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The History of Jaguar

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.

Jaguar Models:

Sports:

1948–1954 XK120
1954–1957 XK140
1957–1961 XK150
1961–1974 E-Type
1975–1996 XJ-S
1997–2005 XK (X100)
2006-date XK (X150)

Compact & Medium Executive:

1935–1949 1½ Litre saloon
1955–1959 Mark 1
1959–1967 Mark 2
1963–1968 S-type
1966–1968 420
1966–1968 240 & 340
1999-2008 S-type
2001-date X-type
2008-date XF (new model replacing S-Type)

Large Executive:

1935–1948 2½ Litre saloon
1937–1948 3½ Litre saloon
1948–1951 Mark V
1951–1957 Mark VII (& VIIM)
1957–1959 Mark VIII
1959–1961 Mark IX
1961-1970 Mark X
1966-1970 420G
1968–1987 XJ6 Series 1, 2 & 3
1972–1992 XJ12
1986–1994 XJ6 (XJ40)
1993–1994 XJ12 (XJ81)
1995–1997 XJ6 & XJ12 (X300 & X301)
1997–2002 XJ8 (X308)
2003–date XJ (X350)

Notable Jaguar sports racers:

Jaguar C-Type (1951–53)
Jaguar D-Type (1954–57)
Jaguar Lightweight E-Type
Jaguar XJR Sportscars
Jaguar XJR-9 (1988)
XJ220 (1988)
XJR-15 (1990)

Timeline