Scottish racing team ECURIE ECOSSE has launched its own C-type Jaguar
Ecurie Ecosse secured 59 podium places across the seven C-type chassis raced by the team. Through clever tuning by legendary team manager ‘Wilkie’ Wilkinson and meticulous planning by founder David Murray, they proved how capable the Jaguar C-type could be on the international stage.
The Jaguar C-type was the first race car honed in the wind tunnel, first to use fuel ‘bag’ tanks (a technology borrowed from the aviation world) and the test bed for Dunlop’s revolutionary disc brakes. A steel spaceframe chassis formed the rigid backbone of these cars, clad in a lightweight, thin-gauge, streamlined aluminium body designed by Malcolm Sayer and powered by a silky smooth Jaguar ‘overhead cam’ straight-six engine.
Stirling Moss once said: “I always really rated the C-type – for me it was a far better car than the D.”
Current Ecurie Ecosse patron Alasdair McCaig said of their new car: “How better to celebrate the historic success of the Ecurie Ecosse C-types than to manufacture a batch of cars in their honour? The seven priceless chassis raced in period still exist today, coveted by their lucky owners, occasionally seeing the light of day for race or concours events. We are paying homage to these cars by creating a numbered sister car to each one. Meticulous in their detail, like their forebears, hand-built in Coventry and tuned by Ecurie Ecosse technicians.”
Ecurie Ecosse have retained the key elements of the 1950s Jaguar but also made improvements. The aerodynamic shape remains, still crafted from thin-gauge aluminium alloy and mounted to a steel spaceframe chassis, but wider and stiffer than before, laser-cut for accuracy. The sonorous Jaguar straight-six XK engine remains but increased to 4.2 litres and fuel injection fitted to bring power up to 300bhp. The suspension and disc brakes have been uprated to cope with the additional performance and a five-speed gearbox added.
