Jaguar XK120 C Type & Hamilton winners 1953 24 hours of Le Mans car race photo

Description

A superb and rare photo of the magnificent all disc-brake
Jaguar XK120 C Type
(nr. 18) factory racing car ridden by
Duncan Hamilton
, seen in
WINNING
action during the
1953
edition of the famous
24 hours of Le Mans
endurance race, which was ridden on
June 13TH and 14TH, 1953
.
This victory marked the first time the race had been won at an average of over
100 mph
{160 km/h} (
105.85 mph
-
170.34 km/h
.
Duncan
Hamilton
teamed up with
Tony Rolt
for this 24 hours long race, which was and is still regarded the most prestigious long distance endurance race in the world. This all British team covered a total of
304
laps with their Jaguar C-Type. The car was entered by Jaguar Cars Ltd. They had a magnificent race, as Stirling Moss and
Peter
Walker
finished second!
The highlight of this race is the introduction, by Jaguar of disc brakes on all four wheels of each car, which gave Jaguar 1st, 2nd, and 4th place finishes. The third place was taken by a Cunningham C5-R ridden by
Phil
Walter
and
John
Fitch
.
The
Jaguar C-Type
(also called the
Jaguar XK120-C
) is a racing car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. Its aerodynamic body was designed by
Malcolm
Sayer
, its lightweight, multi-tubular, triangulated frame designed by
Bob
Knight
. A total of 52 have been built. Mechanically, it used the running gear of the contemporary XK120 sports car (the C in the official XK120-C name stands for 'competition'). The twin-cam, straight-6 engine was tuned to around 205 bhp (153 kW) rather than 160 to 180 bhp (134 kW) of the road car. The custom, tubular chassis and aluminium body-panels, along with the elimination of all creature-comforts, helped the car to shed nearly
1000 lb
(
454 kg
) compared to a comparable Jaguar road-car. The later C-Types were more powerful, using triple twin-choke Weber carburettors and high-lift camshaft. They were also lighter and better braked, by means of all-round disc brakes. The Jaguar C-Type won the Le Mans 24 hours race at its first attempt in 1951, driven by
Peter
Walker
and
Peter
Whitehead
. Stirling Moss also drove one of the cars, but retired after running very strongly. In 1952 Jaguar, worried by reports of the speed of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, modified the aerodynamics to increase the top speed. However, this necessitated a rearrangement of the car's cooling system, and subsequently all three entries retired due to overheating. In 1953 the car won again, in a lightened, more powerful configuration, driven by
Duncan
Hamilton
and
Tony
Rolt
(SEE PHOTO!)
. This victory marked the first time the race had been won at an average of over
100 mph
{160 km/h} (
105.85 mph
{170.34 km/h}, to be precise). 1954, the C-Type's final year at
Le Mans
, saw a fourth place by the
Ecurie
Francorchamps
entry driven by
Roger
Laurent
and
Jacques
Swaters
. When new, the car sold for approximately ,000 - approximately twice the price of an XK120.
Jaguar Cars Limited
, based in
Coventry
,
England
, was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool in 1922, changing to SS Cars Ltd in
1934 in
Coventry
, and finally becoming Jaguar Cars Ltd in 1945. Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts,
William
Lyons
and
William
Walmsley
, the SS Jaguar name first appeared on a
2.5 litre
saloon in 1935. The Jaguar name was given to the entire company in 1945 when the SS was dropped due to lack of popularity from WWII. Jaguar made its name in the 1950s with a series of elegantly-styled sports cars and luxury saloons. The company bought the Daimler Motor Company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), in 1960 from Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). From the late 1960s,
Daimler
was used as a brand name for Jaguar's most luxurious saloons. The company has had major success in sports car racing, particularly in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Victories came in 1951 and 1953 with the C-Type, then in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the D-Type. The manager of the racing team during this period, Lofty England, later went on to become CEO of Jaguar in the early 1970s. Although the prototype XJ13 was built in the mid-1960s it was never raced, and the famous race was then left for many years, until in the mid-1980s when
Tom
Walkinshaw
's TWR team started designing and preparing Jaguar V12-engined sports prototypes for European sports car races. The team started winning regularly from 1987, and with increased factory backing the team won
Le Mans
in 1988 and
1990. In
the late 1990s,
Ford
decided that Jaguar would be the corporation's Formula One entry.
Ford
bought out the semi-works Stewart Grand Prix team and rebranded it as Jaguar Racing. The Jaguar F1 program was not a success however, achieving only two podium finishes in five seasons of competition between 2000 and 2004. At the end of 2004, with costs mounting and Ford's profits dwindling, the F1 team was sold to Red Bull energy drinks owner
Dietrich
Mateschitz
, and it became Red Bull Racing. Since 2004 Jaguar has not had an official presence in motorsport.
