Whereas the Jaguar E-Sort is legendary for having been thought-about the world’s most lovely automobile by a sure Enzo Ferrari, for a lot of, the XJ13 race automobile is the Jaguar that is most interesting to the attention.

Sadly, simply the one instance was constructed. That was again in 1966, when Jaguar wanted a brand new contender for a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A mixture of a scarcity of funds and rule modifications meant the XJ13 by no means hit the monitor in 1969 as supposed.

Regardless of by no means racing, the XJ13 stays an icon of Jaguar’s previous, and in the present day it sits within the British Motor Museum. Luckily for followers, a number of firms are able to constructing reproduction examples, and considered one of these was featured within the newest episode of “Jay Leno’s Storage.”

The reproduction belongs to Tyler Schilling and was constructed by a British agency referred to as Constructing The Legend. As Schilling factors out, his reproduction extra intently resembles the unique XJ13 than the precise XJ13 within the British Motor Museum. It is because the unique XJ13 was concerned in a crash in 1971 and when it was restored, Jaguar revised the design of the fenders, including some additional flare to cowl a set of wider wheels. Schilling’s automobile sticks to the pre-1971 design.

The XJ13 was additionally well-known for being among the many first Jaguars fitted with a V-12. Its engine, developed by Claude Baily, was a singular 5.0-liter unit with double overhead cams and a peak output of simply over 500 hp. Throughout early testing in 1966, the engine powered the XJ13 across the 2.8-mile banked MIRA check monitor within the U.Ok. at an unthinkable 161.6 mph, a document that stood for greater than 30 years.

Jaguar’s V-12 that ultimately went into manufacturing in 1971 switched to an easier single-cam design, and the identical is discovered on Schilling’s automobile whose V-12 displaces 6.4 liters. By the way, Constructing the Legend’s first XJ13 reproduction unveiled in 2016 was powered by one of many three prototype V-12s that Jaguar developed as a part of the XJ13 program.

Whereas we are able to at all times think about what the XJ13 might need achieved at Le Mans, replicas just like the one owned by Schilling ensures the automobile would not have to stay only a museum piece.