" A few years ago we had the pleasure of meeting legendary Jaguar development engineer Norman Dewis. This is the man responsible for the shakedown of many of the most incredible British cars ever made - and some of the out "
Jaguar & Le Mans, 1954
Some truly amazing footage here from a documentary focusing on the 1954 24 Heures Du Mans.
It’s all pretty gripping but highlight for me is right at the start when the Jaguar team emerge from the Browns Lane plant with those immaculate new D-Types, heading for the coast and the drive down to the Circuit De la Sarthe.
You can see here how seat of the pants and simple the scene was this far back: though the Jags were pulling close to 180 MPH on the Mulsanne. No wonder Jaguar development engineer Norman Dewis, who we were lucky enough to meet a few years ago for a feature in the magazine, was keen to introduce disc brakes!
This sort of memory – the sounds, the sounds of those stirred boxes and the pure aesthetic of the whole spectacle – produces a proper lump in the throat.
Note to self: Must go to the Le Mans Classic this year!
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love the d type,who doesnt? but its greatest achievement was not the victorys..it was the glut of spare parts that gave rise to the xkss (back to the mcqueen thread.lol)