The Swallow Sidecar company was originally located in
Blackpool
but moved to
Holbrook Lane
,
Coventry
in 1928 when demand for the
Austin
Swallow
became too great for the factory's capacity. In 1951, having outgrown the original
Coventry
site they moved again to
Browns Lane
which had been a wartime "shadow factory" run by the Daimler Motor Company. Today, Jaguars are assembled at Castle Bromwich in
Birmingham
and Halewood in
Liverpool
. The historic
Browns Lane
plant closed in 2005, leaving the XJ, XK and S-Type production at Castle Bromwich and the X-Type at Halewood, alongside the new Land Rover Freelander 2, from 2007.
The Jaguar company started production with the pre-war 1.5, 2.5 and
3.5 litre
models which used engines designed by the Standard Motor Company. The
1.5 litre
four-cylinder engine was still supplied by Standard but the two larger six-cylinder ones were made in house. These cars have become known unofficially as Mark IVs. The first post war model was the 1948
Mark
V
available with either 2.5 or
3.5 litre
engines and had a more streamlined appearance than pre-war models, but more important was the change to independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes. The big breakthrough was the launch in 1948 of the XK120 sports car, with the new XK twin overhead camshaft (DOHC)
3.5 litre
hemi-head six-cylinder engine designed by
William
Heynes
,
Walter
Hassan
and
Claude
Baily
. This engine had been designed during the long nights during the war when they would be on fire watch in the factory. After several attempts a final design was arrived at. That is until owner
William
Lyons
said "make it quieter". The car had originally been intended as a short production model of about 200 vehicles as a test bed for the new engine until its intended home, the new
Mark
VII
saloon, was ready. The XK120's reception was such that production continued until 1954; it was followed by the XK140, the XK150, and the E-Type, keeping Jaguar in the sports car market. Introducing the large
Mark
VII
saloon in
1951, a
car especially conceived for the American market, Jaguar soon found itself overwhelmed with orders. The
Mark
VII
and its successors gathered rave reviews from magazines such as Road & Track and The Motor. In
1956 a
Mark
VII
won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally. The 1955 Mark 1 small saloon was the first monocoque (unibody) car from Jaguar and used a
2.4 litre
short stroke version of the XK engine. In 1959, the car was improved with a larger engine and wider windows and became the Mark 2, one of the most recognizable Jaguar models ever produced. It would be popular with British police forces for its small size, light weight, and powerful engine. The
Mark
VIII
of 1956 and
Mark
IX
of 1958 were essentially updates of the
Mark
VII
but the
Mark
X
of 1961 was a completely new design of large saloon with all round independent suspension and unibody construction. The independent rear suspension from the Mark X was incorporated in the 1963 S-Type which closely resembled the Mark 2, and in 1967 the Mark 2 name was dropped when the small saloon became the 240/340 range. The 420 of 1966, also sold as the Daimler Sovereign, put a new front onto the S-type, although both cars continued in parallel until the S-Type was dropped in 1968. The
Mark
X
became the 420G in 1966. Of the more recent saloons, the most significant is the XJ (1968-present), still the definitive Jaguar saloon car for many. Since 1968 the Series I XJ has seen major changes in 1973 (to Series II), 1979 (Series III), 1986 Europe/1987 United States (XJ40), 1995 (X300), 1997 (to the V-8 powered X308), 2003 (the present model, X350). The most luxurious XJ models carry either the Vanden Plas (US) or
Daimler
(rest of world) nameplates.
