Jaguar XK120

• First race victory: In the Daily Express-sponsored One-Hour Production Car Race held on 30 August 1949 at Silverstone Circuit, England, Leslie Johnson drove the Jabbeke car to the XK120's first-ever race victory (despite an early collision with a spinning Jowett Javelin which dropped the Jaguar to fifth).[8] The car, road-registered HKV 500, was converted to right-hand drive for Silverstone. Two other XK120s took part. One, driven by Peter Walker, finished second and the other, driven by Prince Bira, spun out of contention when a tyre punctured.

• First victory in America: In January 1950 Johnson also scored the model's first competition success in America, winning the production class in a race at Palm Beach Shores, Florida with the car that had finished second at Silverstone. The Jaguar lost its brakes but finished fourth overall. John Lea, Jaguar's Experimental Department mechanic who attended the race, reported: "The conditions at Palm Beach were wet, windy and sandy. Water and sand gained entry into the brake drums at the front, and the mixture had the effect of accelerating the wear very considerably. Our car finished with no linings and with the steel shoes bearing on the brake drums."[8]
• Pebble Beach Cup: In May, XK120s driven by Phil Hill and Don Parkinson finished first and second in this event at the inaugural Pebble Beach Road Races in 1950.

In 1950 Jaguar allocated six alloy-bodied XK120s to drivers Leslie Johnson, Peter Walker, Nick Haines, Clemente Biondetti, Ian Appleyard and Tommy Wisdom.

• Le Mans: Three of the allocated cars, extensively modified, entered the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours race. Johnson, who spearheaded this factory-supported assault on the race with co-driver Bert Hadley, never ran lower than seventh place, and held second for two hours, but in the 21st hour had to retire from third place with clutch failure caused by using the gears to slow the car in the absence of brakes. (As a result, the clutch was revised to a more robust design for production models.) The Jaguar had been closing the gap to leader Louis Rosier, whose Talbot's pace was significantly slower, at a rate that would have secured victory.[16] Haines, with co-driver Peter Clark, finished 12th, and Walker's car, driven by Peter Whitehead and John Marshall, was 15th.[8] The results convinced William Lyons and Chief Engineer William Heynes that it was worth investing in future success at Le Mans.[17]
• Targa Florio: Biondetti's car, the first XK120 to contest the Targa Florio, lay second to Alberto Ascari's Ferrari when a connecting rod broke, ending the Jaguar's run.
• Mille Miglia: Johnson took fifth place in the Mille Miglia, with John Lea as his riding mechanic, while Biondetti and co-driver Gino Bronzoni finished eighth. Fifth was an outstanding achievement for a production car, with Johnson's Jaguar beaten only by Fangio's works Alfa Romeo and the works Ferraris of Serafini, Bracco and winner Marzotto. It was Jaguar's best-ever finish in the Mille Miglia; also the best by a British car and driver combination, a feat that only Reg Parnell ever equalled, driving an Aston Martin DB3 in 1953.[18]
• Silverstone Production Car Race: Five XK120s entered the race, which Peter Walker won from Tony Rolt, with Johnson recovering to eighth after spinning on oil. Jaguar won the team prize.
• Tourist Trophy: XK120s also achieved a 1–2–3 victory in the TT, held at Dundrod in heavy rain. On the eve of his 21st birthday Stirling Moss drove Tom Wisdom's car to a brilliant win ahead of Whitehead and Johnson, and Jaguar once again took the team prize.[8]

This 1950 XK120 won a Coupe des Alpes and a Coupe d'Or

• Alpine Rally: Ian Appleyard's XK120, road-registered as NUB 120, won the Alpine Rally with his wife Pat, who was the daughter of Sir William Lyons, navigating. They also won a coveted Coupe des Alpes.[8]

• Alpine Rally: NUB 120 and the Appleyards repeated their previous year's success.
• Tulip Rally: The Appleyards took first place in the Tulip Rally, with Swiss fighter pilot Rolf Habisreutinger's XK120 finishing second.

• Alpine Rally: Although the Appleyards' XK120 did not win its third Alpine, it completed the rally without incurring a single penalty point, winning the first-ever Coupe d'Or (Gold Cup).

