JABBEKE SPEED RECORDS

Before huge high-speed test tracks at places like Idiada in Spain and Nardò in Italy were a thing, speed testing was pretty common on recently built motorways and dual carriageways.

So it was eight years before Autocar’s run on the Jabbeke highway, on 21 October 1953, when Jaguar engineer Norman Dewis lined up there in a Jaguar XK120, aiming to set a production car speed record.

You will note the word ‘production’, but these things are relative. A headlight had been removed and its socket used as a ram air inlet for the engine. Dewis sat on a piece of foam on the floor, because if he were on the usual seat, he wouldn’t fit beneath aircraft canopy that was lowered over his head. There was a rigid tonneau on the passenger side of the cockpit and the underbody was covered.

One side of the dual carriageway was closed for the attempt. Dewis did a flying mile in both directions, averaging 172.4mph, verified by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium.

The following week, The Autocar reported the XK120’S record in a couple of short paragraphs and reminded readers that the canopy and undertray were optional equipment on the XK120.

I wonder if anybody did actually try to order them…

The local police called time on closing the road for high-speed testing after this, although evidently it didn’t stop less official high-speed runs on the stretch; 150mph on an open road doesn’t sound much better than 172mph on a closed