The XJ13 was a prototype
racing car developed by Jaguar to challenge at Le Mans in the
mid-1960s.
It never raced, and only one was ever produced which is valued
at at least £7million pounds
Jaguar had considered the manufacture of a V12 engine as far back
as 1955, initially for racing purposes, and then developing a
road-going version, unlike the XK which was designed as a production
engine and later pressed into service for racing. The engine design
was essentially two XK 6-cylinder engines on a common crankshaft
with an aluminium cylinder block, although there were differences
in the inlet porting, valve angles and combustion chamber shape.
The first engine ran in 1964.
The idea of a mid-engined prototype was first mooted in 1960,
but it was not until 1965 that construction began, with the
first car running by March 1966. The aluminium body was designed
by Malcolm Sayer, the aerodynamicist responsible for the Jaguar
C-type, D-type, E-type and XJS, who used his Bristol Aeroplane
Company background to build it using techniques borrowed from
the aircraft industry.
The XJ13 had mid-engine format with the 5.0 litre V12 engine
mounted behind the driver, used as a stressed chassis member
together with the five-speed manual ZF Transaxle driving the
rear wheels.
The front suspension wishbones were similar to that of the
E-Type, however where the E-Type used longitudinal torsion bars,
the XJ13 had more conventional coil spring/damper units. At
the rear there again remained similarities with the E-Type -
the use of driveshafts as upper transverse links - however the
rest was quite different, with two long radius arms per side
angling back from the central body tub together with lower links.
The development of the XJ13, although treated seriously by
the designers, was never a priority for company management,
and became less so following the 1966 merger with BMC. By that
time Ford had developed the 7.0 litre GT40, and so the XJ13
was considered obsolete by the time the prototype was complete.
The prototype was tested at MIRA and at Silverstone, which confirmed
that it would have required considerable development to make
it competitive. The prototype was put into storage and no further
examples were made.