• Mount Druitt 24 Hours Road Race: On 1 February 1954, an XK120 FHC driven by Geordie Anderson, Chas Swinburne and Bill Pitt won Australia's first 24-hour motor race, the 1954 Mount Druitt 24 Hours Road Race from a Bristol 400 and a Humber Super Snipe.
• NASCAR road race: In America, an XK120 FHC was the first imported car to achieve victory in NASCAR, when Al Keller[19] won the first Grand National road race, held at Linden Airport, New Jersey, on 13 June 1954. Foreign made cars were banned from this series after this race.

• 132.596 mph (213.393 km/h) through the flying mile: in May, Jaguar demonstrated an XK120 to the press on the high-speed autoroute between Jabbeke and Aalter in Belgium. The road was closed for the occasion. The white left-hand drive car, chassis number 670002, was the second XK120 built. Jaguar's development engineer Walter Hassan was to have driven but fell ill, so Jaguar test-driver Ron "Soapy" Sutton substituted. With hood and sidescreens erected, and the airflow under the car improved by the addition of a full-length aluminium undertray, the Jaguar was timed through the flying mile by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium at 126.448 mph (203.498 km/h). With hood, sidescreens and windscreen removed, a metal airflow deflector fitted in front of the driver, and a tonneau cover fastened over the passenger side of the cockpit the speed improved to 132.596 mph (213.393 km/h). The Observer's Book of Automobiles said it was the fastest production car in the world.[20] The Special Equipment 'S' series cars made in 1948-1949 had better compression ratios and were capable of top speeds of 128 mph.

• 107.46 mph (172.94 km/h) for 24 hours (including stops for fuel and tyres): Leslie Johnson sharing his XK120 JWK 651 with Stirling Moss at the Autodrome de Montlhéry, a steeply banked oval track near Paris. The first time a production car had averaged over 100 mph (160.93 km/h) for 24 hours. Changing drivers every three hours, the Jaguar covered 2579.16 miles, with a best lap of 126.2 mph (203.10 km/h).

• 131.83 mi (212.16 km) for one hour: Johnson solo in JWK 651 at Montlhéry. "No mean feat...driving at almost twice today's maximum (UK) speed limit into a steep turn, assaulted by the G-Force induced by 30 degree banking twice every minute, using Forties technology, leaf spring" (rear) "suspension and narrow cross ply tyres...Johnson remarked that the car felt so good it could have gone on for another week, an off-the-cuff comment that sowed the seed for another idea. Flat out for a week..."[17]

This 1952 XK120 fixed-head coupė averaged 100 mph for a week

• 100.31 mph (161.43 km/h) for 7 days and 7 nights, again at Montlhéry: XK120 fixed-head coupé driven by Johnson, Moss, Hadley and Jack Fairman. William Lyons, mindful of the considerable kudos and advertising mileage that had already accrued from Johnson's exploits, commandeered a brand new XK120 FHC for him: bronze-colored, and fitted with wire wheels, it was Jaguar chief engineer William Heynes personal car, the second right-hand drive coupé made.[17] The car broke a spring on the track's rough concrete surface when already well into the run. No spare was carried, and regulations stipulated that a replacement from outside would make the car ineligible for any further records beyond those already achieved before the repair. Johnson drove nine hours to save the other drivers from added risk while the speed had to be maintained on the broken spring. When he finally stopped to have it replaced, the car had taken the world and Class C 72-hour records at 105.55 mph (169.87 km/h), world and Class C four-day records at 101.17 mph (162.82 km/h), Class C 10,000-kilometer record at 107.031 mph (172.250 km/h), world and Class C 15,000-kilometer records at 101.95 mph (164.07 km/h), and world and Class C 10,000-mile (16,000 km) records at 100.65 mph (161.98 km/h). After the repair the car went on to complete the full seven days and nights, covering a total of 16,851.73 mi (27,120.23 km) at an average speed of 100.31 mph (161.43 km/h).

• 172.412 mph (277.470 km/h) through the flying mile, again at Jabbeke's closed-off highway. On 21 October 1953 Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis drove a modified XK120 to a two-way average flying mile 172.412 mph. The car had several aerodynamic modifications, including a distinctive bubble-shaped, air-tight canopy from a glider aircraft. After the record run the Jaguar XK120 was converted back to a road car and sold by the company. Today the car is back to Jabbeke configuration and part of an important classic car collection. Shown at events like Pebble Beach, Villa d'Este or Salon Privé. [21]
  • Jaguar XK120 XP/11 from the 1953 speed record
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