JaguarE-Type

Group 44 Jaguar E-Type V12

The white and green Series 3 V12 roadster Bob Tullius raced in American B Production in 1974–75: 17 races, 12 wins and the 1975 national title. It belongs to the Jaguar Heritage Trust.

A white E-Type V12 roadster with a green stripe, a roll hoop and the number 44 in a museum.
The Group 44 V12 roadster, SCCA B Production champion in 1975, in the Jaguar Heritage collection at the British Motor Museum in 2016.Karen Roe, CC BY 2.0

"This is the car that got Jaguar racing again," Andrew Frankel wrote in Motor Sport in 2004, when he drove it at Goodwood. It was a Series 3 V12 roadster, prepared by Bob Tullius's Group 44 team in Virginia to race in the Sports Car Club of America's B Production class, and in 1975 it won the national title.

Its papers, its results and its history, stop by stop, are in the panels below; the programme it belonged to, with Huffaker Engineering's second car, is on the V12 racing page. This page tells how the car was built and what it was like.⁠1​2​3

One car

Sources for Group 44 E-Type V12

Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70⁠2; Andrew Frankel, "Unsung heroes: The V12 Jaguars that kept its racing heritage alive", Motor Sport, Mar 2015, p. 58⁠3; Alan Henry, "Sports round-up", Motor Sport, Dec 1974, p. 32⁠4; racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results"⁠5; Motor Sport, "Around and About, December 1975", Dec 1975, p. 32⁠6

British Leyland's American company backed two cars, one on each coast, but Group 44 built only one, this car, and raced it for both seasons. The Huffaker car in the west is another car; no source read gives its later history.⁠2​3​1

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How it was built

Tullius built the car with Brian Fuerstenau and Lawton "Lanky" Foushee, reputedly in some 3,500 hours, Octane reported in 2014. It raced with four white side exhaust pipes, a green Perspex aeroscreen in place of the windscreen (windshield), a small chin spoiler, and its doors welded shut. The wet sump the rules required was baffled against oil surge in corners, the gearbox (transmission) was a Jaguar four-speed, which Frankel wrote in 2015 was taken from the six-cylinder 4.2 for its closer ratios, and the steering a power-assisted rack and pinion.

In 2004 Frankel set out what it had over the Corvettes, a low frontal area and a sump that held its oil, and Tullius recalled its handicap: it had to run narrower wheels and tyres than they did.⁠7​2​3

The front of a white E-Type V12 race car with the number 44 and Quaker State lettering.
The front of the Group 44 V12 roadster at the British Motor Museum in 2022.Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Easy or hard to drive?

The two men who knew it best disagree. Tullius called it, in 1999, "a bear to drive and a bear to build", as Classic & Sports Car recalled in its obituary of him in March 2026. Frankel, driving it for Motor Sport in 2015, found it "one of the easiest racing cars you could imagine driving". One raced it for two seasons against Corvettes; the other drove it 40 years later.

I loved that car. We were very rarely on pole but it was as quick on its last lap as it was on its first. It just never quit and that's what let us blow away the competition.

Bob Tullius to Andrew Frankel, Motor Sport, December 2004

The car still belongs to the Jaguar Heritage Trust.⁠8​3​2​1

A white and green E-Type V12 race car with side exhaust pipes passing a crowd.
The Group 44 roadster at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2006, Bob Tullius's name on its door.Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England, CC BY 2.0

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Where it has been

  1. 1974

    Debut at Watkins Glen

    August 1974. Mike Dale of British Leyland's US company proposed racing the V12 roadster in SCCA B Production, one car on each coast. Bob Tullius's Group 44 built this one car and raced no other. The rules kept a production V12, blueprinted and jetted and without emission equipment; its power is given three ways: about 440 bhp, the JDHT's estimate (Motor Sport, 2004), 460 bhp in contemporary reports (Motor Sport, 2004), and about 500 bhp by Tullius, against 272 bhp for the standard engine. On its debut at Watkins Glen in August 1974 it led until the gear lever broke in Tullius's hand three laps from the end

