I was privileged recently to be in a position to facilitate the reunion of Gerry Beddoes, one of Jaguar's prime architects of Jaguar's legendary quad-cam V12 engine with former ex-Jaguar colleagues Peter Wilson, Frank Philpott and Jim Eastick. For many years after Gerry's retirement, he "fell off the radar" as far as contact with his former colleagues was concerned and it was such a pleasure to be able to reunite these gentlemen once again.

© Neville Swales - Gerry Beddoes (left) meets Jim Eastick for the first time in many years

© Neville Swales - Left to right - Gerry Beddoes, Frank Philpott & Jim Eastick share a few memories

© Neville Swales

We met at the home of Peter Wilson who treated us to a delightful afternoon tea :-)

Memories of Jaguar

Gerry recalled ...

"Like many before me and myriads after I was overwhelmed by the XK l20 when I saw it aged seventeen at the 1948 Motor Show (and still have my precious brochure). My admiration for the car and its engine were reinforced by a visit to the Swallow Road factory to see the cars being built as they wound their way through the wooden buildings of the old munitions plant. I was then in the early days of my Engineering Degree course and, to that point. had not decided where I should use my newly acquired skills. Following those visits I had no doubt and set about my studies with greater vigour. The next decision was how to persuade Jaguar to take me on. In this I was helped by a friend of my then girlfriends family, Peter Duncan, who was producer of the popular BBC Saturday evening radio programme. In Town Tonight. He was the proud owner of a Mk.5 and knew Bill Lyons and Bill Heynes, having interviewed them on his show. He was kind enough to contact them in late I950 to mention me as an enthusiastic but unskilled potential employee.

Original XK120 at Earls Court, London

Early the following year I. received an invitation from Bill Heynes to attend an interview with him in his office at Swallow Road and. on a cold morning in late March, my girlfriend (who by then was my fiancee) and l made our way by bus from our homes in Worcestershire to Coventry. Leaving her to pace up and down Burnaby Road in the cold I found my way to the Design Office and had a pleasant hour with Bill Heynes going over my ambitions and his requirements. I left with an offer of employment in the Experimental Department, assisting Jack Emerson in Engine Test, subject to my spending a weekend there to see whether he and I could hit it off together and also subject to mypassing my Finals that summer. Six weeks later I made my way back to Coventry to meet Jack Emerson. Claude Baily and my future colleagues in the wooden shed that was the Engine Experimental Office.

WM Heynes, Jaguar's Chief Enginer from 1935, was Gerry's boss. Here he presents Gerry with an award at the Rifle Club Dinner in 1954. To Bill's left are Bill Young (drawing office) and Ted Barber (production control) - © Gerry Beddoes

By then the 1951 Le Mans engines were in full development and the two test beds on which all engine tests were made for production and race development were in use seven days a week. My face seemed to fit and a start date of early August was agreed although this anticipated my examination results by several weeks. The Department I joined consisted of four - including me — Jack Emerson as Chief Development Engineer, me to record test results, calculate performance and draw graphs. Fred Kettle as Tester and Jim Eastick as his assistant. Jim was about the same age as me and had joined Jaguar as an lmprover, a kind of apprentice. Also sharing our office was Wally Rheese who kept records for all Experimental Department activities. Engines were built next to the test shed by Jack Lea and Frank Rainbow in a corner of the general Experimental Shop. Phil Weaver was in charge of the vehicle section with Harry Case as Foreman, soon to be replaced by Bill Cassidy on his retirement. Ron (Soapy) Sutton had left shortly before my arrival to be replaced by Norman Dewis the following year.

The test house itself was an asbestos panelled shed set between two of the parallel wooden buildings of the first world war shell filling plant and had two Heenan and Froude DPX 4 water brakes. Engines were cooled by passing the cooling water into a tank at the front of each test bench, the temperature of which was controlled by a tap water feed with the excess spilling over into the drains. All engines were then without oil scavenge pumps so oil cooling was by means of water sprays from a ‘U’ shaped pipe around each sump. Fuel was gravity fed from car fuel tanks high up on the wall which were filled from jerry cans carried up a step ladder. The exhaust system was also taken from a car and emerged from the rear wall through a hole knocked in the asbestos sheeting. All in all a Health and Safety nightmare!

Over the next months we tested everything from the l95l TT ‘C’ Type engines to 2 litre four and six cylinder XK engines, a militarized 3.4 for assessment by the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment at Chobham and an alcohol fuelled racing engine. This latter engine gave us some excitement on two occasions — tirstly when running it at close to 7,000 RPM. faster than attempted before. the rurbber bonded crankshaft damper failed when the rubber melted due to the energy absorbed from crankshaft vibration. The inertia ring dropped to the floor. ran across the concrete floor and stood against the wall. jumping up and down showering us with sparks. As there was no remote reading of engine parameters we were all standing beside the engine. without ear defenders. so failures like that made us jump pretty smartly. Later on the Company Fire Service had to be called out when sparks from the exhaust set alight packing cases left piled outside by the Service Department engine rebuild shop next door. I also accompanied Jack Emerson and Malcolm Sayer on C Type test days at MIRA and had the great excitement of a lap or two as passenger with Peter Walker. Transport to Mira on those occasions was one of the two Mk 6 cars. which were Mk 5 cars fitted with the 3.4 XK engine.

One of Jaguar's Engine Test Beds - © Gerry Beddoes

There were many visitors to our little office and I would sit enthralled listening to Jack Emerson exchanging memories with Harry Weslake, Ginger Woods of SU Carburetors (both, like Jack Emerson, ex motor cycle racers)and others. I also remember Laurie Hathaway (nicknamed Baron Oswestry by Fred Kettle) for his very colourful choice of swear words spoken with an impeccable English accent.

Graduate Apprenticeship

Shortly after joining Jaguar I had become a Graduate Member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which had (and still has) a very active Automobile Division Section in Coventry. In order to qualify for full Membership later on it was necessary for me to spend a two year Graduate Apprenticeship going through all areas of the company from manufacturing to staff areas. I was helped in drawing up a timetable by Mr. Green, the Apprentice Supervisor but Bill Heynes was. at first, reluctant to have me leave the Engine Test Department However, he was a leading member of the Automobile Division and so could not refuse. So. in early 1952 I put on green overalls and found my way to Browns Lane. Manufacturing was in the middle of transferring to the new location although Design Engineering was still at Foleshill. Lorries would carry a machine, its operator and work in progress so that it could be dropped into position, connected up and restart production with a minimum of delay. My first assignment was in the grinding section. making selector rods for the gearbox but shortly after I was given the opportunity to move to a new production line being installed to make the crankshaft for the Meteor engine used in the Centurion Tank. Jaguar had begun overhauling Meteor engines (a non supercharged development of the famous Rolls Royce Merlin aero engine) and testing them in cells adjacent to the Morris Engines Plant at Courthouse Green and, perhaps as a condition of permission to take over the ex shadow factory in Browns Lane. were to set up to manufacture complete new engines.

Claude Baily, whom Gerry worked with on numerous projects including the XJ13 quad-cam engine

Transfer lines were installed for cylinder blocks and heads and a separate linked line for cranks. I worked on the last of these with a near namesake, Jack Bedder as Setter. and took two crank forgings from one end to the other. setting up machines as we went. In contrast to the block and head lines which had new German Huller machines, our line was made up mainly from machines taken out of MOD storage so needed much renovation. One machine I remember had Russian nameplates on the controls, presumably intended for or even returned following support for Russian manufacture of Merlins during the war. Other machines were clearly American in origin after production there by (I think) Packard. Our two forgings made their way towards the end of the line and were almost finished when a stop was put to the whole project, the machines were stopped and later removed.

During my time in the machine shops the two foremen. Ted Gough and particularly Bill Ward, gave me much help. I moved on to the XK engine assembly line in September I952 and then to the vehicle assembly line. I even spent a couple of weeks on the line producing the C Type cars and remember a mockup of a single seat racing car being made nearby. Having toured most of the production areas I then moved into Bill Norbury“s area, the Service Department. About three weeks later l was surprised to receive a summons to Claude Bailey's office in the Engine Design Office. Smoothing down my dirty green overalls I made my way there to be told that the company had been given a contract to design and develope a 9.25 litre V8 engine for military use but he was having trouble with balance calculations for the crankshaft — would I take it on. With all the confidence of my 2l years I said “of course” and moved into the design office next day.

Jaguar 1952 Christmas Party
(left to right) Stan Paskin, Roy Kettle, Frank Denmee, Gerry Beddoes & Jack King- © Gerry Beddoes

The Ministry V8 Engine

9.25 litre "Ministry" V8

I joined two others who were preparing schematic drawings and beginning detailing- Bill Hayward, who was Section Leader. and Alec Forbes- and began work. In the following months I completed the crank design and went on to calculate all other aspects of the engine such as bearing loads, camshaft drive gears, connecting rod sections and valve gear and also to make some of the detail drawings. In those days we had no computers so every component weight, combustion pressure. inertia force andicrankshaft mass had to be calculated by slide rule or log tables. something I did for every fifteen degrees of crank angle. For its time the engine was very advanced with four valves per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts in each cylinder head driven by gears, an enclosed ignition system to permit immersion and drives for an alternator. hydraulic pump and power take off.

The original version had a carburetor but later engines ran with fuel injection. Power output was targeted at 375 HP at 3750 RPM but both of these figures were exceeded as development progressed. Components for around seven engines were machined and testing carried out on the Courthouse Green test beds as well as at Chobham. My calculation reports were addressed to Claude Baily and copied to Bill Heynes and to FVRDE Chobham. Regular meetings were held with the Chobham engineers, Mr. Tafft and Mr. Semmonds. As my efforts with my slide rule became accepted I began to be asked to complete other design tasks for engine and chassis components.

Gerry Beddoes - © Gerry Beddoes

In early August 1952, just before the midsummer holidays Bill Heynes approached a few of us in the drawing office and asked whether anyone could stay at work to draw up a modified rear suspension for the C Type car. I volunteered as my wife and I had no committed plans for the break. As originally designed it had two blade type lower links connected to the transverse torsion bar and a single triangular upper link which was offset to the right hand side of the differential and inclined downwards towards the front of the car. Under hard acceleration this was under tension due to torque reaction from the axle and opposed the engine torque applied by the propeller shaft. Wheel loadings were kept the same and wheel spin minimized. This was effective in its objective as I had witnessed in acceleration tests at MIRA but provided poor lateral location when cornering giving uncertain handling. My task was to design, detail and see fitted twin upper links for braking and acceleration loads and a Panhard rod for lateral location. This was completed and the cars for the 1952 Goodwood 9 Hour Race were run in that condition, the car driven by Tony Rolt going on to win. Rear suspension for the later Light Alloy car and D Types followed the same design except for a triangular ‘A’ bracket to give better lateral location.

Light Alloy car and D Type

While design work for the Ministry engine was going on I became involved with a project for a successor to the C Type, known within the drawing office as ‘The Light Alloy Car’. I was to calculate stresses and determine sizes for suspension components and torsion bars. This brought me in close contact with Malcolm Sayer who was preparing layout drawings and who, like me, lived in Kenilworth. lt fell to me to prepare weight estimates so that cornering and braking loads could be determined and l followed on by completing detail drawings for many of the suspension components. During construction I got to know Phil Weaver and all the Racing Shop mechanics well. The layout was very similar to the later D Type and, like the first D Types. was constructed from a 4% magnesium/aluminium alloy. This needed shielded arc welding and l remember the specialist from BOC training some of the Experimental fitters in its use. Norman Dewis drove the car for road development. most of which was carried out away from public gaze at Gaydon airfield, then non operational but later to become a V Bomber base and later still a Rover and now Land Rover Engineering center. During one of his tests Norman had a front wheel hub seize up at high speed, which must have been memorable to say the least. The car was brought back apparently undamaged and l was very interested to see whether my wishbone designs had survived. They had but the mounting bracket for the rear bearing of the offside upper suspension arm had a crack about half an inch long. There was much discussion over the relative merits of various remedies such as running a bead of weld along the crack but in the end all that was done was to drill a small hole at the end of the crack and for testing to carry on. I think the high speed runs at Jabekke and road tests at the Rheims track in 195 3/ l 954 must have been made in this condition. Brave Norman!

