Le Mans Classic 2016 - Jaguar Classic Challenge

Andy Wallace in a 1955 Jaguar D-Type 3.8L in the Le Mans Esses.  He eventually finish third but led the first lap and had pole position..

For the first time since 2002, I attended the Le Mans Classic this year.  I took over 2,000 photos with a reasonable success rate so I will do a blog post for each Plateau and support race over the coming weeks.  The first of the support races was a round of the Historic Sports Car Club's Jaguar Challenge Series.  This is the second year of the challenge and it is open to all pre-1966 Jaguar models.

Marc Gordon in his 1958 3.8L Jaguar XK150S leads a similar car out of the Le Mans Esses.

The race was a mini-endurance race of 55 minutes, something quite tough for cars of this age.  The field including a amazing selection of Jaguar C, D and E types as well as XK120, 140 and 150 models and a few Mk1 and Mk 2 saloons.   In terms of drivers, the big star was Andy Wallace  who won the Le Mans 24 hours with Jaguar back in 1988.  He was driving a D-Type based on Mike Hawthorns 1955 Le Mans 24 hours winner.

The variety in the race is illustrated here with the Brown's 1951 Jaguar C-Type leading a 1962 Jaguar E-Type and a 1959 Jaguar Mk1 saloon.

Eventual winner was Julien Thomas in a 1962 3.8L Jaguar E-Type who climbed up from third after the first lap to lead from Lap 2 onwards.

2nd place went to this 1965 3.8L Jaguar E-Type of Carlos Monteverde from Brazil and Andy Smith.

Many of the cars were of course British Racing green or Scottish blue, but this German entered 1950 3.4L Jaguar XK120 was red.

James Paterson's 1955 3.4L Jaguar XK140 leads a 1956 Jaguar D Type through the Esses.

Nick Riley's 1964 3.8L Jaguar E-type powers out of the Esses.  

The 3.8L 1963 Jaguar E-Type of Simon Butler and Martin Rich.

An E Type leads a Mk1 saloon through Tertre Rouge and on to the Mulsanne Straight past the famous Poplar trees.

John Sykes in a 1953 3.4L Jaguar C-Type.

For full results click here on the Peter Auto web site.

For more details of the 2016 Le Mans Classic click here for the official web site.

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