Deconstructing the Engine That Dominated Le Mans

Each piece appears simple, lying on a wooden table: a spring, a valve, a rod, a pin. But combined, these parts once roared to life and dominated endurance racing.

This story originally appeared in Volume 16 of Road & Track.

This is Jaguar’s XK engine. From 1951 through 1957, the inline-six mill cleaned house at Le Mans. A nearby poster from ’57 details that dominance. “The Fifth Jaguar Victory in Seven Years,” it proclaims, listing the 24-hour race’s finishing order: “1st Jaguar, 2nd Jaguar, 3rd Jaguar, 4th Jaguar, 6th Jaguar.”

The experts at Classic Jaguar in Austin, Texas, disassembled an example of our subject powerplant so we might better understand what made it tick. There may be no better guides on earth.

In 1994, Classic Jaguar’s CEO and president, Dan Mooney, left his career as a detective at Scotland Yard. He then left Britain altogether and by 1996 had set up shop in the States. He has dedicated his life to servicing, restoring, and improving vintage Jaguars of all stripes, especially those graced with XK engines. If any iron lump is worthy of worship, it’s the XK.