Ecurie Ecosse revives Jag XJ13
THE Jaguar XJ13 – the car developed to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours but never did – has been recreated by the Scottish team which wanted to race it.
Fifty years after Jaguar pulled the plug on the XJ13, the Ecurie Ecosse team is to launch the LM69 which is faithful to the mid-engined original in every way – and it is road legal.
The supercar will be officially launched at the International Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace in London which this year takes place from September 6 to 9.
With the use of composite materials in the bodywork, Ecurie Ecosse says the LM69 is lighter than the Jaguar original and it boasts experimental aerodynamic devices, wider wheels
and tyres, and a much-improved quadcam V12 engine. Only 25 will be produced, all in keeping with the 1969 FIA homologation requirements and to maintain its exclusivity.
Each one will be individually handbuilt by Edinburgh-based Ecurie Ecosse at the Design Q factory in Redditch, Worcestershire.
The prototype XJ13 – famously involved in a crash at the MIRA test track in Warwickshire when being driven by Jaguar test driver the late Norman Dewis – has since been fully restored and is now on display at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
The Ecurie Ecosse motor racing team was founded in the 1950s and went on to win at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957 with a Jaguar D-type.
The company was revived in the 1980s by team boss Hugh Mccaig and today is run by his son, Alasdair.