Jaguars at the Silverstone Classic, Through the Eyes of Petrolicious
Jag’s creative designer Marc Tran shares some great shots from the annual three-day car and racing event.
Jaguar’s creative director Marc Tran published one hell of a batch of photos from from the Silverstone Classic on Petrolicious. He focused on classic Jaguars including C-Type, D-Type, E-Type, and a couple of XK150’s. One car, in particular, catches our eye. And amongst those gorgeous and fighting fit E-Types at the world’s largest classic motor racing weekend, something has to be very special to particularly catch our eye.
The Number 6 D-Type is chassis number XKD505. It’s the car that British F1 champion Mike Hawthorn and co-driver Ivor Bueb piloted to victory in 1955 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 1955 race lives on in infamy for what’s still up there as the worst crash in racing history with around 130 people killed.
After the race, XKD505 was actually prepared for the 1956 event before Jaguar withdrew. Retired from competition, XKD505 became a test car for new components then put away and used for spares. The frame was even used later to restore XKD504 for Peter Sutcliffe to race in the early 1960’s. However, a gentleman named Bill Lake retrieved the original sub-frame in the 1980’s and set about restoring XKD505 to its original glory, complete with the white paint on the nose for letting the pit crew know it was Hawthorn or Bueb coming in.
As for the E-Type’s Tran photographed, there was just about every derivative of the model there. It’s well worth taking a few minutes to browse through and check out the beautiful subject matter. What makes the cars even better is the fact they aren’t living in museums or private collections. People are getting in these Jaguars and treating them with the true respect they deserve.
Do yourself a favor and take a look at the full gallery from Petrolicious. It’s worth your time.
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