1966 Jaguar XJ13 Sports Racer

Built as a potential Le Mans contender, it never competed in any race. Its development inevitably had to take second place to that of the much more important new saloon car which became the XJ6, launched in 1968. By the time XJ13 was completed, its design had become obsolete against new cars from Ferrari and Ford, never mind the Porsche 917. The LeMans regulations were changing, to run cars with larger engines, manufactures had to build 50 examples as production cars (later reduced to 25).

This did not stop XJ13 from being one of the most beautiful racing cars of all time, thank to the extraordinary work of aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer who had also been responsible for the C-Type and D-Type shapes. Nor should anyone doubt the potential of its unique 502 horsepower, 5-ltier V-12 engine. During early testing in 1966, it lapped MIRA test track at over 161 mph (259 km/h), establishing a lap record in the hands of racing driver David Hobbs, despite the car still being in the development stages. The lessons learned with the racing engine were used in Jaguar's production V12 engine, which would be produced for 25 years from 1971 to 1996.

After sitting under a cover in the factory for four years, it was taken out of mothballs and returned to MIRA for some filming. Though the car was comprehensively wrecked, it was rebuilt and is still run today.