This beautiful car scored Jaguars second win in the grueling 24hr race at Le Mans in 1953. The C-Type was built around the engine and transmission of the roadgoing XK120 sportscar (the C-Type was originally known as the XK120C) but it had a lightweight tubular frame chassis and low drag aluminium bodywork. In addition to the engine, much of the suspension was taken from the XK120 as well.
The straight six "XK" engine from the XK120 in competition tune produced about 200bhp from 3.4 litres. The new XK120Cs were successful from the outset and won the 1951 Le Mans 24hrs on their first attempt. The driver pairing of Peter Whitehead and Peter Walker drove the winning car finishing ahead of a Talbot in second place. Their average speed over the 24hr race was 93.495mph, a new record at the time.
In 1952 the factory produced an ugly new nose and tail for the C-Type which was meant to be more aerodynamic than the previous years car. The modifications to the body were not successful and Jaguars performance at Le Mans in 1952 was poor with all three factory cars retiring early and the race win going to Mercedes-Benz.
For the 1953 race, Jaguar reverted to the original style of the 1951 car, but used lighter chassis tubing and thinner gauge aluminium to make the car even lighter. The 1953 "lightweight" Le Mans C-Types had two further revolutionary features that set them apart from the rest of the field, 4 wheel disc brakes and aircraft type flexible rubber fuel tanks. The new disc brakes gave the C-Types the edge in braking as disc brakes are far more resistant to brake fade and overheating, plus they work better in wet weather. The drum braked opposition could not match the consistent braking ability of the C-Types over the 24hrs. The flexible fuel tanks were an important safety feature (as they were self sealing and therefore more resistant to rupturing in an accident) plus they were a far more space efficient way to carry fuel in the car. The XK engine was further tuned to give 220bhp in race trim. The new lightweight specification proved to be more than a match for the competition and Jaguar took 1st and 2nd place in the 1953 Le Mans race.
The winning driver pair of Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt won at an average speed of 105.85mph, the first time the winning average had been over 100mph. Prior to the race both were told they had been disqualified as they had practised for the race in a car other than the one they would be using for the race itself. Despondent, the two drivers headed for a local bar where they proceeded to drown their sorrows. Shortly before the race started, the Jaguar team manager persuaded the race officials to allow the pair to race and their disqualification was overturned. Both men were dragged out of the bar and sobered up with black coffee and cold showers and managed to start the race! Despite their hangovers, the pair drove quickly and consistently and won the 24hr marathon ahead of their team-mates Rob Walker and Stirling Moss in an identical lightweight C-Type.
AUTOart released this model of the 1953 Le Mans winning car in 2002. Overall it is a nice model with good engine and interior detail plus full opening features (including the cover for the spare tire well). The "wire" wheels are in fact plastic, but they are quite realistic looking despite this. However, if the car had a set of real wire wheels such as seen on many CMC models I think it would transform the model from a good replica to an excellent one.
Oddly enough, AUTOart have not released any further versions of the C-Type in 1:18th, apart from a number of plain un-liveried ones that preceded this model in 2000. I would have thought modifying the mold to make the 1951 Le Mans winner would be reasonably simple and as Le Mans winners are generally popular amongst collectors, worthwhile releasing by AUTOart.
The ratings scale below is blank as my collection is currently (as of August 2006) in storage awaiting a house move. Once our house move is complete I will rate the model properly and add the ratings to this review.
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