JaguarE-Type

Jaguar E-Type V12 Racing

In 1974 and 1975 two Series 3 V12 roadsters raced in American B Production, Group 44's in the east and Huffaker Engineering's in the west. In 1975 Bob Tullius won the national title.

A white and green E-Type V12 race car numbered 44 driving fast past straw bales.
The Group 44 V12 roadster at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2014.Nic Redhead, CC BY-SA 2.0

At Road Atlanta on 2 November 1975, Bob Tullius won the Sports Car Club of America's B Production national championship in Group 44's V12 E-Type roadster. A year earlier he had lost the same title, on the same circuit, by eight-tenths of a second. Motor Sport singled the car out for praise in its December issue, and Andrew Frankel wrote 40 years later that the E-Type "really only dominated its chosen form of racing just once, and right at the end of its career in 1975".

The programme lasted two seasons and two cars. The results of both, race by race, are at the foot of this page; the Group 44 car itself survives.⁠1​2​3​4

Why Jaguar raced the V12

In 1974 British Leyland's American company had Series 3 V12 E-Types it had not sold. Motor Sport's account has "6000 still sitting on the dockside". The proposal to race them came from Mike Dale, of British Leyland Motor Inc, the Jaguar importer in America. The plan was one car on each coast in the SCCA's B Production class, each to win its region, the two to meet at the national Runoffs. Group 44, of Virginia, took the east; Huffaker Engineering, Joe Huffaker's team in California, the west.

The car was the production V12 roadster, prepared within the class rules. Tullius said the Jaguars had to run "narrower wheels and tyres than the Corvettes".⁠2​5​4​6

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The people

Mike Dale ran British Leyland's marketing in America and later headed Jaguar's North American company.

Mike believed in the power of racing to sell cars and the E-type didn't disappoint.

Bob Tullius to Andrew Frankel, Motor Sport, December 2004

Bob Tullius (1930–2026) founded Group 44 in 1965, with the mechanic Brian Fuerstenau and Dick Gilmartin, and had raced Triumphs before the Jaguar. He drove the eastern car.

Lee Mueller drove Huffaker Engineering's western car.⁠2​5​7​8​6

A white and green E-Type V12 race car numbered 44 on a circuit, its helmeted driver in the cockpit.
A V12 roadster in Group 44's livery on track at Road America on 27 October 2007, Bob Tullius's name on its door; the photographer says he was driving.Royal Broil, CC BY-SA 2.0

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The two seasons

Both cars made their debuts in August 1974 (on 10 August, by Motor Sport's date). Mueller won at Seattle on the Huffaker car's first outing; at Watkins Glen Tullius led until the gear lever broke off in his hand three laps from the end. Mueller won three races that year and Tullius five, and each took his regional title.

At the 1974 Runoffs, on 3 November at Road Atlanta, the two Jaguars started first and second quickest. Mueller retired with a deflating tyre, and by the end Tullius's tyres were worn; Bill Jobe's Corvette was close behind him.

Tullius found himself overwhelmed by a local Corvette on the very last lap and lost the title by eight-tenths of a second.

Motor Sport, December 1974

In 1975 Tullius won seven races, and at the Runoffs on 2 November he won B Production by 29.7 seconds. The Huffaker car did not start: according to Sports Car Digest, its differential carrier broke on the warm-up lap. The Group 44 car's record over the two seasons was 17 races and 12 wins, and Frankel wrote that its engine never failed. The programme ended with the season; by then the E-Type was out of production.⁠2​5​4​9​10​1​6

An aerial view of a winding racing circuit among woods.
Road Atlanta from the air in 2016, the circuit of the 1974 and 1975 Runoffs. No car is shown.formulanone from Huntsville, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Was Tullius champion in 1974?

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Before and after

Before the V12s, the last works-backed E-Types raced in America were the Lightweights of 1963, run by Briggs Cunningham and Kjell Qvale (the America page has them). The Corvette had held the B Production title for most of the previous 17 years; it lost it to the Jaguar once.

What came after was larger. Group 44 went on to race the XJ-S, and then, with Jaguar's backing, the XJR-5 sports-racing car, which took Jaguar back to Le Mans in 1984. Frankel's verdict on the E-Type's part in that was short: "It may not have been Le Mans, but Jaguar was racing again. And winning." The Group 44 car now belongs to the Jaguar Heritage Trust; in 2004 Tullius said it was exactly as it had finished its last race.⁠5​4​2

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Results

A yellow year marks a win.

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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. racingsportscars.com, US Champions Road Atlanta [BP] 1975, results, results, 1st; results; results, 1st, 18 laps; entry list, no result. Database
  2. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-Type Group 44 Racing Car", race table, 2 November 1975; the programme; Mike Dale; the founding of Group 44; race table, 1974–75; the car today; 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
  3. Motor Sport, "Around and About, December 1975", Dec 1975, p. 32, "Leyland Victories", p. 32. Primary
  4. Andrew Frankel, "Unsung heroes: The V12 Jaguars that kept its racing heritage alive", Motor Sport, Mar 2015, p. 58, para. 1; debut. Reference
  5. Andrew Frankel, "V12 Epoch", Motor Sport, Dec 2004, p. 70, p. 70; Runoffs 1974. Reference
  6. Chris Phillips, "V12 Jaguar E-Type", Sports Car Digest, 1 Aug 2011, Joe Huffaker; the 1975 Runoffs. Reference
  7. Moss Motoring, "Bob Tullius, Group 44 Inc.", 5 Apr 2009. Reference
  8. Classic & Sports Car, RIP Bob Tullius 1930-2026, Jack Phillips, 19 Mar 2026. Reference
  9. Alan Henry, "Sports round-up", Motor Sport, Dec 1974, p. 32, "E-types almost make it", p. 32. Primary
  10. racingsportscars.com, US Champions Road Atlanta [BP] 1974, results, results; results, DNF, 7 laps. Database
  11. racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results", 3.11.1974, Road Atlanta [BP], 2nd; 13.7.1975, Brainerd, 3rd, 1st in B Production. Database

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