Re-engineered to pur-fection
Only 12 Lightweights were manufactured by Jaguar, introducing their most exotic E-Type for the 1963 season. Noisy, brutal, exhilarating and exhausting, these race cars were intoxicating on the track and visceral on the road. Six years earlier, Jaguar had re-equipped and retuned 16 of their legendary D-Type racers to create the XKSS: race car fast, yet with a level of comfort and refinement that allowed owners such as Steve McQueen to drive them every day. Until now, there has been no Lightweight E-Type equivalent.
Three years ago, a customer asked Eagle to create their vision of Jaguar’s ultimate E-Type, the Lightweight. The result of which is pictured here, the Eagle Lightweight GT.
The process began with a stripped down original Series 1 E-Type. Every panel was replaced with lightweight aluminium of a modern grade more suited to road use than the thin, fragile material of the original Lightweights. Specialist craftsmen invest more than 2,500 hours forming the sensual curves, then fitting them to a tolerance many times more demanding than those specified by Jaguar’s Competition Department.
The famous Lightweight profile was faithfully recreated, with subtle enhancements to aerodynamics including a deeper rear ramp angle, deeper sills (which also increase chassis stiffness – allowing the driver to sit lower, improving headroom and lowering the centre of gravity) and increased screen rake front and rear with bespoke glass. Wheel arch size has also been enlarged to accommodate 16” peg-drive magnesium alloy wheels, modelled on the original Dunlop racing wheels but wider, with a little more offset and one inch taller to allow more modern tyres.
At the heart of the car is Eagle’s 4.7 litre evolution of the famous Jaguar XK straight six that was fitted not just to E-Types, but also to the C and D-Types that, in the 1950s, won an astonishing five outright victories at Le Mans. Factory Lightweights were specified with an aluminium block replacing the iron block of road cars, an upgrade replicated by Eagle. All of this equates to 380 bhp that makes the Eagle Lightweight GT feel effortlessly fast.
Photos © Eagle E-Types.