Another of my tasks in l953 was to make preliminary studies for a V12 engine, based on two 2.4 cylinder heads. The crankshaft stiffness was a concern but it was felt that with a short stroke design giving good overlap of main bearing and crankpin journals a satisfactory engine could be built. l went on to make a quarter size drawing of the engine and gearbox for use in styling sketches for a large saloon car. I still have a copy of this drawing.

Gerry Beddoes played a part in Jaguar winning of the 1953 Le Mans through his work on the C-Types.

Following my work on the Light Alloy car (later given the number XKC 054) l worked with Malcolm on the D Type, making weight estimates and carrying out stress calculations for the suspension members. One feature that gave me some thought was the attachment of the front torsion bar to the lower wishbone where, instead of a bulky attachment in line with the rubber bearing the torsion bar was splined directly in an extension of the wishbone. This meant that as the wishbone moved the end of the highly stressed torsion bar was displaced, adding bending to torsional stresses.I concluded that the clearance around the splined end of the bar would permit a degree of movement and no excessive stress would result. This was born out in vehicle use and later on in the E Type which had basically the same front suspension..

The "Light Alloy" car of 1953. Gerry worked closely with Malcolm Sayer on this car.

Another project which occupied me was a 4-valve cylinder head design by Harry Weslake. This was unconventional in that instead of inlet and exhaust valves down opposite sides of the head inlet and exhaust alternated down each side, with each pair of inlets diagonally opposite in each chamber. Weslake had made layout drawings only and it fell to me to complete detail drawings for a prototype. This necessitated several visits to his establishment in Rye. always an entertaining day. He was a larger than life character and full of stories. His office window looked onto the sand dunes so he kept a loaded 12 bore shotgun standing in the comer to take pot shots at rabbits if they came too close. His practical knowledge of airflow in engines was enormous and, although we tried very hard, we could never equal the power he achieved from cylinder heads he had fettled. The 4-valve head design had one weakness in that the close spacing of valves imposed by the long stroke XK cylinder spacing meant that rocker arms instead of tappets had to be interposed between camshaft and valve instead of tappets. The geometry for these was not ideal and the prototype head suffered badly from scuffing of the cam face. Several attempts were made to overcome this, including a deposit of Stellite and alternative lubricants but only bench tests were made. These indicated that, although low speed performance was good, the extremely rapid air swirl at high speed was not beneficial.

The very first D-Type (XKC401) on the ramp in the Experimental Department (note no fin yet)

Another interesting exercise, prompted by the performance of the Mercedes racing cars. was a look at desmodromic valve gear. I drew a trial system of rockers operated by a single camshaft and a single valve rig was made. but the necessary cylinder head and cam drive changes were so great that little or no running was done.

Mk l 2.4

Drawing Office Staff - left to right - (unknown), Mac McKenzie, Gerry Beddoes, Laurie Hewitt, Frank Denmee & Jack King - © Gerry Beddoes

My services with a slide rule were again involved in what later became known as the Mk l 2.4 litre. As first conceived this was to have an updated version of the 4 cylinder 2 litre engine, this time with a five bearing crankshaft. Early weight estimates were on this basis but, although not in time to stop a batch of fifty cylinder blocks, engine tests showed that even with five bearings the four cylinder engine was not as smooth as required and with 2 litres capacity could not produce enough power. Stan Paskin was the designer for the front suspension and I worked with him to determine wishbone loads and sizes. The front suspension assemblies were to be supplied ready built up by Alford and Alder who also supplied Standard Triumph. Their Managing Director. whose name was Turner and their Chief Engineer, John Lind were very proud of their involvement with the Triumph Herald which had just been released and were keen to carry over some of its design features to the new Jaguar. The first Mk l prototype was therefore built with screwed bushes for the suspension bearings and a geometry which placed the front roll center below ground level. This gave two problems ~ firstly excessive friction and second excessive roll. My job was to design the road springs to give the desired riding height but the friction meant that it was possible to push clown the front of the car. slowly release and get one ground clearance, then raise the car. release and get another 1% inches greater! This was soon corrected by the adoption of rubber bushes for the wishbone bearings. The second resulted in poor handling that no amount of development could cure.

Memo from Gerry to Claude Baily discussing what would form the basis of Jaguar's
first V12 and one which would power the XJ13 Le Mans Prototype

After a few weeks it became clear that changes were urgently required and, one Friday afternoon Stan Paskin and I were given the task of revising the design. Such was the speed with which change was possible that by the time we went home, much later that evening, a new geometry was determined. dimensions for a new vertical link decided and someone dispatched to obtain pieces of EN 16 steel from which they could be machined. Harry Hawkins and Bill Cassidy-"s machinists worked through the weekend. as did Stan and l._ so that by midday Monday Bill Heynes could drive the modified car. By Tuesday morning the new design had been released and drawings issued. l do not think that today’s rapid prototype systems could have done any better.

The rear suspension also went through some development changes. The initial design had cantilever leaf springs that not only acted as lower radius arms but also provided lateral location for the axle. The rubber mounts at the front and center of the spring allowed so much lateral movement that. together with the front end problems, handling was uncertain at very least. The solution was addition of a Panhard rod but space limitations meant that it had to be very short and to the offside of the differential so that geometry was not ideal and loads on the mountings were high.The final change was to the design of the upper wishbone. All the prototypes had a fabricated wishbone duplicating a pressing that wrapped around the upper ball joint and was curved to miss the telescopic shock absorber. As built up by welding sections of angles and plate these had given no problems and drawings had been released for production tooling. However, when the first ‘off tools’ components were put on pave road test the decrease in metal thickness and generous radii resulting from pressing allowed the wishbone to fold in the middle. Something close to panic ensued as l00 sets of front suspension crossmember assemblies were being built for the first production vehicles. These were committed for the initial release and could not be delayed so, as a temporary ‘fix’ all wishbone sections were doubled by the addition ofa stiffener made from a second wishbone pressing with the ends cut off, spot welded in piggyback fashion. The first cars left the factory with this temporary fix but were soon modified by the substitution of a new wishbone assembly that Stan and I drew up.

© Gerry Beddoes

Shortly after the first prototype 2.4 car was put on the road life at Jaguar was enlivened by the arrival of Bill Nicholson. He was an ebullient Irishman who had left BSA motorcycles after several years as leader of their successful trials and scramble team. Soon after his arrival he was ticked off by Sir William for driving the only 2.4 prototype up and down Browns Lane in clear view from the offices at speeds well over any legal limit. He survived that time and was more careful where he drove like that again. As a road development engineer he was given the job of debugging the application of power steering to the Mk 9 and 2.4 litre cars. I was to look after the Design Office aspects such as mounting of the pump, reservoir and piping, together with liason with Burman Gears who made the steering boxes. I got to know Bill well over the next few months and liked his irreverent approach to everything. even if it made life a little difficult at times. One day we were returning from a visit to Burmans and I commented. as he rounded the traffic island at Meriden with his usual gusto, that the local citizens would have been well woken up by the squeal of the tyres which prompted him to do a further three or four laps of the island at ever increasing speed and smoke level. A ride with him in his immaculate MG was an experience never to be forgotten!

ln the mid l950s the power race in America was in full swing and Bill Heynes was keen to assess any means to raise the power and torque of the XK in all its variants. One project I was involved in was turbocharging. At that time it was being introduced for diesel engines and we worked with Holset for a while to match one of their smaller units to a 3.4 engine.I had several visits to their Huddersfield factory where their Managing Director, P.J.F.Croset, was a keen Jaguar owner. Some test bed work was carried out but, in the absence of suitable fuel systems and waste gate valves to limit maximum boost pressure, no roadworthy system emerged. For trips such as those to Holset or to Weslake at Rye I drove one of the two 2.4 l prototypes retained in Experimental. RVC 591 and 592.They were both a great contrast to my own car, a well prewar Morris Ten.

Gerry still has his drawing he made when a V12 engine was first being proposed by Jaguar. This quad-cam layout was later adopted for the XJ13 Le Mans project

Since for all this time I was still involved with the Ministry Engine project my call up for National Service was deferred. ln this I had a sympathetic supporter at the local office of the Ministry of Labour and National Service who just happened to be Bert Hadley, a driver of the prewar Austin 750 racing car and several times a driver for Jaguar. Each year I would visit him, talk about Jaguar for a while. complete forms stating my reasons for deferment and go back to work for another year. At that time young men were liable for call up until the age of 26 years but when I reached my 25"‘ birthday Mr. Hadley stated that he could only grant me deferment for periods of three months at a time, and would not be allowed to grant three such periods. Accordingly I accepted the inevitable and, in spite of being by then married. buying a house and with a son, allowed myself to be called up to Army service with REME in October 1955.

National Service

Because of my motor industry experience I soon passed a trade test as a Motor Mechanic and used this to attempt to be posted to Chobham. where the Jaguar V8 engine was under development but this was not possible as the had no positions open to National Service recruits. I was therefore sent, after basic training, on a Leading Artisan Sergeants course at Bordon in Hampshire. This gave me training on all of the Army’s vehicles from tanks to bulldozers over 32 weeks and was great fun. However, two weeks from the end I passed a Selection Board and began another training course as an Officer Cadet at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. During my training there and later at Bordon I was constantly reminded by those who knew of my Jaguar connections that I was following Sir William's son who had been commissioned in REME some months before. There were tales of his exploits such as driving his XKl20 around the hallowed area of the parade ground. chased by irate drill Sergeants.The last eight weeks before passing out were back at Bordon where my previous training stood me in good stead. One enjoyable week was motorcycle training under Jeff Smith, Bill Nicholson’s successor as the leading rider for the BSA scrambling team who had been called up shortly before and, not surprisingly, made a motorcycle instructor. Afier passing out I had only nine months left to serve so the Army did not consider it worthwhile to send 'me overseas and posted me to a Command Workshops in Bridgend. Our task there was to service vehicles from local units and to refurbish a large number of Bedford trucks from a nearby vehicle depot. I put my Jaguar experience to use by installing a test bed to run engines after rebuild. Eventually in October l957 I lefl Bridgend and rejoined Jaguar./em>

Return to Jaguar

Back in the drawing office I resumed my former task of "slide rule pusher’ and my first task was design of a crankshaft for the 3 litre racing engine. Experience with the 3.4 crank had shown that the maximum speed was limited by torsional vibration. The natural frequency for that crank of around 21.000 cycles per second meant that torsional stresses became excessive at engine speeds over 6.500 RPM. near the peak of the third order vibration. Racing cranks had already been stiffened by a larger front end diameter and enlarged rear crank web but this had not given a significant increase in safe speed. The 3 litre crank, with its shorter stroke and greater overlap of journals was naturally stiffer and gave no trouble in use. That was not the case with all components of the engine however.

The connecting rods in early test engines were made from Titanium to reduce bearing loads and were carefully polished and crack detected. But this did not prevent a couple of spectacular failures on the test bed which nearly cut the aluminium cylinder blocks in two. Close examination of the broken parts showed that there were fine forging cracks present but these had been hidden by the very polishing operation intended to reveal them because of the way titanium alloys flow under surface stress and fuse together to make a continuous skin. Later engines reverted to steel rod forgings.

Another problem arose with the valve gear where both camshafts and tappets were failing, often leading to the ruin of a whole engine. I made an analysis of the cam and valve train system and concluded that the failures arose because of the design of cam profile used. Jaguar had always had cam profiles based on what was known as the three arc design where both flanks and the nose of the cam were of constant radius. This made lift calculation easy (albeit long-winded with ten figure log tables as I well knew) and also contributed to good breathing by virtue of a fat lift curve resulting from instantaneous changes in acceleration. As the contact point moved up the flank of the cam on valve opening the acceleration is high and almost constant over between ll and 12 degrees of camshaft rotation but when contact moves on to the nose this changes instantaneously to a lower deceleration so that the valve arrives at full lift where it is instantaneously at rest. On closing the valve and tappet are accelerated towards the valve seat until the contact point moves off the nose and the flank now suddenly begins to decelerate them to close the valve at low velocity. These suddenly imposed acceleration changes and the resulting load (amounting to a theoretical half a ton at the design speed of 8,000 RPM) created shock loads on camshaft and tappet leading to failure after less than an hour at high speed. Following some study of available literature I devised a cam profile that had its point of highest acceleration at only half of the tappet face radius and had a smooth transition from acceleration to deceleration. I was also able to alter the shape of the acceleration curve to permit use of a high rate valve spring with a high natural frequency which was much less prone to surge. On a test rig my design survived 24 hours at the equivalent of 8,000 RPM engine speed without failure but. on a straight substitution for the standard cam. did not give the same power due to the slightly ‘softer’ profile. As the 3 litre racing programme came to an end shortly after, my ideas on cam design went no further.