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70⁠2; Andrew Frankel, "Unsung heroes: The V12 Jaguars that kept its racing heritage alive", Motor Sport, Mar 2015, p. 58⁠3

  2. 1974

    Regional champion

    Tullius won five races in 1974 and the regional title

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70⁠2

  3. 1974

    2nd at the Runoffs

    3 November 1974. At Road Atlanta Tullius, on worn tyres, was passed on the last lap by Bill Jobe's Corvette and lost the B Production title by 0.8 s

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; Alan Henry, "Sports round-up", Motor Sport, Dec 1974, p. 32⁠4; racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results"⁠5

  4. 1975

    3rd at Brainerd, 1st in B Production

    13 July 1975. Tullius was 3rd overall and won B Production in an SCCA national race at Brainerd

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results"⁠5

  5. 1975

    16th in the Trans-Am at Brainerd

    7 September 1975. The JDHT lists a Trans-Am start at Brainerd, 16th

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1

  6. 1975

    SCCA B Production champion

    2 November 1975. Tullius won the B Production national championship at the Runoffs at Road Atlanta. In 1974–75 the car ran 17 races and won 12, seven of them in 1975, and its engine never failed

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1; Motor Sport, "Around and About, December 1975", Dec 1975, p. 32⁠6; Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70⁠2; racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results"⁠5

  7. 2004

    Unchanged, in the Heritage Trust collection

    Motor Sport drove the car in 2004, when Tullius said it was exactly as it had finished its last race. It belongs to the Jaguar Heritage Trust, inventory number 073/J.31

    Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70⁠2; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car"⁠1

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Results

A yellow year marks a win.

  • 1974

    SCCA race, Watkins Glen, August 1974

    August 1974, Watkins Glen, USA. Bob Tullius: gear lever broke⁠1​2​3

  • 1974

    SCCA Runoffs 1974

    3 November 1974, Road Atlanta, USA. Bob Tullius: 2nd in B Production⁠1​4​5

  • 1975

    SCCA National, Brainerd 1975

    13 July 1975, Brainerd, USA. Bob Tullius: 3rd overall, 1st in B Production⁠1​5

  • 1975

    Pepsi Trans-Am, Brainerd 1975

    7 September 1975, Brainerd, USA. Bob Tullius: 16th overall⁠1

  • 1975

    SCCA Runoffs 1975

    November 1975, Road Atlanta, USA. Bob Tullius: 1st in B Production⁠9​1​6

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  1. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car", the programme; chassis and inventory numbers; race table; the debut at Watkins Glen; race table, 3 Nov 1974, 2nd; race table, 13 Jul 1975, 3rd; race table, 7 Sep 1975, Trans-Am, 16th; race table, 2 Nov 1975, 1st. Primary
  2. Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70, p. 70. Reference
  3. Andrew Frankel, "Unsung heroes: The V12 Jaguars that kept its racing heritage alive", Motor Sport, Mar 2015, p. 58, debut. Reference
  4. Alan Henry, "Sports round-up", Motor Sport, Dec 1974, p. 32, p. 32; "E-types almost make it", p. 32. Primary
  5. racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results", 3 November 1974, Road Atlanta; 13.7.1975, Brainerd, 3rd, 1st in B Production; 2 November 1975, Road Atlanta; 3.11.1974, Road Atlanta [BP], 2nd. Database
  6. Motor Sport, "Around and About, December 1975", Dec 1975, p. 32, p. 32; "Leyland Victories", p. 32. Primary
  7. Octane (as reproduced by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust), "Racing Jaguars – Group 44 E-type V12", Apr 2014, pp. 102–105. Reference
  8. Classic & Sports Car, RIP Bob Tullius 1930-2026, Jack Phillips, 19 Mar 2026, quoting Classic & Sports Car, October 1999. Reference
  9. racingsportscars.com, US Champions Road Atlanta [BP] 1975, results, results, 1st, 18 laps. Database

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