The French city of
Le Mans
is best known for its connection with
motorsports
. There are actually two separate racing tracks at
Le Mans
, though they share certain portions. The smaller is the
Bugatti Circuit
(named after
Ettore
Bugatti
, founder of the car company bearing his name), a relatively short permanent circuit which is used for racing throughout the year.  The longer and more famous
Circuit de la Sarthe
is composed partly of public roads, which are closed to the public when the track is in use for racing, and has been host to the famous 24 Hours of
Le Mans
sports car race since 1923. Boutiques and shops are set up during the race selling merchandise and promoting products for cars. The first French Grand Prix took place here in 1906. The "
Le Mans
start" takes its name from the way racers lined up across the street from their cars and ran across the street and jumped into their cars to begin. The
24 Hours of Le Mans
(24 Heures du Mans) is a sports car endurance race held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads that are meant not only to test a car and driver's ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period. At a time when Grand Prix racing was occurring throughout Europe,
Le Mans
was envisioned as a different test from motorsports at the time. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines of the time, the 24 Hours of
Le Mans
would instead concentrate on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars. This would drive innovation in not only reliable but also fuel-efficient vehicles, since the nature of endurance racing requires as little time to be spent in the pits as possible. At the same time, due to the design of
Le Mans
, a drive would be created for better aerodynamics and stability of cars at high speeds. While this was shared with Grand Prix racing, few tracks in
Europe
featured straights the length of the Mulsanne. The fact that the road is public and therefore not maintained to the same quality as some permanent racing circuits also puts more of a strain on parts, causing more emphasis on reliability. Beginning in the late 1970s, the demand for fuel economy from around the world led the race to adopt a fuel economy formula known as Group C in which competitors were given a set amount of fuel, from which they had to design an engine. Although Group C was abandoned when teams were able to master the fuel formulas, fuel economy would still be important to some teams as alternative fuel sources would appear in the early 21st century, attempting to overcome time spent during pit stops. These technological innovations have had a trickle-down effect, with technology used at
Le Mans
finding its way into production cars several years later. This has also led to faster and more exotic supercars due to manufacturers wishing to develop faster road cars for the purposes of developing them into even faster GT cars. The race field has usually consisted of approximately 50 competitors. Each car is required to have no fewer than two seats, although in recent years only the ability to place a seat in the cockpit has been understood but not enforced. No more than two doors are allowed; open cockpit cars do not require doors. Although all cars compete at the same time, there are separate classes. An overall winner is awarded at the end of the event, while class prizes are given as well. Classes have varied over the years, but currently there are four. Custom-built Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) are the top two classes, LMP1 and LMP2, divided by speed, weight, and power output. The next two classes are production-based grand tourer (GT) classes, also divided by speed, weight, and power output as GT1 and GT2. Although the top class is the most likely winner of the event, lower classes have won on occasion due to better reliability. Originally, there were no rules on the number of drivers in a car or how long they can drive. Although almost all teams used two drivers in the early decades, some
Le Mans
drivers like
Pierre
Levegh
attempted to run the race themselves, hoping to save time by not having to change drivers, although this was later banned. Up until the 1980s there were teams where only two drivers competed, but by the end of the decade it was placed into the rules that at least three drivers were necessary. By the 1990s, due to the speeds of the cars and the strain it put on drivers, further rules were put in place in order to aid in driver safety. Drivers could not drive more than four hours consecutively, and no one driver could run for more than fourteen hours total. This has reduced driver fatigue during the races. Although the 24 Hours of
Le Mans
was part of the World Sportscar Championship for most of its existence, it has regularly had rules which differed from those used in other series, partially due to the length of the event. Some rules are for safety reasons, while others are for the purposes of competition. For many decades, cars were required to run at least an hour into the race before they were allowed to refill fluids for the car, such as oil or coolant, with the exception of fuel. This was an attempt by the ACO to help increase efficiency and reliability. Cars which could not last the first hour without having to replace lost fluids were disqualified. Another rule that is unique to
Le Mans
is a requirement for cars to be shut off while they are being refueled in the pits. Based not only the notion that it is safer and less of a fire hazard to do so, this also allows for another test of reliability, because cars have to test their ability to restart many times under race conditions. Another element of this rule is that mechanics are not allowed to work on the car or its tires while it is being refueled, which has led teams to adapt innovative ways in which to decrease the time of these lengthy pit stops. As an exception to this rule, drivers are allowed to get out of the car and be replaced by another driver during refueling. At
Le Mans
there are various traditions that have been seen over the years. One of the longest lasting is the waving of the French tricolor to start the race. This is usually followed by a fly-over featuring jets trailing red, white and blue smoke. A similar flag tradition is the waving of safety flags during the final lap of the race by track marshals, congratulating the winners and other finishers. The 24 Hours of
Le Mans
also saw the first known instance at a major race of a winning driver celebrating by spraying champagne instead of drinking it. When
Dan
Gurney
won the 1967 race with co-driver
A.J.
Foyt
, the two drivers mounted the victory stand and Gurney was handed a magnum of champagne. Looking down, he saw Ford CEO
Henry
Ford
II
, team owner
Carroll
Shelby
and their wives, as well as several journalists who had predicted disaster for the high-profile duo. Gurney shook the bottle and sprayed everyone nearby, establishing a tradition reenacted in victory celebrations the world over for the next 40 years. Gurney, incidentally, autographed and gave the bottle of champagne to a LIFE magazine photographer, Flip Schulke, who used it as a lamp for many years. He recently returned the bottle to Gurney, who keeps it at his home in
California
. The first race was held on May 26 and 27 1923 and has since been run annually in June, with exceptions occurring in 1956, when the race was held in July, and 1968, when it was held in September, due to nationwide political turmoils earlier that year (see May 1968). The race has been cancelled twice: once in the year 1936 (Great Depression) and from 1940 to 1948 (World War II and its aftermath).
