940s and 50s saw many record attempts which culminated in 1953, when Lyons challenged his engineers to regain the record.

The team set about modifying an XK120 to take up that challenge. Sayer modified the bodywork to give it the best aerodynamic performance, introducing panels under the car, blanked-off headlights, faired-in radiator grille and a metal tonneau with Perspex bubble canopy from a Slingsby glider to close off any open areas. Bob Knight and Jack Emerson set to work on engine and suspension to eek every last ounce of performance from the car including increasing the pressure and removing the tread from the Dunlop high speed tyres to form a set of “slicks”.

The speed records at that time were run on Belgium soil at Jabbeke where there was a straight stretch of motorway which was closed off to regular traffic during record attempts. October 1953 saw a Pagaso 2.8 supercharged Z102 roadster driven by Celso Fernandez raise the record to 150.13mph, a challenge that Jaguar had to respond to. So in late October, the Jaguar team assembled in Jabbeke with the modified XK120. Dewis drove the car on some test runs but soon discovered that the cockpit was so well sealed that there was no oxygen to breathe! Sayer quickly added some vents to allow Dewis to breathe and the team was now set to mount the challenge.

The morning of Tuesday 20th October was near perfect for setting speed records. The wind was light and the humidity at 90%; ideal conditions to keep the car stable and squeeze every last horsepower from the engine. With all the technical timing equipment in-place, Dewis headed off towards Ghent where he would start the first leg of his two record attempting runs. He accelerated the dark racing green XK with its space age Perspex bubble canopy, reaching top gear and maximum 6300rpm just before he started the timing clock. He made the mile run and turned the XK around within the allotted two minutes to make his return run. Dewis noted that the car became very light as the speed built, meaning that a gust of wind would probably have taken the car off course. It was on the edge of every element of its 1950’s technology.

The return run was complete again at maximum 6300rpm and Dewis thought that he had extracted every last ounce of performance from the willing car, but when he coaxed her back to park ferme and his Jaguar ensemble, their faces looked glum, arms folded. Team manager Lofty England was the first to speak to Dewis when the bubble canopy was hinged open and asked what was wrong with the car as it hadn’t managed the record. Norman was astounded, it was pulling 6:3 and was on song. Lofty remarked that the rev counter must have been defective and reading high as he hadn’t gone much above 150mph and certainly not enough to take the record back.