Mk 10 ( Zenith ) Project

This did not mean that I had nothing else to do as. one moming I saw two of the Body Office draughtsmen carry a full size plywood profile of a large car into their area and trace around it onto their wall mounted board. This was the start of the Zenith project later to be the Mk 10 saloon and I was to design the front suspension and crossmember. It was immediately clear that the whole profile needed to be raised as ground clearance under the engine and rear seat headroom were inadequate. I was not involved in the discussions with Sir William but I understand that they were not easy! However. he relented a little and the bonnet line was raised enough to fit in the XK engine if a new sump was designed. However this left much less space below for the suspension crossmember, at least as a pressed steel fabrication like the 2.4 car. We were therefore forced to adopt a forged I beam from the start which lead to some difficulty in attaching the spring turrets and suspension arms. Many layouts were made and Bill Heynes was a constant visitor to my drawing board. At that time he was interested in rubber suspension springs and I paid several visit to Dunlop with sketches for discussion. I see from my note book that I calculated transverse leaf springs and torsion bars as alternatives but after many sketches and much doodling a fairly conventional coil spring layout was reached, detailed and put into production. lasting for many years as the 420G and becoming the basis for the Daimler Limousine. With only a small team in the drawing office we worked long hours — overtime each evening and also weekends.

The fruit of the Zenith project - Mk10 in all its voluptuous glory

One Sunday morning I took my young son. then about four years old, with me and gave him a few pieces of scrap paper to doodle on. To my consternation in walked Sir William and I expected to be ticked off. Instead he immediately came over to us and proceeded to spend twenty minutes teaching him to draw patterns with a pair of compasses. He left me saying that he was pleased to see such a young recruit getting his hand in! In addition to these major projects I was still making design calculations for all sorts of components ranging from gudgeon pins to XK I50 rear springs to gear pairs for the gearbox. For the last of these I followed the guidance of Dr.H.E.Merrit, formerly the gear specialist for David Brown Gears and designer of the transmission system for the Centurion tank. As a consultant he was in demand for many industries and was a great help to me. Bill Heynes was never slow in calling on expert outside advice if needed and also recruited people who took his fancy. In the Body Drawing Office there was one of the Van den Plas family from Belgium who worked as a stylist for a few years - very short sighted with thick spectacles but able to make beautiful drawings, even if he could not see both ends at the same time! I had as my assistant a Polish Engineer. Tadeusz Sokolowski, a graduate from Warsaw University in I938 who had spent all of the war years in first Russian and then German prison camps who wrote to Heynes setting out his story. Several young engineers were also put under my wing for a while to gain experience, among them being Graham Robson, later to become a successful writer and motoring journalist.

Associated Engineering Group Research

By 1961, nearly four years after returning from National Service I was becoming restless. Although I enjoyed my job (who would not!) l was a little frustrated in that nearly all of my work in design calculations relied on estimated or even guessed input loads. Jaguar had no means to measure dynamic loads although the means to do so were becoming available. When I saw a job advertisement in the local paper for qualified engineers to join a new research center not far away I was tempted to apply. Accordingly, in the autumn of that year I joined the Associated Engineering Group Research Centre at Cawston, near Rugby as their motor industry engineer, much to the annoyance of Bill Heynes. The Centre had been established after a Government Report had been published showing the proportion of turnover allocated by companies to R & D in major countries around the world. Britain came near the bottom of the table and the AE Group decided. if R & D was what was needed to improve their prospects then they would have some. Accordingly, Cawston was set up and around I00 staff taken on with backgrounds in many fields such as mechanical engineering, electronics, metallurgy, physics and control engineering. Laboratories and workshops were lavishly equipped and I helped to install test beds with costly dynamometers. The only thing the AE Board did not provide was any directive on what we should do, this being left to the staff to make proposals.

After a few relatively minor projects I joined one of my colleagues in designing and developing an electronic fuel injection system. We had all the means required on site with an Electronics Laboratory headed by Mike Westbrook, later to be head of the Ford Dunton Electronics Laboratory and his deputy, Dick Skipworth. The starting point for our work was a paper by Bendix in USA who had announced a system in the mid l950’s that relied on gas filled valves. It did not prove reliable in service and was dropped. Later on, Bosch had announced their D Jetronic system. for which claims of power, consumption and emission improvements had been made. With that background, Board approval was obtained and we set about designing and making our own system from scratch. The colleague who had initiated the project was Ken Wallace, an inventive and persuasive individual. His persuasive powers were demonstrated when after some rig testing and single cylinder work we wanted to equip a road vehicle to assess driveability. His proposal was to buy an already fuel injected car so that a straight comparison could be made with a car on sale to the public — his choice, which was accepted by the AE Board, being no less than a Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing.We found a fairly low mileage second hand car at a London dealer and brought it to Cawston. The first job was to record base line perfomiance figures on the test bed that took several weeks. Then the Bosch mechanical injection system was removed, the inlet manifold modified and our own system fitted. Calibration and tailoring our system to the engine took a further few months and then came the exiting task of assessing road driveability. Ken an.d I used to use the car for normal transport overnight, leaving it outside our homes so that cold starting could be assessed. at least in UK conditions. Once the 300 SL was on the road we bought a more typical family car ~ a l.6 litre Ford Classic that became our main development workhorse. With a better inlet manifold but no other engine modifications this became a real flyer while showing much improved tractability.

"Gerry's" Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.

By 1964 we had gone through several design levels for all the individual components and had accumulated many hours of rig tests. Ken Wallace had left AE in circumstances I had better not describe and I was now the Chief Engineer for the project, ably assisted by Brian Croft. later to be Chief Engineer at SU Carburetors. We had installed an environmental test chamber for corrosion and other tests and had begun to equip a third car — this time a 3.8 Mk 2 Jaguar. Outside suppliers for some assemblies had given costs for volume and rough time scales for production and an AE Company chosen for assembly — Brico Engineering in Coventry. It was now time to reveal our work to our potential customers I therefore wrote to the Engineering Directors and Chief Engineers of all the UK car manufacturers inviting them to each spend a day at Cawston looking at our work and driving the Ford Classic. About fourth on the list. alter Ford, Aston Martin and Vauxhall came Jaguar and I played host to Bill Heynes and Wally Hassan. I think they were impressed but when I accompanied them in driving around the local roads I was surprised to be asked by Mr. Heynes whether I was happy at AE as he had a proposal to make to me. It so happened that I had some concerns over the future management of the project which had been put in the hands of the Brico board who, whilst very experienced in piston and ring manufacture and were developing great expertise in sintered metal. had no knowledge of electronics and electromechanical components. There were also growing concerns over the strength of our patents. particularly as Bosch had filed several patents with very broad claims which seemed to cover almost any means of fuelling an engine. I explained this and Mr. Heynes said he had a project that might interest me -- acting as liason engineer between Jaguar and the designer of a transmission system in which Jaguar had an interest. I accepted his offer and once again resumed my familiar journey to Browns Lane each moming. I was given an office next to Claude Baily, sharing his secretary. and was put on the Executive payroll, enabling me to buy a new Jaguar each year at ex factory price. a perk I much enjoyed! This benefit continued for three years and I had successively a 3.8 MkII, a 3.4 S Type and a 340 until the merger with Leyland when the contrast with their executives driving Austin Maxis and us at Jaguar became too much to bear and we all had to join the company car hire scheme.

Badalini Transmissions Ltd

The following account is based on my understanding of events and my sketchy knowledge of the background to them.

The transmission concerned was an infinitely variable hydrostatic system, designed by an Italian Giovanni Badalini who had a development workshops in Rome and a drawing office managed by his brother in Milan. Jaguar interest in his work was stimulated by Digby (Digger) Cotes-Preedy, then Sales Manager for Cam Gears. a manufacturer of steering gears for car, truck and tractor use. Digger was a pilot in the Battle of Britain, flying Blenheim fighter/bombers and flew all through the war, ending by flying ground attack in a Typhoon. After demobilization he joined Dunlop Aviation as their test pilot for aircraft brakes and flew most of the British post war civilian aircraft. When that career ended he joined Cam Gears. One of his customers was International Harvester in Doncaster and, during a visit there, Digger was told by Joe Ziscal the American Chief Engineer that he was disappointed by his US head office which had prevented him from continuing development of a prototype tractor fitted with a Badalini transmission. He had commissioned this from his own budget, had it manufactured in Italy and given it exhaustive tests in England. Ziscal believed the system had some promise and wondered whether Cam Gears might be interested in taking on the rights. Their Managing director Mr. Douglas Leese agreed and took an option on promotion of Badalini’s patents. He and Digger approached all potential customers. naturally including Jaguar. After some assessment of the Badalini”s prototypes by Bill Heynes and Dr. Tait, the very experienced engineer who joined Jaguar when Daimler was purchased, an order for two Jaguar sized units was signed in October 1962.

D'Attilia and Franco of Badalini Transmissions
work on a first prototype Jaguar gearbox in Badalini's Rome workshop - © Gerry Beddoes

Two other companies which showed interest were Ford and Massey Ferguson and. in January the following year, Ford too placed an order through Cam Gears for two transmissions to suit their Cortina car. In March I963 Cam Gears and Jaguar set up a jointly owned British company, both having a 48% share with the Italian company Cambi Idraulici Badalini having the remainder. As part of this deal, Badalini granted the UK company rights to develop and manufacture transmissions for car. truck, tractor and industrial use throughout Europe and North America for their own and other company’s use. It was also agreed that Badalini Transmissions would set up a design and development facility to support Badalini’s own rather meagre workshop in Rome. Badalini too had a remarkable history. having been called up in the Italian Air Force as a pilot at the beginning of the 1939 war. He won Italy’s Gold Cross for low-level daylight bombing of Malta but was shot down on a later mission, crashing into the Mediterranean with a badly injured back. After a day in his rubber dinghy he was picked up by a British rescue boat and taken to hospital in North Africa. By the time he left hospital with his back in a steel brace Italy had capitulated. with many of their forces opting to join the Allies. Badalini volunteered to join a Royal Air Force Wing being established with all Italian crews but. not unsurprisingly. was required to demonstrate his loyalty to a new cause before being let loose with an aircraft full of bombs. Badalini was therefore dropped by parachute in Northem Italy on a mission to aid the partisans and, on completion. made his way south to the front line and walked across by night to claim his RAF wings. He then won a bar to his Gold Cross bombing the Germans. During the l950’s he built up his transmission business and had licensed the German company Flender to manufacture industrial drives in Germany and Italy. MV Augusta had made a motorcycle transmission to his designs that had been used for street circuit racing which had come to the notice of Honda. They made their own version to be used in a de luxe scooter, using published infomiation, but had run into serious problems when committed to production. They were apparently compelled to contact Badalini and he went to Japan, overcame the problems and the scooter went into production under the model name Juno. In all this he had the backing of an Italian industrialist, Count Vaselli. who appointed one of his legal staff, Dr. Angelo Lauria to guide him commercially. It was Angelo who met me when I first went to Rome to meet Badalini. In his small workshop in the outskirts of the city he had several dusty examples of earlier applications of his ideas including two MV Augustas, a Fiat car and the ex International Harvester tractor. There were also two Ford Cortinas, equipped under contract from Ford Basildon and in full use for development. Ford had, like International, looked at many options for infinitely variable transmissions and decided that Badalini’s ideas warranted investigation. Several companies had investigated hydrostatic transmissions and many papers had been written about them. Industrial variable ratio drives were in production to a number of designs. The simplest had an engine driven hydraulic pump supplying oil to a motor in a circuit. speed being controlled by varying the capacity of either pump or motor. This meant that in “top gear’. the most common condition for a motorcar transmission, oil flow was at a maximum. which lead to poor efficiency. Badalini had overcome this, using swash plate pumps and motors. by mounting the pump swash plate on the motor casing. This meant that engine torque was always transmitted mechanically to the output shaft, the hydraulics providing the speed reduction for ‘lower gears’ and additional torque. In ‘top’ gear the motor capacity was reduced to zero so that the hydraulic circuit was stalled and all the transmission internals rotated together.

