Jaguar XJ13 - the definitive story of the Le Mans car and the V12 engine that powered it

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Jaguar XJ13 - the definitive story of the Le Mans car and the V12 engine that powered it
AVAILABLE NOW
LONG AWAITED AND ANTICIPATED! WRITTEN WITH THE FULL CO-OPERATION OF JAGUAR HERITAGE AND MANY OF THOSE WHO BUILT THE CAR, THIS BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE STANDARD EDITION ONLY(£75).

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This book tells the inside story of Jaguar's fabulous Le Mans prototype – gloriously shaped by Malcolm Sayer and arguably the world's most famous race car never to have turned a wheel in competition! In some 300 pages and 600 illustrations, many in colour, every aspect of XJ13's origins, design, build and testing is covered by author Peter D. Wilson – who is uniquely qualified for this task because in the early/mid-1960s he was an engineer working in Jaguar's competition department and helped build the car.



The book also gives the first-ever detailed account of the fantastic 5.0 litre four-cam V12 engine which powered XJ13 (and which was intended to power Jaguar road cars too). This brings to light the extraordinary saga of Jaguar's intended purchasing of Lotus, with the carrot of a Jaguar V12 race engine for Colin Chapman's Indianapolis aspirations cleverly dangled by Sir William Lyons! A story which has never been told before, it includes a fascinating exchange of correspondence between those two wiley old campaigners, Lyons and Chapman.

Not only does Peter have personal knowledge of XJ13, he also interviewed key people in the story, including Mike Kimberley who was assigned the project after the sad departure of Derrick White to Cooper Cars (Mike went on to become chief executive of Lotus for many years). Then retired engine men George Buck,Jim Eastick and Frank Philpott, who developed the four-cam engine on the test-bed, also contributed their knowledge and helped Peter assess the significance of the many test reports which have been analysed for the book. These and large quantity of other key documents came to light during the hundreds of hours Peter spent researching in the Jaguar Heritage archives at Browns Lane, and a number of them are reproduced in full.

The book also explores other mid-engine designs which Malcolm Sayer proposed, including after the XJ13 project was shelved. It also tells how the eventual production 'flat head' V12 engine emerged from the original Baily/Heynes design (codenamed 'XJ6') which powered the XJ13, but which proved too bulky and complex for use in road Jaguars.

All in all, this is a detailed account of this extraordinary Le Mans Jaguar that is both technical enough to please the engineer, but also expressed in a way that even the layman can appreciate what it takes to design, build and test a sophisticated, 200mph+, V12-engined Le Mans car.

The main contents of the book in more detail are as follows:-

Background

• C-type, D-type, E-type (including Lightweight) and E2A

Project XJ6: The four – cam V12 engine

• Part 1: Concept and design
• Part 2: Build and development
• Part 3: The afterlife…
• Part 4: What might have been…?

Project XJ13: The mid-engined Le Mans car

• Part 1: Origins and design
• Part 2: Making a start
• Part 3: Opposition – The Ford GT40
• Part 4: Completion and static test
• Part 5: Out to play…
• Part 6: Redesign and upgrades
• Part 7: Scattered to the winds…
• Part 8: A new dawn…and disaster!
• Part 9: Like a Phoenix…

Replicas

• Wingfield
• Proteus
• TWR
• Charles Motors
• Tempero Coach and Motor Co. Ltd
• Racing Green Cars
• Predator Performance
• AKZ Vehicle Engineering
• Vicarage
• Digby and Gwen Cooke’s Australian XJ13
• XJ13 on Ebay!

Models

• AUTOart 1:18 scale
• AUTOart 1:43 scale
• Mattel Hot Wheels
• K & R Replicas 1:24 scale
• Smallwheels
• Gems & Cobwebs 1:43 scale
• Jaguar Model Club 1:43 scale
• Guild Models 1:43 scale
• Danbury Mint 1:43 scale

Appendices

• XJ13 specification as first completed March 1966
• Ford GT40 Airflow tests
• Ford GT40 Performance test and specification
• XJ13 first Test Report – MIRA, 5th March 1967
• XJ13 Development Report, 6th July 1967 – Rear wheel steer
• XJ13 Test Report – MIRA, 9th July 1967
• XJ13 Test Report - Silverstone 15/16th August 1967
• Competition Department XJ13 Investigation Report – Ted Brookes 26th October 1967
• George Buck V12 four-valve head report

Index

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Here are some example page spreads to whet your appetite!

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EDITIONS

THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN THREE EDITIONS. All are large format hardback and share the same 330+ pages and page size (approx. 225mm x 297mm, same format as our award-winning Norman Dewis of Jaguar and Mike Hawthorn Golden Boy editions). Author: Peter D Wilson. Published by: Paul Skilleter Books/PJ Publishing Ltd.

STANDARD EDITION: hardback with jacket (ISBN: 978-0-9566857-1-1).
Price £75.00.

LEATHER BOUND SLIP-CASED EDITION *** SOLD OUT ***(ISBN 978-0-9566857-7-3), signed by the author and individually numbered 1 – 100.
Price £150.00

COLLECTOR'S EDITION *** SOLD OUT *** (ISBN 978-0-9566857-8-0), leather bound in leather-covered slip-case, signed by the author and members of the XJ13 engineering team (names to be confirmed). Each of the 13 books will carry AN ENGRAVED PLATE MADE FROM DISCARDED ALUMINIUM TAKEN FROM XJ13 DURING A REFURBISHMENT. This metal was present in the car during its construction in Jaguar's Competition Department, during testing by Norman Dewis, David Hobbs and Richard Attwood (including the 161.6mph lap at MIRA which established a British outright circuit record that lasted for 32 years), and during Norman's famous high-speed crash at MIRA in January 1971. Half the profits of this edition will go to Jaguar Heritage, effectively helping to maintain XJ13 today.
Price £975 delivered worldwide. ** SOLD OUT **


Richard Mason (left), Peter Wilson (center) with Tony O'Keefe (right) and the XJ13. Peter is holding the piece of aluminium to be used for the plate and, at right, the plate shown in the passenger footwell where it was originally located

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