Continuing their successful motor sports program, Jaguar created the D-Type as a logical progression of the XK120C, or C-Type. After an eighteen month development period, the D-Type was launched and intended to assault the 1954 Le Mans. It won the event three years in a row and became Jaguar’s most successful race car.
After three privately entered XK120s proved competitive at LeMans, Jaguar was motivated to move forward with their own purpose built race car. The result was the XK120C, a car which would win at its very first event, the 1951 24 Hour of Le Mans. This result was achieved again in 1953, with the final version of the XK120-C which featured disc brakes – an automotive first in GT racing.
Even before 1953 victory at Le Mans, it became clear to Jaguar that a new car would be necessary to stay ahead of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Maserati. Sir Williams Lyons, the founder of Jaguar, assembled a team of Engineers including Malcom Sayer, an aviation aero dynamist, to create the all-new D-Type.
Photo Source: Favcars.com