By putting the pump inside the motor the motor capacity was nearly treble that of the pump so that. for the same swash plate angle. the output torque was nearly four times the input in ‘bottom’ gear. (See Appendix for details). One consequence of the large diameter motor swash plate was the high rubbing speed for the thrust bearing and this proved to be the most intractable problem in the following years. The Ford prototypes had a ball bearing motor swash plate but this was noisy and I was advised by bearing specialists later that ball or roller bearings would not be quiet or durable enough. In early I962 the Ford cars were shipped back to Coventry but soon Digger and I drove them back to the old Ford Engineering Block at Rainham. Our contact there was Alf Haigh, then Chief Engineer, Transmissions. and a young engineer Peter Beattie. Ford continued work on their prototypes for a few months and we had one back in Browns Lane for a while but as they were by then to a superceded design they suspended further work. I suspect that. following Jaguar involvement, they did not wish to be beholden in any way to a rival motor manufacturer.

Getting there ...

I go off next week to collect the car and take it to have its exhaust fabricated (pictures to follow). In the meantime, the following is an assortment of pictures taken at various stages during the car's build so far.

I was thrilled to hear a mention of my project as Jaguar's one-and-only original XJ13 lined up for a run up the hill yesterday ...

Where did Jaguar source components in period? 

Although Jaguar were able to raid their “parts bin” for some components of their XJ13 Le Mans Prototype, most of the car’s major items were custom-made. “Off-the-Shelf” components used in period included things such as Lightweight E-Type (LWE) front suspension & steering rack (albeit modified), instruments, lighting and front wheels (as also used on the rears of LWE racers). However, major components used for the car’s rear wheels, drivetrain, power-unit, braking systems and rear suspension had to be custom made in period.

The engine and associated castings such as bellhousing and rear hub carriers were, of course, designed in-house by Jaguar. The prime architect of the mighty quad-cam engine was Claude Baily under the direction of William Heynes. These major components were drawn up within Jaguar’s Drawing Office, signed off by Baily and casting carried out by The West Yorkshire Foundry. Final finishing of items such as engine blocks and heads was entrusted to Coventry-Climax before being returned to Jaguar for final assembly.

The “old skills”

In the mid-1960s, the use of computers for design and manufacturing was very much in its infancy. Design was pretty much a “pen-and-paper” exercise drawing on the designer’s skills, knowledge and hard-won experience. These drawings were translated into real-world components using intermediaries such as wooden patterns (for casting) and wooden bucks/formers for things such as body shapes and some suspension components. “Fettling” and finishing of the final items relied on the manual skills and experience of Jaguar’s engineers.

As well as creating the engineering drawings themselves, the skill needed to produce things such as wooden patterns should not be underestimated. For example, wooden casting patterns need to be made slightly larger than the finished item to take account of shrinkage of molten metals – different metals need different degrees of compensation. Wooden patterns also need to include “draft” and “fillets” such that they can be satisfactorily removed from the casting sand.

The following drawings show these first steps in producing a finished component – in this case, the front upright (hub-carrier) for a Lightweight E-Type. The original XJ13 also used these components.

Example engineering drawing for Lightweight E-Type front upright (hub-carrier)
Critical dimensions have been deliberately blurred for the web.
© Building The Legend Limited

Notes for pattern-maker and machinist included on engineering drawing
© Building The Legend Limited

Wooden patterns made from the above drawings could be similar to those pictured below:

Wooden patterns produced from engineering drawings above.
© Building The Legend Limited

These wooden patterns could then be used to sand-cast final components in the traditional manner. In the case of items such as these uprights, and in the days before metallurgy was advanced enough to be able to produce castings with similar properties to forgings, the engineering drawings could be translated into dyes for use in the forging process.

The skills of those who could design, draw and create such components in the days before Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and techniques such as 3D-Printing were quite remarkable. Don’t forget they didn’t just produce the components but also produced components which were fit for purpose and able to take the designed stresses placed on them. The skills extended from the designers, through those casting/forging the components, to the final machinists.

In particular, the skills of people such as the late Malcolm Sayer when translating his complex body shapes into wooden bucks were quite outstanding. Sayer worked with a precursor of today’s computerised 3D techniques – in his case, the complex maths was arrived at manually using log-tables with typical accuracies of four-figures and more. Nowadays, we have the luxury of computers which greatly assist the process.

In with the new

Today, we are able to design and, in some cases, produce a finished component entirely within a computerised environment. In addition, it is possible to investigate the performance of a component in a completely virtual environment – seeing how the component will respond to various stresses, how it will perform in concert with other virtual components as well as basics such as finished component weight, centre of gravity etc. All this can be done before the component is actually manufactured in real life.

SolidWorks is the CAD programme favoured by Building The Legend Limited. It lends itself to reproducing complex components such as cylinder heads and is preferred to 3D-Scanning for such items. For example, the following pictures show our digital recreations of Jaguar's 6-cylinder "XK" head as well as one of their SOHC V12 heads. These models were produced as a precursor to a separate project where we are producing quad-cam V12 engines of our own.

Digital representation of Jaguar's 6-cylinder XK engine
© Building The Legend Limited

 Digital representation of Jaguar's V12 SOHC "A-Bank" Head
© Building The Legend Limited

Going back to the example of Jaguar’s LWE upright (used in the original XJ13 and not now available “off-the-shelf”), we were able to reproduce the original drawing in CAD (SolidWorks 2015) before using 3D-Printing to create the various moulds used to cast the finished component. Those of you familiar with these components will see it has been modified slightly to enable the use of modern “sealed-for-life” lower balljoints.

The material used was EN-GJS-500-7 – a spheroidal graphite cast iron which approaches the strength of equivalent forgings. The following pictures show the finished items.

LWE Front Uprights
© Building The Legend Limited

Finished machined LWE Front Uprights
© Building The Legend Limited

We were able to use this marriage of old and new techniques to produce items for the project such as bellhousings (both for the prototype DOHC engine as well as later SOHC engines). In the case of the later SOHC bellhousings, “traditional” casting was carried out at GPD Developments - a traditional foundry in Nuneaton, close to Coventry. The first stage was for us to design the bellhousings using CAD. The aim was to end up with something cosmetically similar to the original XJ13 item but suitable for use with Jaguar’s later SOHC V12 blocks (5.3, 6.0-litre and larger).  The SOHC bellhousing is sized to accommodate either single- or multi-plate clutches (XJ13 used a twin-plate racing clutch as is the case with our prototype-engined car).

We also took the opportunity to “beef-up” the design to cope with the way the drivetrain is stressed in its unique XJ13 application. Derek White of Jaguar designed the engine as a stressed member in the XJ13. Colin Chapman didn’t come up with this concept until his Lotus 49 of 1967 which means Jaguar would have been first to use this configuration if they had raced in 1965 or 1966.

Here are some pictures of the finished CAD SOHC bellhousing model:

SOHC Bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

SOHC Bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

Building The Legend's SOHC Bellhousing attached to modified Quaife ZF Transaxle
© Building The Legend Limited

These CAD models were then used to produce the various molds needed for traditional sand-casting.

SOHC Bellhousing Mold
© Building The Legend Limited

SOHC Bellhousing Mold
© Building The Legend Limited

SOHC Bellhousing Mold
© Building The Legend Limited

The actual molds were produced using a combination of 3D-Printing and CNC-Machining. The following video shows them being used to cast the finished items in the traditional way. I was joined on the day by ex-Jaguar Peter Wilson (ex-Competition Department and author) and Nigel Boycott (ex-Jaguar Service Department). The process was described to us by Malcolm Hammersley of GPD Developments.

The bellhousings ended up as follows:

Cast SOHC bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

Cast SOHC bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

The runners etc were then removed:

Cast SOHC bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

Cast SOHC bellhousing
© Building The Legend Limited

We then machined the bellhousings as shown in the following video:

Similar techniques are being used to replicate other items such as rear hub carriers (unique to the XJ13 and certainly not available “off-the-shelf”!):

SOHC Rear Suspension
© Building The Legend Limited

SOHC Rear Hub Carrier and Dunlop-Style Brakes
© Building The Legend Limited

Towards the end of 1965, in Jaguar's Competition Department, construction of their XJ13 Le Mans Prototype was underway. In 2015, almost 50 years later, my painstakingly accurate recreation of this legendary car is well in hand ...

Video thanks to my good friend of over 40 years, Ian McCann - cast in the roles of Producer, Director and Cinematographer. Thanks also to David Scott of Glasshouse Media who carried out the film's edit and colouring. Music by "Audio Network" and audio post-production by "The East Wing".

Want your own copy of one of these cars? NOW TAKING ORDERS!!

Any differences between the rivet detail on my recreation and Jaguar's rebuilt original are completely deliberate!

There are many differences between Jaguar's 1966 original car and Jaguar's rebuilt car as it stands today - some fairly obvious and others not as obvious. Rivet details on the front of the car are an example of the latter.

Perhaps a good time to reflect back 50 years ago to early 1965 when Bob Blake had already made a start on the original's monocoque.

At the time, it was believed that it was still possible to have the car up and running in time for Le Mans – time was very, very tight but the skilled team working behind closed doors were used to working to such tight deadlines.

As an example, back in 1960, Briggs Cunningham had persuaded Jaguar to allow him to compete at Le Mans with the second E-Type Prototype – E2A. Work on building this car had only started on 1st January and the car needed to be ready for testing at Le Mans only three months later. Thanks to the sterling efforts of those at Jaguar, the car was up and running by the end of February. Jaguar was optimistic that the XJ13 could also be readied in time for the 1965 Le Mans. As an aside, and with the benefit of hindsight, the car could have acquitted itself very well if it had lined up on the grid in 1965. For one thing, the GT40s had yet to get in their stride and they failed to complete the distance.

Ferrari took five of the top seven places in 1965 with the 3.3-litre 250 LMs finishing first and second. Would a team of XJ13s have given the Ferraris a run for their money? With continuing development would the XJ13s have kept pace with the GT40s in 1966 and beyond?

We will never know but, on paper at least, the XJ13s could have been at the sharp end of the grid from the mid-60s onwards and history could have been re-written. Sadly, the kind of commitment thrown at E2A by senior Jaguar management was not invested in the XJ13.

From the perspective of the Competition Department Engineers, as described by Peter Wilson in his definitive book on the XJ13 (“XJ13 – The definitive story of the Jaguar Le Mans car and the V12 engine that powered it” – available from the publisher Paul Skilleter and the JCNA website )

... “That the Competition Department had the capability to build XJ13 to a similar schedule was in no doubt, especially as by 1965 there were three more people working in the department. One thing was missing, however – the final directive, which could only come from the top. To build E2A had required the entire CompetitionDepartment workforce, working seven days a week, together with similar levels of effort from the Experimental Engine Department to build and develop the 3.0 litre all aluminium racing engine. This total commitment from top management in respect of the XJ13 was not forthcoming probably due to other top level priorities which we couldn’t have been aware of …

… But it was becoming obvious that there was no way the car would be ready for Le Mans in 1965.”

The Competition in 1965

In January of 1965 the annual Racing Car Show was held at Olympia in London where the latest designs were being showcased by designers such as Lotus, McLaren, Lola & Brabham. Derrick White (Jaguar’s pre-eminent chassis designer) and Malcolm Sayer attended the show. They produced a report on their return in which Derrick made the following significant points:

• None of the racing cars at the show adopted the practice of using the rear driveshaft to locate the rear wheels. Those of you familiar with Jaguar will know this had become standard practice at Jaguar. Companies such as Lotus and Lola had tried solid driveshafts as upper locating links but had quickly moved to upper/lower links and plunging driveshafts. This fell on deaf ears as far as Jaguar’s William Heynes was concerned and he insisted the XJ13 should retain Jaguar’s “production” setup. Jaguar’s bad experiences with the De Dion independent systems tried on the D-Types in the 1950s may have also influenced his decision. This difference of opinion festered between White and Heynes over the next two years eventually culminating in White leaving Jaguar and pursuing a very successful career designing race-winning chassis for Cooper and the Honda/Lola/Surtees consortium. There is no doubt the XJ13 would have ended up an even more competent car had Derrick been allowed to apply his solutions.
• Derrick also made a request for more design resource – needed to keep pace with the competition. This request was refused by William Heynes who insisted a pair of hands should be recruited from within Jaguar’s existing complement.

