JaguarE-Type

Jaguar E-Type Racing in Britain

The E-Type in the RAC Tourist Trophy, 1961–65, and in British national GT races, where Graham Hill won four times in John Coombs's Lightweight in 1963.

The front of a white E-Type Lightweight with the registration 4 WPD under a paddock awning.
4 WPD, John Coombs's car, raced as BUY 1 from 1961 and rebuilt in Lightweight form by 1963, under a paddock awning in July 2023.Calreyn88, CC0

On 24 August 1963, in the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, Roy Salvadori brought Tommy Atkins's Lightweight home 3rd and first in the class for the largest GT cars. Jack Sears was 4th in John Coombs's Lightweight. The race went to Graham Hill, in a Ferrari 250 GTO that Coombs also entered. It was the best the E-Type ever did in Britain's great GT race.

In shorter British races it did better. In 1963 Hill won four of them in Coombs's car, two of them with a GTO 2nd, and privateers kept E-Types winning in club races into 1965. The Tourist Trophy and the national races are this page; the whole of the E-Type's racing is on the racing page.⁠1​2​3

The Tourist Trophy, 1961–65

The RAC Tourist Trophy was run for GT cars at Goodwood in the early 1960s, with a GT class in a sports-car race there in 1964, and at Oulton Park in 1965.

In 1961 no E-Type started: the E-Type entries were withdrawn, reputedly on the factory's advice, and Stirling Moss won in a Ferrari 250 GT SWB. The 1961 season has its own page.

In 1962, on 18 August, Ferrari 250 GTOs took the first three places, driven by Innes Ireland, Hill (in Coombs's GTO) and Mike Parkes. Salvadori was 4th in Coombs's E-Type, a lap behind, and Dick Protheroe 6th in his first CUT 7, a fixed-head coupé; Lumsden spun out.

In 1963 four E-Types started, the grid set by practice times. Motor Sport noted that the Coombs and Atkins cars both had ZF five-speed gearboxes (transmissions), and listed among the starters "Dick Protheroe's fast-back model, 'CUT 7.'", by then the factory's Low Drag Coupé. Salvadori was 3rd and Sears 4th, Protheroe 6th and Lumsden 9th. Peter Sutcliffe's car and Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker's did not start.

In 1964 the race was for sports cars, with a GT class, and Salvadori had moved to a Cobra. Lumsden and Sargent were the best E-Type, 8th in their low-drag Lightweight; Sutcliffe was 15th and Roger Mac retired. Lindner's car was wrecked in practice (Peter Sutcliffe was driving, Motor Sport reported) and did not start.

In 1965 the Tourist Trophy moved to Oulton Park and was run in two heats. The Low Drag Coupé, now driven by David Wansborough, was 11th, the best E-Type, and Richard Bond was 13th. A Cobra won the GT class.⁠4​5​6​7​1​2​8​9​10

A grey E-Type coupé with a light blue nose band, the number 14 and the registration CUT 7 on grass.
The coupé carrying CUT 7 that its photographer identifies as 860004, Dick Protheroe's first CUT 7, 6th in the 1962 Tourist Trophy, at the London Concours. It has the standard roof: it is not the Low Drag Coupé.MrWalkr, CC BY-SA 4.0

Contents

Did an E-Type win the Tourist Trophy?

Contents

British national GT racing, 1962–65

In 1962 the GTO usually won at home. At Silverstone on 12 May Parkes won in one, with Hill 3rd in Coombs's E-Type; at Mallory Park on 11 June Parkes won again, with Hill 2nd, David Hobbs 4th and Protheroe 5th. Protheroe, in the first CUT 7, won five races outright that season, by Motor Sport's count.

1963 was Coombs's year. Hill drove his car, by then rebuilt as a Lightweight, to four British wins:

  • 1963

    Lombank Trophy, Snetterton

    30 March. Hill wins, ahead of Salvadori's Cooper Monaco sports car.

  • 1963

    Sussex Trophy, Goodwood

    15 April. Hill wins by 1.4 seconds from Parkes's GTO; Salvadori 3rd in Atkins's Lightweight, Protheroe 4th.

  • 1963

    Silverstone International Trophy meeting

    11 May. Hill wins, Salvadori 2nd and Protheroe 3rd, and Parkes's GTO crashes.

  • 1963

    Grovewood Trophy, Mallory Park

    13 July. Hill wins by 1.6 seconds from Sears's GTO; Salvadori 3rd, Sutcliffe 4th.

By 1964 the GTO 64 and the Cobra had passed the Lightweights. At Silverstone on 2 May Hill won in a GTO 64, and the best E-Type, Salvadori's, was 5th, with Protheroe 6th, Sutcliffe 7th and Gurney 8th in Coombs's car. The cars went on winning in club races: Roger Mac was 2nd in the Autosport Three Hours at Snetterton in September 1964 in Atkins's old car, and Brian Redman won two GT races at Oulton Park in 1965 in Coombs's, for Red Rose Motors.

