Strictly No Admittance! Those three words on the notice fixed to the door of ‘Department 21’ Jaguar’s Competition Department, meant exactly what they said. Behind that closely guarded door in the Browns Lane plant was my place of work between 1961 and 1966, so let me take you back to those far off days which I knew so well. Then, with the help of my surviving former colleagues and grateful access to the magnificent archives of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, I will describe how the ‘Lightweight’ E-type came into being.
It was in Department 21 that the ‘Lightweight’ E-type was evolved, built and developed, using racing engines developed by the Experimental Engines Department during the period 1961 through to 1964.
Jaguar had officially withdrawn from racing in 1956, but the Competition Department continued to