Fast-forward to 2015

Fast-forward 50 years and to my efforts to reproduce the XJ13 rear suspension geometry.

I was already in possession of all critical suspension points in 3D space as used by Jaguar in 1965 so I was well on my way to being able to reproduce the precise handling characteristics of the original car in my recreation. I had already sourced an original ZF 5DS 25-1 transaxle as used in the XJ13 – complete with identical ratios. As predicted by Derrick White, Jaguar did initially have problems with their use of the driveshaft as upper link and the transaxle output shafts had to be modified very early in development. I made the same modifications to the transaxle output shafts to cope with the lateral stresses applied by the use of the solid drive shafts.

Essentially, this consisted of replacing the ZF driveshaft circlips with nuts. The drive shafts were threaded and were held in place by nuts.

Driving the Rear Wheels

Incidentally, I have acquired a pair of drive shafts which had been originally installed in the XJ13. Indeed, it is possible they were in place during XJ13 Test & Development driver David Hobbs’ XJ13 record-breaking run – more than 161 mph on the closed track at MIRA in 1967 – a record which was to stand for 32 years and only beaten in 1992 by the McLaren F1 road car. This record did show the potential of the XJ13 “straight out of the box” and before serious race-development.

Transaxle output shafts before modification – showing circlip attachment
© Neville Swales

Original XJ13 modified transaxle output shafts installed in Neville’s recreation. These items are believed to have been in place in the original XJ13 during its record-breaking run.
© Neville Swales

These output shafts are used to connect the cast rear hub-carriers to the transaxle via a pair of “solid” drive shafts. Again, those of you familiar with your Jaguars will recognise the basic architecture of this setup. The following picture shows the arrangement in the original XJ13:

Original XJ13 rear suspension. “Solid” drive shafts used as upper-links. Note custom cast alloy hub carrier and use of Dunlop brake piston.  
© Jaguar Heritage - Reproduced with permission

I recreated the original setup – even going to the extent of recreating custom rear hub carriers, vented discs and custom Dunlop calipers. Although Jaguar later adopted Girling brakes, the car started its life with Dunlop brakes. A handbrake caliper was added but never used.

Sitting on all four feet

Original XJ13 front suspension (left). Based on 1964 Lightweight E-Type with peg-drive hub, vented discs, coil-over shocks in place of torsion bars, Dunlop caliper & removable pistons. Original XJ13 rear suspension (right). Custom hub carrier, peg-drive hub, Dunlop caliper, fabricated lower wishbone, vented disc and handbrake caliper (not used).
© Jaguar Heritage - Reproduced with permission

The following pictures show steps in recreating these custom items:

CAD drawing of XJ13 rear hub carrier. Jaguar used a similar process in 1965 but substituted pen & paper for the design and a wooden pattern for the 3D-Printed items! I chose to design his hub carrier so that larger bearings could be used. I also designed it such that wider wheels could be installed without the necessity to add rear wheel-arch flares. A hidden “drum-type” handbrake is incorporated into the design.
© Neville Swales

Heat-treated hubs arrive from the foundry in Coventry for my recreation.
© Neville Swales

Machining the hubs.
© Neville Swales

Batch of machined front hub carriers (left). These are cast using modern materials/treatment giving a strength approaching that of forgings. They are exact replicas of Lightweight E-Type items albeit modified to accept later sealed-for-life bottom bearings.

Front hub assembly (right). Lightweight E-Type hubs and custom vented disc.
© Neville Swales

With the rear hubs installed in the car, the front suspension could be completed.

Left (near-side) front suspension. Adjustable custom anti-roll bar is ¾” EN27 spring steel as original.
© Neville Swales

Left (near-side) front suspension. Note removable Dunlop brake piston fitted to custom cast replica caliper.
© Neville Swales

Oil

My car can now sit on all four feet. Dunlop racing tyres were fitted as original and attention could turn to final details as the recreated car was made ready for the paintshop. One of these details was the addition of a dry-sump oil tank as original. Wheras practically all modern tanks use round tanks where the oil is returned tangentially to remove entrapped air, Jaguar chose a different solution where returned oil passed over a series of baffle-plates in a rectangular tank. The following picture shows the original car’s dry-sump tank:

Original XJ13 dry-sump oil tank. Oil is returned to the top of the tank and passes through a number of perforated baffles for de-aeration before being stored in a lower rubber bag-tank in the sill.
© Neville Swales

The following pictures show the recreated tank. My tank does differ slightly from the original in that the de-aerated oil is stored within the sill in a solid aluminium tank rather than a rubber bag-tank. Much head-scratching was called for during the car’s build at Jaguar for a suitable rubber capable of withstanding hot oil at up to 150 C. I decided to take a more secure option! The tank is capable of holding more than 6 gallons of oil.

Recreated dry-sump oil tank. This picture shows the tank location on the rear left-hand sill. The tank base extends into the sill where de-aerated oil is stored.
© Neville Swales

Recreated dry-sump oil tank. This shot shows one of the sill stiffeners inside the sill. This helps give the structure immense strength as evidenced by Norman Dewis’ unintentional “crash-test” in 1971. The car’s underlying structure survived almost intact.
© Neville Swales

Beginning assembly of the replica oil tank components. The original tank was fabricated by Bob Blake himself. Whilst beautifully-executed, he did seem to favour the use of 3/16” screws which were used extensively. © Neville Swales 

This shot shows the first of the internal downward-sloping baffles being installed. 

© Neville Swales

Lots of 3/16” screws!
© Neville Swales

Final tank.
© Neville Swales

Just in case Malcolm is looking ...

I have previously extolled the virtues of the craftsmen working at my chosen bodyshop – North Devon Metalcraft in Devon, UK. One more detail added a few days ago exemplifies the skill of these artisans. I reckon Jaguar’s Bob Blake would have approved had he still been around today.

I needed to install the front indicators. Knowing how particular Jaguar’s Malcom Sayer was about any detail disrupting his airflow, it was very important to ensure these items fitted particularly well and recessed into the aluminium body. Peter Wilson talks of an occasion in 1965 when Bob Blake took it upon himself to install a cast Jaguar emblem on the nose of the car. He carefully traced around it and hammered out a recess so the badge would sit flush. When Malcolm saw what he had done he immediately insisted the badge was removed, the recess removed and the nose hammered flat once more. Bob Blake reluctantly did so.

Wheras Jaguar’s rebuilt car has rows of raised rivets across its nose, the 1966 original made use of flat countersunk rivets in this area to maintain a smooth profile. I am sure the late Malcolm Sayer would not have been amused had he seen what was done to “his” car during its post-crash rebuild. The following pictures show the sequence followed by the chaps at North Devon Metalcraft to properly install the side indicators. I never tire of watching these skilled metalworkers at work:

First job was to fabricate a steel tool which could be mounted in a vice and used to form the recessed aluminium panel.
© Neville Swales

The panel was then held in position using a couple of self-tappers so that a line could be scribed around its perimeter.
© Neville Swales

A hole was cut by hand so the new panel sat absolutely flush with the surrounding metal. I had to look away while John of ND Metalcraft snipped the shape out of my pristine front wing by hand.
© Neville Swales

The confidence, speed and accuracy of the hand cut was quite remarkable.
© Neville Swales

The next step was to attach the panel using a series of tacks applied using TIG.
© Neville Swales

Panel tacked in position.
© Neville Swales

The next step was gas welding. The process of obtaining a continuous weld on such thin-gauge aluminium represents the height of the body-makers art. It has been described as “being constantly a split-second away from disaster”!
© Neville Swales

The finished weld. Now to make it disappear …
© Neville Swales

John begins his painstaking work to disguise the weld. He made it look easy which is the sign of a true craftsman.
© Neville Swales

The weld begins to disappear …
© Neville Swales

The finished item. No filler used and almost impossible to see or feel any kind of join. The final result is a recessed indicator which should have satisfied Malcolm Sayer himself.
© Neville Swales

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS WAS FOR?

The bonnet of the XJ13 has a NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) duct. It is placed on the driver’s side and close to the leading edge of the bonnet.

NACA duct positioned on XJ13 bonnet.
© Jaguar Heritage - Reproduced with permission

If you look underneath the bonnet you will see the following:

Recreated bonnet with duct as on original.
© Neville Swales

Can any of you guess what this was meant for?

Here’s a few clues … The duct points straight down. It points towards the steering rack and is in the vicinity of the brake and clutch reservoirs. It is positioned on the driver’s side rather than centrally on the car. Answer will be given in my next blog.

My car is now in the paintshop. The plan is to reunite it with its engine when it returns then give it a first shakedown run.

WATCH THIS SPACE

"Sayer uniquely blended science and art to produce timeless shapes of exceptional and enduring beauty. He brought science to the art of car design; and scientifically produced works of art.”

21st May 2016 marks the Centenary of the birth of one of this country's greatest design geniuses. Malcolm Sayer was taken away from us at a relatively young age when he suffered a fatal heart attack, outside Parkside Garage, next to the Regent Hotel in Royal Leamington Spa, 1 month before his 54th birthday.

His legacy is a collection of iconic Jaguar Sports Cars - C-Type, D-Type, E-Type and the sublime XJ13 - the latter being his crowning achievement.

1966 to 2016 - 50 Years

Later this year, the first public "reveal" of my recreation of Sayer's 1966 XJ13 takes place at the London Classic Car Show at the Excel in London on the 18th February. The car is my personal tribute to this great, and perhaps under-appreciated, man whose final resting-place is unknown - even today.

The car replicates Jaguar's XJ13 as it first left Jaguar's Competition Department - as Malcolm Sayer envisaged it and before it was crashed and re-skinned in 1972/73.

At the end of 2014, the bark of Jaguar’s legendary No.2 quad-cam V12 engine was heard for the first time in 50 years. The starter was pressed by the same Jim Eastick who started the No.1 engine for the first time in 1964 in the presence of Jaguar’s Bill Heynes - this time, in the presence of Jonathan Heynes, son of the late Bill Heynes.

Thanks to the organisers of The London Classic Car Show, you will be given the opportunity to be present at the first public demo run of my recreation of Malcolm Sayer’s original 1966 masterpiece - 50 years after the original car first ventured outside Jaguar's Competition Department in Coventry. The exhibition halls will resound to the bark of this legendary engine - I hope it will bring a smile to Malcolm's spirit - wherever he is.

1916 to 2016 -100 Years

This year, 100 years ago, Gilbert and Annie Sayer became parents to a son they named Malcolm. Malcolm Sayer - a name which was to become synonymous with Jaguar's classic and most beautiful iconic designs. Malcolm's birth in 1916 no doubt represented a bright spot in the otherwise dark times during the middle of the First World War in that eastern corner of the UK - Cromer, Norfolk. Malcolm's father, Gilbert, was a teacher at Great Yarmouth Grammar School where he taught the unusual combination of Maths and Art - certainly a man whose interests would have influenced the direction his son's career was eventually to take.

Malcolm's birth, preceded by a German Zeppelin attack on the Eastern Coast of the England, coincided with the introduction of UK Daylight Saving on the 21st May 1916. Cars were relatively few and far between on Norfolk roads with most being made by the Ford, Rover, Wolseley, Morris and Humber car companies. Smaller-volume manufacturers such as Crossley also had offerings. The kind of cars on Britain's roads around the time the infant took his first steps were similar to those pictured below - a far cry from the designs later to emerge from his pen!

EarlyDays

Malcolm's Grandson, Sam (Founder of The Malcolm Sayer Foundation) takes up the story:

"From the start he was interested in maths art and science, and despite many childhood illnesses, he was a high academic achiever and gained the prestigious Empire Scholarship* at the early age of 17. This enabled him to attend the then Loughborough College, where he gained a first class honours diploma in Automotive Engineering. He was also Secretary of the College motor Club and for two years Editor of the College Magazine.

After graduation, Malcolm joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company, studying aeronautics and looking at ways of improving the efficiency and design of significant WW2 aircraft, particularly the Blenheim and the Beaufighter; and developing his expertise in aerodynamics as applied to mechanical design. Following the war he married Pat Morgan in 1947 and after his daughter Kate was born in 1948 he went to Iraq to work at Baghdad University. This turned out to only exist on paper, so he worked instead maintaining the fleet of government vehicles."