The production car had its day too. In the Brands Hatch 1000 Miles on 23 May 1965, an E-Type 4.2 driven by Oliver and Craft was 3rd overall and won its class, behind an MGB and a Sprite.⁠11​12​13​7​14​15​16​17​18​19​3​20

A black-and-white photograph of an E-Type coupé numbered 79 racing alongside a Morgan and an MGB.
Plate I An E-Type coupé racing a Morgan and an MGB at the start of a club race at Llandow, South Wales, in August 1966.Hugh Llewelyn from Keynsham, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0

Contents

The British teams and drivers

John Coombs ran the most successful British E-Type. His car started as one of the seven early cars of 1961, was lightened through 1962 and was rebuilt as a Lightweight by 1963. Salvadori, Hill, Sears and Gurney all raced it. Coombs also ran the GTO in which Hill won the 1963 Tourist Trophy.

Tommy Atkins ran a Lightweight for Salvadori in 1963, and for Roger Mac in 1964.

Dick Protheroe raced three cars registered CUT 7: a fixed-head coupé in 1962, a second car built early in 1963, which crashed on its first outing, and from 1963 the factory's Low Drag Coupé.

Peter Sargent and Peter Lumsden raced an early car in 1961–62 and then their Lightweight, 49 FXN, in 1963–64.

Peter Sutcliffe raced his Lightweight, YVH 210, in 1963–64.

Equipe Endeavour, Tommy Sopwith's team, raced ECD 400 in 1961 only, and in it Hill won the first race an E-Type started.⁠3​21​7​22​1

A black-and-white portrait of a man with swept-back hair and a moustache, wearing white racing overalls.
Plate II Graham Hill at Zandvoort on 16 June 1971, 10 years after his win in ECD 400 at Oulton Park.Anefo, CC0

Contents

Rivals in Britain

The Ferrari 250 GTO, raced by Parkes, Ireland and others, and entered by Coombs for Hill, won the Tourist Trophy in 1962 and 1963 and most British GT races of 1962. Aston Martin's DB4 GT Zagato was the rival in smaller races, and Protheroe's first CUT 7 beat Mike Salmon's Zagato at Silverstone in 1962. From 1964 the Cobra took the GT class of the Tourist Trophy, at Goodwood in 1964 and at Oulton Park in 1965. In mixed races for sports and GT cars, as at Snetterton in March 1963, the E-Type also met Cooper and Lotus sports-racing cars.

Coombs's car, the one Hill won in, was back at Shelsley Walsh in June 2021, restored, for the E-Type's 60th anniversary.⁠6​1​12​13​7​19​8​10​14​23

Contents

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, Tourist Trophy 1963 (Goodwood), results, results, 1st, 3rd and 4th; GT+3.0; results and non-starters; results, 1st and 3rd; results: Coombs's GTO for Hill; results, 1st–2nd. Database
  2. Motor Sport, "Tourist Trophy" ("Ferrari's fourth successive victory"), Oct 1963, p. 22, paras 3, 19; paras 3, 8, 19; para. 19. Primary
  3. racingsportscars.com, "Jaguar E-Type – All Results", the British rows, 1962–65; 26 September 1964, Snetterton; 24 April and 12 June 1965, Oulton Park; entrants and drivers, 1961–65. Database
  4. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1961 (Goodwood), results, Nos 9 and 10, did not arrive. Database
  5. Motor Sport, "1961 Tourist Trophy at Goodwood: Seventh T.T. For Moss", Sep 1961, p. 44. Primary
  6. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1962 (Goodwood), results, results; results, 1st–3rd. Database
  7. Damien Smith, "Cut and pace", Motor Sport, Mar 2005, p. 86, the first CUT 7's 1962 season; Salmon's Zagato at Silverstone. Reference
  8. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1964 (Goodwood), results, results and non-starters; results: the GT class. Database
  9. Bill Boddy, "29th Tourist Trophy race", Motor Sport, Oct 1964, p. 49, the GT section; the practice accident. Primary
  10. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1965 (Oulton Park), results, results, 11th and 13th; GT; results: the GT class. Database
  11. racingsportscars.com, Goodwood International - Sussex Trophy 1962, results, results. Database
  12. racingsportscars.com, Silverstone International - Grand Touring 1962, results, results; results, 1st–2nd. Database
  13. racingsportscars.com, Mallory Park International 1962, results, results; results, 1st. Database
  14. racingsportscars.com, Lombank Trophy Snetterton 1963, results, results. Database
  15. racingsportscars.com, Goodwood International - Sussex Trophy 1963, results, results. Database
  16. Motor Sport, "Easter Goodwood International 100 Race", May 1963, p. 56. Primary
  17. racingsportscars.com, Silverstone International - Grand Touring 1963, results, results. Database
  18. racingsportscars.com, Grovewood Trophy Mallory Park 1963, results, results. Database
  19. racingsportscars.com, Silverstone International - Grand Touring 1964, results, results; results, 1st–3rd. Database
  20. racingsportscars.com, Brands Hatch 1000 Miles 1965, results, results, 3rd; GT+2.6. Database
  21. Simon Arron, "Damon Hill drives the coolest of cats — his Dad's race-winning Jaguar E-type", Motor Sport, Aug 2021, p. 88, ECD 400's 1961 record. Reference
  22. Stuart Bitmead, "Race car restoration: Jaguar E-type 'lightweight'", Motor Sport, Sep 2018, p. 160. Reference
  23. Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), "Jaguar E-type anniversary at Shelsley Walsh: review", 17 Jun 2021. Reference

Contents