The race weekend also usually takes place the second weekend of
June
, with qualifying and practice taking place on the Wednesday and Thursday before the race, following an administrative scrutineering of the cars on Monday and Tuesday. Currently these sessions are held in the evening, with two separate two hour sessions held each night. A day of rest is scheduled on Friday, and includes a parade of all the drivers through the center of the town of
Le Mans
. A test day was also usually held prior to the event, traditionally at the end of
April
or beginning of May. These test days served as a pre-qualification for the event, with the slowest cars not being allowed to appear again at the proper qualifying. However, with the cost necessary to transport cars to
Le Mans
and then back to their respective series in between the test and race weeks, the test day was moved to the first weekend of
June
for 2005. The notion of pre-qualifying was also eliminated in 2000, when all competitors invited to the test would be allowed into the race. The Le Mans Legend races have also been part of the schedule since 2001, usually running exhibition races during qualifying days, a few hours prior to the sessions for the
Le Mans
entrants. Traditionally, the race starts at 16:00 on the Saturday, although in 1968 the race started at 14:00 due to the lateness of the race on the calendar. In both 1984 and 2007, the start time was moved ahead to 15:00 due to the conflicting French General Election. In 2006, the ACO scheduled a 17:00 start time on Saturday, June
17 in
order to maximize television coverage in between the FIFA World Cup games. Discussions are being held that may see the regular start time being moved to 15:00 from 2008 onwards. Originally, the race results were actually determined by distance. The car which covered the greatest distance was declared the winner. This is known to have caught out the Ford team in 1966. With a dominant 1-2 lead, the two cars slowed to allow for a photo opportunity at the finish line, with Denny Hulme slightly ahead of
Bruce
McLaren
. However, since McLaren's car had actually started much farther back on the grid from Hulme, McLaren's car had actually covered the farthest distance over the 24 hours. With the margin of victory determined to be eight meters, McLaren and co-driver
Chris
Amon
were declared the winners. This distance rule was later changed with the advent of rolling starts, leading to the winner being declared by number of laps. To be classified in the race results, a car is required to cross the finish line after 24 hours. This has led to dramatic scenes where damaged cars wait in the pits or on the edge of the track close to the finish line for hours, then restart their engines and crawl across the line to be listed amongst the finishers. However, this practice of waiting in the pits was banned in recent years with a requirement that a team complete a set distance within the last hour to be classified. Another rule put into place by the ACO was the requirement that cars complete 70% of the distance covered by the winner. A car failing to complete this number of laps, even if it finished the race, was not deemed worthy of classification due to the poor reliability or speed. The race traditionally began with what became known as the
Le Mans
start, in which cars were lined up alongside the pit wall in the order in which they qualified. The starting drivers would stand on the opposite side of the front stretch. When the French flag dropped to signify the start, the drivers would run across the track to their cars, which they would have to enter and start without assistance, before driving away. This became a safety issue in the late 1960s when drivers would ignore their safety harnesses, a recent invention. This led to drivers running the first few laps either improperly harnessed due to attempting to do it while driving or sometimes not even harnessed at all, leading to several deaths when cars were involved in accidents due to the bunched field at the start. This starting method inspired Porsche to locate the ignition key switch to the left of the steering wheel. This allowed the driver to use his left hand to start the engine, and his right hand to put the transmission into gear. This location of the ignition key switch is still found today on many Porsche models. The traditional
Le Mans
practice was altered for 1970. Cars were still lined up along the pit wall, but the drivers were already inside and strapped in. At the dropping of the French tricolor, the drivers would then start their engines and drive away. However, in 1971 this method would be done away with altogether as a rolling start (sometimes known as an
Indianapolis
start) was introduced, which has been used ever since.
This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of Jaguar , 24 HRS endurance racing and automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x
30 cm
).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.
Shipping costs will only be $ 7.00 regardless of how many photos you buy.   For 5 or more photos, shipping is free!
(Note: A. Herl, Inc. does not appear on photo, for ebay purposes only)
No copyright expressed or implied. Sold as collectable item only. We are clearing out our archives that we have gathered from various sources.
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and board backed envelopes.
We have photographs that came from professional collections and/or were bought from the original photographer or press studio! They are all of professional and excellent quality.
After many decades of professionally collecting photographs and posters we are clearing out our archives. They make the perfect gift and are perfectly suited for framing. They will look gorgeous unframed and will be a true asset nicely framed with a border. They are a gorgeous and great asset in every home, workshop, workplace, restaurant, bar or club!
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