*The "Empire Scholarship" referred to above were open to all British subjects living in any part of the Empire. These scholarships awarded the sum of £75 per annum which helped Malcolm complete his studies at the Faculty of Engineering at Loughborough College.

The pictures below show students working using Loughborough College's wind tunnel during Malcolm Sayer's years (pictures reproduced with permission from Loughborough University): 

Wind Tunnel - c1936 © Loughborough University

Wind Tunnel - c1936 © Loughborough University

Wind Tunnel - c1938 © Loughborough University

Malcolm Sayer - Aerodynamic Wizard

A few years ago the BBC recorded a tribute to Malcolm Sayer. The program was aired on Radio 4 and presented by Jonathan Glancey. Contributors included Sir Stirling Moss, Lord March of Goodwood, Philip Porter, Peter Wilson, Kate Sayer (Malcolm's daughter), Jools Holland, Norman Dewis, Mike Kimberley, Mick Walsh and Yours Truly. The following video adds pictures to the radio broadcast:

Bristols

Malcolm Sayer graduated from Loughborough College and joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company on the 22nd September 1938.

According to our friends at Wikipedia ...

"The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines. Notable aircraft produced by the company include the 'Boxkite', the Bristol Fighter, the Bulldog, the Blenheim, the Beaufighter, and the Britannia, and much of the preliminary work which led to the Concorde was carried out by the company."

A few years later there was to be a tenuous link between Malcolm and Jaguar as Norman Dewis OBE was to fly as gunner in Bristol Blenheims. I wonder if Norman and Malcolm ever discussed this when they met up at Jaguar years later?

The Mysterious German

Sayer, by virtue of having a "reserved occupation" at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, was spared National Service during WW2. Instead, he put his skills to good use helping design warplanes and their engines for the Allied war effort. He married Patricia at the end of hostilities. Patricia gave birth to their first daughter, Kate, in 1948. I am sure Kate won't thank me for mentioning the date ... ;-) Malcolm and Patricia later extended their family with another daughter (Mary - 1956) and a son (John - 1953).

In the same year as Kate was born, Malcolm was asked to establish a Faculty of Engineering at Baghdad University. He duly arrived in Iraq only to find the opportunity to create the Faculty didn't exist! His time wasn't wasted however and he instead spent a few days alone in the desert by a German Mathematician. he was later joined in Iraq by his wife and new daughter.

Malcolm learnt from the mysterious German and used his teachings to develop his own unique way of defining complex shapes in a purely mathematical way - much as we do nowadays using CAD and computers. He always kept the details of exactly how he did this very close to his chest.

Ex-Jaguar Competition Department and Author Peter Wilson described Sayer's way of working as follows in his book, "Cat Out of the Bag" (no longer in print):

A Legacy

Malcolm Sayer has left us with some of the most beautiful examples of sporting automotive design the world has seen.

Even today, at Jaguar, the essential elements of his designs can be seen in cars such as the C-X75. Jaguar's concept (which may see production) unashamedly draws on its styling cues from Sayer's XJ13. Check out the following pictures and video:

© Building The Legend 2016

© Building The Legend 2016

© Building The Legend 2016

© Building The Legend 2016

© Building The Legend 2016

© Building The Legend 2016

London Classic Car Show

In the middle of last month our first (prototype-engined) re-creation of the 1966 Le Mans Prototype was loaded up for transport to London's Docklands Excel for its first public "reveal" at the forthcoming Classic Car Show. I had been very impressed on my visit to the first Show back in 2015 and the prospect of being able to run my re-creation down the centre of the main hall in 2016 for its first "reveal" was very enticing. This new Show promised to be even better in 2016 - not only doubling the size of the Show but also with an impressive line-up of machinery and celebrities.

The stunning Suzi Perry

The lovely Jodie Kidd

When I learnt that Suzi Perry and Jodie Kidd would also be there I duly reserved some floor-space and began preparations for February's second show ... I can dream can't I ;-)

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been blessed with support from the surviving older gentlemen who were involved in the project in period. I felt it would be a fitting tribute to these wonderful men if they could be present at this major milestone. In the end I was privileged to be joined at the show by a selection of the original team - including the original's Project Manager, Mike Kimberley (later to join Colin Chapman as Lotus CEO before becoming President of Lamborghini) . I was also joined on the day by Peter Taylor (worked alongside Bob Blake  on building the original and the man behind the wheel of the McLaren F1 road car when it finally broke David Hobbs' 32-year-old 1967 record), Gerry Beddoes (joined Jaguar in 1948, working with Claude Baily on the prototype quad-cam V12 as well as many other accomplishments), Frank Philpott (Worked on developing the quad-cam engine as well as many of Jaguar's other iconic engines), Brian Martin (worked on the original car - the man behind all those "temporary" dynatape stickers), Richard Hassan (son of Jaguar's legendary Walter Hassan) and Sam & Ceol Sayer (Grandson & Great Grandson of Malcolm Sayer).

The Team
Left-to-right: Brian Martin, Gerry Beddoes, Frank Philpott & Mike Kimberley.

© Charlie Dale 2016

Peter Taylor - a few last-minute instructions from Team Boss Mike Kimberley ...

Sadly, not all the original team were able to make the long trip to London but I do plan to make up to them by choosing a venue closer to home later in the year when the car is first run in anger - watch this space ...

One individual in particular was rather put out at not being able to attend as the show coincided with his long-planned cruise to the Caribbean - a disgruntled Peter Wilson - international authority on the XJ13 and renowned author. Don't worry Peter, I will make it up to you later in the year when we can see just what it feels like to plant your right foot with that mighty lump a few inches behind your head.

Best laid plans ... etc.

But ...I am running away with myself. Let's go back a few months ...So - there I was - a few months away from the show and making plans to complete the car, install and test the engine before a few shakedown runs to make sure all would be well for a run down the show's "Grand Avenue". What could possibly go wrong ... ?

hmmmm ... what indeed ?

OK. It seemed a good idea at the time.

A precautionary engine strip-down and examination before re-instating the engine's original in-sump dry-sump pumps (I had used a modern external multi-stage pump for the engine's startup). Then perhaps a quick check-over the induction/fuelling system followed by re-profiling the metering unit fuel cam before finally setting it up. Oh - and while we were at it, why not re-locate the fuel injectors to a more favourable location. While the engine is apart it would be a shame not to ... etc etc etc The list went on and on.

The long and short of it is that I grossly underestimated the time it would take to complete these tasks to the high standard we had already set for ourselves. Re-installing the oil pumps proved to be a mission and a few other gremlins showed themselves before the engine could be properly put back together. As a result, by the time we had a purring engine (well ... not so much a "purr" - more of a BARK) we simply ran out of time to properly road-test the car. The good news was that, while on the dyno, the engine started and ran like a dream. A rock-steady idle at 750 rpm when warm then quickly spinning up to an ear-shattering BARK when the throttle was used. This engine really is LOUD. The finished engine sounded GLORIOUS.

I do have an advantage with my engine compared to the one now installed in the original car. The die-cast block engine now in the original car (original engine was a solid alloy block as is my No.2 engine) has a pair of high-lift racing cams installed in the heads. This means that Jaguar's original really only comes into its own at high revs. At low revs it can sound a bit "tractor-like" - certainly not the case with my engine. My No.2 engine was the most highly-developed of all the prototype engines and, besides still running on the Browns Lane test-beds as late as December 1969, it had previously covered more than 35,000 miles whilst undergoing "secret" testing in a pair of Mk10 Jaguar saloons. Definitely a well-sorted, usable and well-proven engine.

Rather than rush the process of rebuilding this rather special engine, we instead elected on making sure it was rebuilt properly. Road-testing could wait. Another reason we took this decision was because, for the car's first official test, I wanted the car's original main test-driver (David Hobbs) behind the wheel with Project Manager Mike Kimberley sat alongside him - as was the case when the car first ventured out for testing in 1967 - almost 50 years ago. Whilst David expressed a wish to drive the car, his TV commitments meant he would have been unavailable for the show (David commentates on F1 in the US). Original XJ13 Team Member and accomplished driver Peter Taylor was drafted in just in case we could achieve the impossible and have the car ready to run during the show. We did try but I wasn't confident the car was sufficiently well-tested to run amongst the thousands of people thronging the Grand Avenue at the show. 

The plan had been to run the car along the show's Grand Avenue before returning it to our stand. Instead, the organisers allowed me (or, rather, Mike Kimberley) to start the engine while the car was still on our stand. On the first afternoon of the show I made preparations for a start. The timing of the start-up wasn't widely communicated and, instead, we chose a quiet moment when very little was happening on the Grand Avenue. There were perhaps a dozen or so people around the car. The engine was stone-cold so I hooked up a charge/starter to the battery in case a little more juice was called for (turned out not to be necessary). I looked up and smiled as I saw the "'elf and safety" elves had been put in position by the organisers. A young chap with a decibel meter only a few yards from the open exhaust (we blew him away with the first blip of the throttle) and, a little further away, another earnest young chap clutching a fire extinguisher. With Mike's finger poised on the starter switch I turned on the ignition. With my eyes on fuel and oil pressures I gave him a nod.

Mike teased us by only momentarily pressing the starter twice. On the third press all hell broke loose ....

Even though I was only using a small amount of throttle (cold engine still showing 90 psi oil pressure) the sound was deafening. There is a video below but the camera didn't really capture the noise of this engine. The noise was certainly noticed by the show's visitors though ... When I looked up from the gauges I saw that some people were running towards the sound with looks of "WTF!" on their faces. It felt to me as if the exposed velocity stacks were SUCKING in people from all corners of the hall. When I next looked up we were surrounded by a mass of beaming enthusiasts.

So .. what next? 

The car is now safely in storage at a secret location pending preparation for its first run in anger on track later this year.

In Storage

I want to sincerely thank those friends and fellow-enthusiasts who have offered support and encouragement over the last few years - it really does mean a lot to me. You know who you are.

We are now firmly on course to achieve our next milestone of seeing (and hearing) my re-creation of Jaguar's sublime 1966 Le Mans Prototype running in anger.

I particularly want to thank members of the original XJ13 Team for their past and continuing support. Meeting with these wonderful gentlemen with their combined wealth of experience and knowledge has played a significant part in getting to where we are now.

THE GATHERING

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Mike Kimberley (XJ13 Project Manager; Lotus CEO; Lamborghini President)

Peter Wilson (International authority on the XJ13; Member of team who built the original; Renowned Author)

Peter Taylor (Helped build the original car; Accomplished Racecar Pilot; The man who broke David Hobbs' 32-year Jaguar XJ13 UK closed circuit record behind the wheel of the McLaren F1 road car)

Jim Eastick (The man who worked on the prototype engines in period; Jim started the No.1 engine over 50 years ago in the presence of William Heynes - Jim started my No.2 engine 50 years later in the presence of Heynes' son, Jonathan)

Frank Philpott (Helped develop the prototype quad-cam V12 as well as many other iconic Jaguar engines)

Gerry Beddoes (Joined Jaguar in 1948 then helped Jaguar's legendary Claude Baily design the mighty quad-cam V12 prototype amongst many other accomplishments)

Mike McElligott (Worked alongside Jaguar's Bob Blake and helped build the original car)

Peter Jones (Joined Jaguar in 1948 and played a significant part in developing Jaguar's iconic racecars - C-Type, D-Type, XJ13 and Lightweight E-Type)

Brian James Martin (Wired up the original car - the man responsible for those "temporary" red stickers on the dashboard ...)

Thank-you gentlemen.

Back to the Show ...

Here's a few images from the show as well as some reports:

Ceol Sayer
Great Grandson of Malcolm.

(Read about Malcolm Sayer and the XJ13 here)

Our re-creation of Jaguar's sublime XJ13 Le Mans Prototype chosen as one of TOP GEAR's best cars at this year's London Classic Car Show.

Video by NewsFlare

Chosen as one of The Telegraph's "Stars of the Show"

Reunion of the Old Team - Mike Kimberley meets up with Gerry Beddoes for the first time in over 40 years

Shiny car. Not a single bit of filler on the body. Just primer and a topcoat - as original. Those guys at North Devon Metalcraft really know what they are doing.

