1966 Jaguar Fixed- Head Coupe 4.2 on 2040-cars

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Xcar focuses on famed Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis

If you have any interest at all in motoring history, especially when it comes to European sports car racing from the '50s and '60s, do absolutely whatever you can to set aside 38 minutes for this interview with former Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis from XCar. Dewis had a hand in developing the British brand's vehicles from 1952 to 1985, and as expected over that time, he amassed some fantastic stories. Xcar did a great job of teasing a few of those great tales out of him here. From the very beginning, Dewis was gifted with a natural talent to read a car as a test driver. When he was just 16, he was taken out on his first chance to evaluate a vehicle and picked out even more intricacies than his instructor. Dewis eventually wound up at Jaguar, and that's where his career really took off. Among his many accomplishments there, he had a role in developing disc brakes both for racing and the road, set multiple world top speed records, and helped bring the E-Type to the world. Dewis even made the famous overnight drive in an XKE convertible from England to display it at the Geneva Motor Show. Dewis tells a first-hand account of being in the Jaguar paddock during the tragic accident during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that took the lives of dozens of spectators. It's a story that we usually can only read about or watch in black-and-white films. Hearing Dewis' side really brings this history to life.

2019 Jaguar I-Pace gets official 234-mile range rating

The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace is officially rated to travel as far as 234 miles on a single charge of its battery pack. That's down slightly from the 240 miles initially promised when the slinky electric crossover was first unveiled here in the States. And, while it's roughly equal to the base version of the Tesla Model X, that's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Quoting maximum electric range without considering the capacity of a car's battery pack is the same as quoting the maximum driving range of a gasoline-fueled vehicle without considering how many gallons of gas the tank holds. The I-Pace's battery pack is rated at 90kWh. The Model X's smallest pack is 75kWh. So the Tesla can go about the same total distance as the Jaguar using significantly less energy. It's not just Tesla that boasts greater efficiency figures than the Jaguar. Chevy manages to eke 238 miles out of the Bolt EV's 60kWh battery pack, and Hyundai gets 258 miles from the Kona Electric's 64kWh pack. These vehicles certainly don't all play in the same market segments, and there are a lot of variables to consider. For instance, the Jaguar's 4.5-second 0-60 rating is quicker than the Model X's 4.9-second rating, and its advertised power output of 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque is higher than Tesla's for the 75D (though Tesla's actual power numbers aren't really advertised in traditional hp and lb-ft figures). But even if cars like the Model X, Chevy Bolt, and Hyundai Kona EV aren't directly comparable across the board, their range and battery capacity figures do help us understand the relative efficiency of each specific vehicle. The efficiency of electric vehicles rated by the EPA is expressed as a MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) figure. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace's figures of 80 city, 72 highway, and 76 combined MPGe don't compare favorably with the Tesla Model X's 91 MPGe city, 95 MPGe highway and 93 MPGe combined ratings. It'll be interesting to see how much EV buyers care about the Jaguar's comparatively poor MPGe ratings, but they will definitely have an impact in the real world. In practical terms, what all of this means is that the Jaguar I-Pace is going to use more electricity per mile than the Tesla Model X. And that means it's going to cost more to drive the same distance in the Jag when compared to the Tesla, or just about any other modern long-range EV that's currently on the market. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.

First Jaguar C-Type Continuation ready for delivery, and you can still buy one

Jaguar's XK120-C is known by its far more famous name, C-Type, known for winning Le Mans twice, and known for being the first car equipped with disc brakes to win a race in international competition. That latter victory happened on June 29, 1952, at the sports car race held ahead of the Formula II Grand Prix at Reims, France, with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel. Today marking the 70th anniversary of that win, Jaguar has chosen it to announce the first C-Type Continuation is ready for delivery. This is one of eight continuation C-Types the English automaker announced in January 2021, all of them built to similar specification as the 1953 C-Type that earned the model's second win at La Sarthe, meaning a 3.4-liter, 220-horsepower straight-six sporting three Weber carbs and disc brakes at the four corners. This one is finished in Pastel Green paint with Suede Green seats, recalling the car Moss raced in Reims the year before. The Continuations are being built at the Jaguar Classic Works in Coventry, each needing 3,000 hours to complete due to using the same build techniques that went into creating the original cars. After the build, Classics engineers put each example through 250-mile shakedown. Once the run is complete, Jaguar said it planned to host a motorsports-themed celebration for the octet. Owners can enjoy plenty of other track days as well, the Continuations being approved by the FIA to run in all FIA Historic events. Owners won't need to worry about seeing their car everywhere, either, since the C-Type is a rarity even with these additions; Jaguar only built 53 of the original. Seems an undisclosed number of C-Type Continuations are still available to purchase. If visuals can sway any prospective buyers, Jaguar created a configurator showcasing the 12 exterior colors, eight leather hues, and two roundels that can be optioned. The carmaker hasn't mentioned pricing publicly, but it's thought to be north of seven figures.