Equipe Endeavour Jaguar Mk I
1959 · Competition Saloon · RHD · 3.4L
SOLD
1959 bscC series competitor
contended by tommy sopwith's equipe endeavour race team
original 1959 competition specification
part of the chris scragg race collection
fully prepared and race ready
“As the Equipe Endeavour race team ‘single season’ contender for the 1959 British Saloon Car Championship, this Jaguar is undeniably the most successful competition Mk I of all time.”
Description
In 1959 new rules are implemented for the coming year’s British Saloon Car Championship race series. Tommy Sopwith had narrowly missed out to Jack Sears in the 1958 inaugural championship and now, with his renowned ‘Equipe Endeavour’ race team, he was looking for an advantage.
Although the Mk I was soon to be succeeded by the Mk II; Sopwith decided, early in the year, to commission a one season racer and his chosen vehicle would be a Mk I 3.4 saloon. In the interests of fair play, Jaguar decide to build a number of these vehicles. One will be given to John Coombs whose Buy 1 Jaguar, with driver Roy Salvadori, had been Equipe Endeavour’s biggest rival. Sopwith had retired from racing and so the new Equipe Endeavour sprinter will be driven by Ivor Bueb, already a 1955 Le Mans winner in a Jaguar D-type.
In all, Frank ‘Lofty’ England and his team at the Jaguar factory produced four special works competition racers, with a fifth added later, destined for Australia. In addition to Sopwith’s IVA400 and Coombs’ vehicle, a third is supplied to the American racer, Briggs Cunningham and a fourth is retained by the factory. Only two of these special competition works prepared race cars are known to have survived.