Fellow XJ13 Enthusiasts

Examining "Customer" SOHC

A look at what sits 6" behind the back of your head ...

Le Mans Headlamp

Window Detail

Shades of E-Type
Sayer's original 1966 car front arches (minus "70's Flares")

The small plaque says "Replica of .."
Make no mistake, There is only ONE original Jaguar XJ13 and that car is under the care of The Jaguar Heritage Trust

240 mph chronometric speedometer.At the risk of sounding even more like an anorak, the 1966 original had a few more dynatape stickers (according to Brian Martin who put them on). The extra stickers seems to have got lost and the original car no longer sports them.

Hmmm ... I DO sound like an anorak .....

Mike Kimberley told me the original wiper was never connected up in period. Better pull those wires ....

Original form of "splitter" as in 1966

My (long-suffering) wife entertains one of our VIP guests while I talk "Jaguar" to Sanjay Seetanah and David Lillywhite of Octane Magazine.

Note rather optimistically placed Dunlop racing overall and helmet ...

1964 Lightweight E-Type peg-drive wheels as original (Sir William was notoriously "careful" with his money and insisted on the use of "off-the-shelf" front suspension components and wheels).

Gerry Beddoes consults "The Bible" (Peter Wilson's definitive book on the XJ13 and the prototype engines).

Richard Hassan discusses the finer points.

London was the first time Mike Kimberley had set eyes on the finished car. His verdict?
"That car is EXACTLY as I remember it in 1966"

Latest News ...

Building The Legend is on Facebook

(I know, I know .. but it seems the whole world now uses Facebook). Please click the logo and follow us to keep up to date with latest news.

While we prepare our first (prototype-engined) car for its first appearance on track and work continues on our first of a (very) limited run of customer cars, I thought you might be interested to learn of a second associated project. 

A Bit of Background ...

Before the V12, Jaguar’s racing and practically all road cars were powered by the powerful and renowned XK straight-six double overhead-cam unit. This engine had its origins in pencilled sketches drawn during the London blitz by Sir William Lyons and his engine designers; William Heynes (Chief Engineer), Walter Hassan and Claude Baily. These sketches and original designs were followed by working prototypes as early as 1943. The first 3,442cc production unit saw the light of day in the beautiful XK120 of 1947. The same basic engine continued production into the 1990s. - See more

As can be seen from the original drawing from my own archive reproduced below, Jaguar ended up with a design where both inlet and exhaust valves were inclined towards the centre-line of the hemispherical combustion chamber at 35°. This was changed to 30° inlet and 45° exhaust for the ultimate "wide angle" head used in racing engines. The valve angle was modified simply to allow the use of larger inlet valves.

Original Drawing of the very first 6-cylinder "XK" 3½-litre 35°/35°
© Neville Swales

In the 1950s/60s this hemispherical type of combustion chamber was considered ideal for high-performance engines because of reduced valve "shrouding" compared to a "flat-head" design and a low surface-area to volume ratio. As can be seen from the following photo taken of a head I sectioned, the ports and valves were arranged more or less in-line across the engine. However, Weslake worked closely with Jaguar when the engine was being designed and he introduced a curvature to the inlet port in an attempt to allow charge movement inside the cylinder ("swirl"). This was done to aid combustion efficiency and is evident in the photo.

Sectioned Jaguar XK Cylinder Head - "Curved" inlet port on right
© Neville Swales

Weslake's modification, whilst introducing swirl, was compromised by the need to place the spark-plug off to the side so as not to interfere with the valves. A central spark-plug would have been ideal in this situation. Many designers of similar engines tried to improve the situation by introducing a second spark-plug on the other side of the chamber but this was never really successful.

As owners of XK-engined cars will testify, these engines seem to prefer richer mixtures and rather a lot of ignition advance (10° and more). This generally indicates combustion is not as good as it could be. In the end, Jaguar's "wide-angle" racing head probably reached the end of its potential because it could breathe better than it could burn.

Food for thought ...

A bit more food for thought

See the very limited water passages in the above photo as well as the large amounts of metal in the casting? Square exhaust ports? Nowadays, and especially with the advent of 3D visualisation using tools such as CAD, it is possible to design optimal ports and heads with far greater and more efficient cooling surfaces - as well as optimal air flow characteristics. Wheras the thinnest port walls in the XK head are more than 10mm thick, today's cylinder heads tend to be closer to 4.5/5.0mm with considerably increased cooling surfaces. Whilst I don't pretend to be any sort of expert in this field, it seems to me that the port shapes, by today's standards, could also be improved?

What do you think? Comments are enabled for this blog entry and, as long as you don't try to sell me viagra (or worse) I will add them below.

Baily's prototype quad-cam engine
showing down-draft arrangement
© Neville Swales

One thing which did work in the 6-cylinder engine's favour may have been the side-entry and curvature of the inlet port which assisted combustion. In common with other engine designers of the period, Jaguar's Claude Baily anticipated that further improvements could be made to this basic design by making use of down-draft porting. Baily adopted this when he designed his successor to the XK engine - the quad-cam V12. In theory, there just had to be a benefit of down-draft porting but Baily (and other designers) found these benefits weren't achieved in practice. Flow may have been excellent but this arrangement simply didn't allow useful swirl/charge-movement within the cylinder and combustion suffered as a result. Others who wandered down this cul-de-sac included Ferrari, BRM, Matra and Ford - Jaguar wasn't alone in this.

Heron Head

A breakthrough came from work carried out by GM's Sam Heron in the 1950s (Heron became famous for his work with aircraft piston engines and the sodium-cooled exhaust valve). Rover were probably the first to adopt his scheme which consisted of a flat cylinder head with the combustion chamber in the piston crown - a feature later adopted by Jaguar in their first SOHC V12 engines. These heads became known as "Heron Heads". In the mid-1960s Ford (of England) adopted the Heron layout for their entire range of engines. A close relative of the Heron layout was the very successful Repco V8 engine that powered Jack Brabham's team to two F1 World Championships in 1966/67.

Jaguar's "Fireball" HE Combustion Chamber

Why was this basic layout found to be better? The increased combustion efficiency as a result of increased swirl and charge-movement may have pointed the way. It is all very well having superb flow, but this is to no avail unless the charge can be adequately and rapidly burnt.

Jaguar later improved the efficiency of their V12 further by adopting Michael May's "Fireball" combustion chamber. In this design, the exhaust valve is deeply recessed into the head, forming a compact oval chamber with the spark plug at one end. As the piston advances up the bore it forces some of the charge into a shallow channel around the flush inlet valve from where it is squeezed tangentially. This creates a high-speed vortex in the combustion chamber - LOTS of movement and "squish" here ...

Could it be possible to design a down-draft, hemispherical head with the necessary degree of charge-movement to allow combustion to match this design's superior flow characteristics?

More food for thought ...

The Project

So where is all this leading to? Can't you guess?

Having installed my unique quad-cam prototype V12 in my re-creation I thought it would be rude not to attempt to produce at least one engine of my own. I am offering to build customer cars as a means of contributing towards the cost of my project and thought it might be interesting to go the whole hog and perhaps include a quad-cam V12 for someone wanting the ultimate replica.

I am at a very early stage in the project but thought there may be interest out there as the engine project unfolds and I plan to report on progress via this blog.

I do have an ulterior motive ....

Whilst I have access to a number of gifted individuals who know far more about engines than I ever will, I do know there are many fellow-enthusiasts out there who share my passion for all things Jaguar and who could usefully contribute to a project such as this. I welcome your comments, suggestions, criticisms and guidance. Leave a comment below or message me here. Those of you who use Facebook can find me here - https://www.facebook.com/Building-The-Legend-860208630703278

Ground Rules

The plan is to end up with a quad-cam V12 which bears a close resemblance to Jaguar's prototype "XJ13" V12. We aren't trying to re-invent any wheels here or produce anything approaching "state of the art" but, instead, a reliable fast-road/race engine which shares the same basic architecture of Baily's prototype quad-cam and Jaguar's legendary XK 6-cylinder engine.

To this end, we are setting ourselves some basic ground rules: 

• We are producing cylinder heads only. These heads will bolt directly onto Jaguar's later SOHC V12 block. This means the heads may have applications in cars other than the XJ13.  - Quad-Cam Series 3 E-Type anyone?
• Whilst remaining true to the basic architecture of Baily's quad-cam, opportunities to improve gas flow, combustion and overall efficiency in the light of current knowledge will be taken. Whilst cosmetically similar, these will not be exact copies of Jaguar's quad-cam prototype engine.
• As was the case with the original XJ13 engine, cam drive will be via duplex chain.
• Two-valve, hemispherical head design.
• Fully programmable fuel injection & ignition (prototype quad-cam uses a pair of 6-cyl distributors and Lucas mechanical fuel metering unit). Alternatively, downdraught carbs may be considered.
• Normally aspirated.

First Steps

Because we are starting with an almost clean sheet of paper, we have the opportunity to go back to first principles and consider things such as optimal valve sizes, port configuration, charge movement and spark-plug positioning etc.

The first step was to draw up a pair of heads combining a SOHC V12 mounting face with the basic 6-cyl DOHC design just to see if everything could be made to fit. After all, we don't want to end up with head studs coinciding with inlet/exhaust ports! Also, we needed to make sure it was practicable and possible to mate up with existing SOHC V12 oil and water passageways. There are also practical considerations to consider such as being able to access head nuts - bearing in mind each SOHC V12 head is fastened down by four rows of head studs but only two in the prototype quad-cam and XK 6-cyl.

This is what we started from:

SOHC V12 Head and 6-cyl XK engine accurately captured in CAD
© Neville Swales

The V12 head is not only longer than the 6-cyl head, but the bore positions are different. (Incidentally, the SOHC V12 shares the same bore spacing as the prototype quad-cam - a SOHC crankshaft fits). Positions of water and oil passages are very different between the XK 6-cyl and SOHC V12. The biggest challenge was combining the two heads so that the V12 stud pattern was maintained. It became evident very early on that the new quad-cam engine will have unique cam covers as well as custom cams. Fortunately, items such as XK cam buckets & valve guides etc can be sourced "off the shelf".

The following pictures of the prototype quad-cam V12 show what we hope to end up with - or, at least, something close:

Prototype Quad-Cam - RH Head
© Neville Swales

Prototype Quad-Cam - LH Head
Note offset inlet ports and recessed access to spark-plugs
(a pig to get at when fully assembled!)
© Neville Swales

Prototype Quad-Cam - LH Head Detail. Note Jaguar's common practice of using coarse-threaded fasteners for inlet manifolding.
Steel inserts may be better? Perhaps combine inlet manifolds with head casting?
© Neville Swales

In contrast to the 6-cyl XK head and the SOHC V12, oil is fed to the quad-cam heads via a drilling passing from the gallery to each head. The later SOHC V12 scheme will probably be used in the new engine. The new engine will probably use separate cam bearings as with the 6-cyl XK head (no cam bearings in the SOHC V12).

The following pictures show the general layout of these initial designs. They are just preliminary designs with no attempt to optimise things like port configuration, spark-plug location etc. They showed it would be possible to design our own heads which would bolt straight on to the SOHC block. Discussions with a local foundry highlighted considerations we need to build into the design. Further discussions with pattern-makers confirmed it will be possible to produce the necessary patterns etc.

Initial design - no attempt at this stage to optimise port location/configuration
© Neville Swales

Experimenting with spark-plug location - improved access as well as better positioning in combustion chamber.
© Neville Swales

Note positions of outer studs for SOHC block on exhaust face. Will be better to open these up to allow more "swing" on a spanner.
Round exhaust ports as opposed to rectangular ones on the XK 6-cyl head.
Bosses will be added adjacent to tappet bucket openings to allow easy fitment of follower tie-down straps.
© Neville Swales

Experimenting with design for maximum coolant flow and reducing overall weight. 4.5mm wall thicknesses.
© Neville Swales

Further investigation of inlet port location and optimal valve angles to give maximum valve size.
© Neville Swales

Where to go next?

Having gained some confidence that everything can be made to fit, our attention can now turn to optimal port design - still remaining within the "ground rules" established above. We now need to consider the following questions:

1. To what purpose will this engine be put? Full race? Gentle plodding? Something in between? In other words. where in the rev range should we aim for maximum torque and power to occur?
2. Which aspect(s) will have the greatest impact on power? Inlet? Exhaust? CR?

We will explore these aspects and report in a future blog article - watch this space!

Any thoughts of your own? Please feel free to comment  - we would appreciate any contributions.

Car on track next week. Final tweaks today gave an excuse to churn up my driveway and revel in the bark of that quad-cam ...

Seems loose gravel and torque just don't mix.

Results of first shakedown to follow. In the meantime, turn up your sound and revel in the sounds this car made during the run.

Does it sound angry or does it sound angry? .....

Pics & video to follow .....

As the wind swells and blusters, and malevolent clouds roil overhead, the marquee before us threatens to depart for a different time-zone. The introductions are over and we’re into the preliminary speeches, some of which are more easily audible than others. If there is a common theme, it’s that few thought this day would ever happen; that we would be assembled here at Curborough Sprint Circuit waiting for Neville Swales’ six-years-in-the-making recreation of the Jaguar XJ13 to venture trackside for the first time.

Marque authority Paul Skilleter has only just begun his homily about how Jaguar could have taken the fight to Ford and Ferrari at Le Mans had fate been kinder when it’s punctuated by a whir and a clatter. Heads turn in unison towards the source of the commotion which is unsighted some distance away. What follows is the clamour of a race-bred, four-cam V12 firing with surround-sound fanfare. It’s the sort of noise that tears the sky, each blip of the throttle prompting grown men to look at each other with mouths agape. In an instant, there is much chattering in tones fully deserving of italics and exclamation marks. Each member of our party is wearing a look of unselfconscious wonder. “It starts, then,” quips one wag, the ensuing laughter being drowned out almost immediately as the shapeliest of sports-prototypes hoves into view. There’s no fighting it; you have to surrender. It’s time to find a vantage point on the pit wall (fence would be closer).

 For Swales, the tagline for the project – Building the Legend– is more than mere PR puff: he wasn’t about to settle for anything less than perfection. So just how did a self-taught engineer end up recreating one of the most beautiful, if stillborn, racing cars ever made? “I have always been a Jaguar fan, having owned a couple of very early E-types and a Proteus C-type race car,” he says. “I am very much a ‘hands-on’ bloke, and have always built my own engines, whether for road or race. I have never been a member of the concours brigade. My cars have always been well-used on road and track.

“I raced my first E-type when I was living in South Africa. I spent my early career brewing beer and was lucky enough to be poached by South African Breweries after the first free elections to help prepare them for a world free of sanctions. I used to drive my C-type to and from race meetings, as Jaguar did in the 1950s. Mine was a replica of the Hamilton/Rolt 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours-winning car and I continued campaigning it when I returned to the UK in the 1990s.”

 Scroll forward a decade and the kernel of an idea began to take root. “I visited the old Jaguar Heritage museum at Browns Lane and became entranced by the XJ13. At that time, originality – or authenticity; whatever you want to call it - never really entered my head and I approached a few replica manufacturers with a view to building my own powered by the later twin-cam V12 engine.”

 However, while the likes of Invicta, Proteus, Triple C, Predator and so on have all had stabs at cloning the XJ13, none are as exacting as Swales’ recreation; something that he admits happened more by happenstance than planning. “I have a friend who works with a dedicated team reviving and returning to flight a 1954 Avro Shackleton. He also happens to be a Jaguar enthusiast who spends a lot of time trawling the web for the unobtainable, the weird and the wonderful. He emailed me one day, saying: ‘Take a look at this. I know you are interested in old Jaguar engines and you might be interested in this one.’ There was a link to German eBay and what looked like an original and complete prototype quad-cam engine. I couldn’t believe my eyes. 

“I emailed the seller for more information and pictures. My first port of call after that was Jaguar Heritage. It transpired that they had been offered the engine by the same seller a few years earlier. A few cursory questions were asked such as, ‘Does it have gear-driven cams?’. When they received the answer, ‘No it doesn’t, they are chain-driven’, they opined that it probably wasn’t what it purported to be ‘…as drive to the XJ13’s cams is by gears’. If they had only referred to their own archive they would have seen that the XJ13 only had gear-driven ’heads fitted in 1978 - 11 years after the project ended.” 

In the days leading up to the end of auction, our hero contacted XJ13 authority Peter Wilson who just happened to be holidaying on a cruise-liner. Fortunately for Swales, the former Jaguar Competition Department man had access to email. “Peter helped prepare the ‘Lightweight’ E-types. He also worked on the original XJ13. Many myths about the car had built up over the years, but the full facts hadn’t been accurately documented until he wrote (itals) XJ13 - The definitive story of the Jaguar Le Mans Car (end itals). I fired some photos over to Peter and he was able to give me chapter and verse on the engine as well as confirming its authenticity from numbers on the various castings. It transpired that the engine was the most highly-developed of the three engines that were ever installed in cars. It covered close on 50,000 miles in two Mk10 saloon test mules before ending its active days on the Browns Lane test-bed in December 1969.”

At the end of that year, the engine was placed in store. Fortunately, it survived as a complete unit and was first displayed in Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery (later to become the Coventry Transport Museum). “It then went to Germany to help promote the establishment of Jaguar Germany. Those were the days when Jaguar had become a small cog in the British Leyland empire; when its heritage wasn't valued as highly as it is now. If it hadn't been for the visionary efforts of Peter Mitchell, we would probably not have the Jaguar Heritage Trust and the cars in the collection today. The engine escaped his net, though, and was sold by a Jaguar employee to a private German individual who sat on it for almost 40 years, perhaps not fully understanding its significance.”

Having won the auction, and transported the valuable cargo back to Blighty from Pforzheim, near Stuttgart, there was no buyer’s remorse. Instead, the project changed tack. And how. “Having acquired such an important engine, I made the decision to install it in a recreation of the XJ13 as It first emerged from Jaguar's Competition Department in 1966. I would build one exactly as designer Malcolm Sayer envisaged it. I had to do the engine justice. Jaguar kindly granted me unfettered access to its archive, and I supplemented what little I found there - which was certainly not enough to recreate the original car, with documents, photos and data from other sources. These included surviving project team members and the estates of people such as engine designer Claude Bailey and engineering director, William Heynes. Some of this information included Sayer’s original 3D data which had been painstakingly worked out longhand using slide-rules and log tables. Fellow XJ13 enthusiasts will know that the rebuilt car differs in a number of respects to the original which was altered following Norman Dewis’ accident at Mira in 1971.” 

Jumping forward in the narrative, responsibility for recreating the original 1966-correct outline passed to North Devon Metalcraft in Barnstable.“The process of building the car started with CAD design for the monocoque,” the firm’s co-principal Paul Evans recalls. “Making the front and rear body panels alone represented about three months’ work. The most difficult part of the build? That would be the monocoque, given the amount of detail work for the front and rear subframes, petrol tanks, door frames, the boot floor, the bonnet - 98 louvres with not one being out of line, the front windscreen surround which was made in steel, the dash panel and so on. Then there was the painstaking riveting. There are more than 1000, each one having been individually put in by hand.”

“The original car was rebuilt by Ted Loades’ company, Abbey Panels, in the early ’70s for the sum total of £1000,” Swales adds, explaining the physical differences between his car and the one in the Jaguar Heritage collection. “Many changes were made during the build, both above and below the skin. Some were minor and others rather more obvious.For example, when the front section was remade and reattached, a few extra rows of rivets were added which run right across the nose of the car. These rivets stand proud and are now a very obvious feature of the XJ13. My recreation uses solid flush rivets as specified by Sayer. Physically, the biggest changes to the rebuilt car were the addition of flared wheelarches front and rear. The original partially-enclosed wheel openings were also extended to suit the car's new shape. The rear deck area was then raised and shortened to blend in with these new, larger rear arches. Changes beneath the skin included the complete removal of an inner bulkhead. However, even with these modifications, Sayer's sublimely beautiful lines still peek out. In my opinion, the man was a genius.”

Staring at the finished recreation, it’s hard to argue to the contrary. Even more so as Sayers’ daughter Kate is standing nearby. There are incongruous feelings of foreignness and familiarity at work here. While the one and only XJ13 is utterly gorgeous despite being reconfigured, the original outline as regenerated here is somehow cleaner. More elegant, even. Precisely how many hours have been invested in creating this machine remain unrecorded. “I daren’t even think about it,” Swales mock groans. The same is probably true of the amount of money that has been sunk into the project thus far. “Let’s just say it’s eye-watering,” is all he will say on the matter.

Judging from the wide smile that Swales is wearing as he heads onto the twisty, Staffordshire sprint track for the first time, it has been worth every penny. The car looks much smaller than you might imagine, curve begetting curve. It’s achingly lovely, and Biblically loud, too. It emits the sort of noise that interrupts normal synoptic firing. The bunch of Jaguar ‘Old Boys’ standing next to us have fallen silent, having been decidedly animated barely a moment earlier.

Swales’ creation takes to the track fronting a flotilla of D-types, E-types and XKs. Those and GT40s and Daytona Cobra clones. After a few exploratory laps, he tries that bit harder. Is it impolite to cheer? The sight of an ‘XJ13’ and assorted faux GT40s sharing a circuit provides an indelible image, adding a certain ‘what if?’ angle to proceedings. Could Coventry have trumped Slough, sorry, Detroit in (itals) Les Vingt-quatres Heures du Mans (end itals) in period had circumstances been different?

And then disaster as flames momentarily flicker out of the back of Swales’ car. Game over. Before we know it, the car is loaded onto a trailer and whisked away. It’s the end of the demonstration, but not the end of the day. Swales refuses to be downbeat. “There’s no real damage,” he says, perma-smile never slackening. Whereas most of us would be a bundle of frayed nerves, nothing can dampen his sunshine mood. “The fueling did feel rather limiting and I know that more work on improving the fuel cam profile is needed. The lick of flame in my rear-view mirror told me the overly-rich mixture needs to be optimised. A puff of smoke and a few singed fuel lines ended play. That’s all.

“The thing which surprised me more than anything was how well the car turned-in and handled out-of-the-box. We set the car up to as close as possible to the settings recorded during the XJ13’s final tests in 1967, culminating in David Hobbs and Richard Attwood performing high-speed runs at Silverstone. I was able to appreciate the way the car stopped squarely and securely as well as going exactly where I pointed it. On my penultimate lap, I exerted my right foot a little further on the straight and realised I could comfortably keep station with a hard-driven GT40. I knew I had plenty more in store. This is one of the happiest days of my life. It’s the realisation of a dream and to share it with so many enthusiasts and people who worked on the original car all those years ago is something pretty special. I won’t forget today in a hurry.”

Neither will those who helped build the original car. Roger Shelbourne, who was one of the youngest members of the team in period, enthused: “It’s an astounding project. I am very impressed. It’s almost as though the cars we made has been resurrected. As far as I am concerned, this is second XJ13 build, although third might be closer given the changes that were later made to the original.”

So is there any chance of Swales’ car ever venturing trackside in actual competition? He mulls over the question for a moment before replying: “The plan is to continue developing the car to the point where it could race should I choose to do so. That said, because the original XJ13 never raced in period, it doesn’t automatically qualify for an FIA passport which may make it difficult to obtain entries at historic race meetings. Also, the cars it was meant to compete against in period have had the benefit of 50 years’ continuous development. The XJ13 hasn't. I suspect the Ford GT40s in particular are performing better now than they ever did in period. Perhaps the ‘what if?’ question should remain unanswered…”

Swales isn’t above making further replicas, though. “A couple of years ago, I was asked by a fellow-enthusiast to build him a car. After all, I have the bucks, tooling, jigs, casting patterns and expertise, to make more,” he says. “This first car will be delivered to the US early next year.To help contribute towards the cost of building and developing my prototype-engined car, I am now offering a limited run of customer cars powered by Jaguar's last-of-the-line 6-litre V12s which will be modified to suit this application. A project to recreate a quad-cam version, along the lines of the XJ13 engine, is also on the drawing board. These cars will be handmade with the same attention to detail as my prototype-engined car and, because they share identical suspension geometry with the original, they should handle and feel the same.”

Even if you are biologically inclined to dislike recreations – or tool-room replicas in trade speak, it’s hard not to awestruck by the grandiosity of Swales’ vision. His Ahab-like obsession in creating his dream car has resulted in something that is truly - really - breathtaking to behold. It’s hard not to be seduced so why resist?