1960 World Sportscar Championship

To see where Briggs Cunningham was in 1960, you have to look at 1955.

Briggs Cunningham has said that the 1955 Le Mans catastrophe did not stop him from racing, but he did not go back there until five years later, and he never again competed in cars of his own making.  He closed the West Palm Beach production facility in 1955 after the IRS declared the operation a hobby instead of a business because it had not produced a profit.

In addition to his C6R, the team had run a D-Type Jaguar at Le Mans in 1955.  They had won Sebring with it earlier in the year.  The Jags had been strong competition for several years, so it wasn't surprising.  Sir William Lyons had told Cunningham that he would give him three D-Types and make him Jaguar's Northeast US distributor if he would stop building Cunninghams and campaign Jaguars.  This proved immensely successful, and Cunnigham driver Sherwood Johnston beat out Phil Hill and his Ferrari Monza to become SCCA C/Sports champion.  The Cunningham team decided to concentrate their assault on home turf.  Perhaps without their own car, they had less to prove in France.  They picked up Walt Hansgen and he won the C/Sports title for them for four years running, 1956-1959.  Ironically, Hansgen was killed in 1966 while testing a Ford GT40, the year that an American car finally fulfilled Cunningham's dream.  In 1958, Cunningham turned his attention to his yachting roots and won the Americas Cup.

The team ran a variety of cars in 1959, anchored by a pair of Lister-Jaguars.  But they noticed that the Chevrolet V8 had found its way into many of their competitor's cars and was tough to beat.

The 1955 incident had helped prompt General Motors to ban all official motorsports support.  In 1960, Briggs Cunningham took three fuel-injected Corvettes from the assembly line and prepared them for Le Mans with 'under the table' help from Chevrolet.  The Corvette was going to Le Mans for the first time, and because of changes to the prototype rules, the GTs were potential contenders for the overall win. Oh, and they also brought a lightweight Jaguar prototype for some kid named Dan Gurney to drive.

Long story short, heavy rain threatened and Firestone wanted to save their rain tires for later.  Bill Kimberley, lost control when the downpour arrived, rolled the car several times and it caught fire.  Dick Thompson ran the #2 Corvette into a sandbank and destroyed most of the body.  They got it going again but the engine exploded Sunday morning and it caught fire.  With an hour remaining in the race, the #3 Corvette had made it to 4th before it began to overheat.  The rules started that cars had to go 24 laps between top-ups and had to complete at least four laps in the last hour to be classified as a finisher.  The team packed the engine compartment with ice and sent it out for the first of four fifteen minute laps. Each time around, they pulled in and repacked with ice.  They finished 8th and won the class.

The Jaguar?  Blew a head gasket after 89 laps and was not classified.  But it was the prototype for the E-Type and many men scored with it in later years.

Finished 1st in GT3.0 and 4th overall, 12 laps behind.

The Ferrari most beloved by collectors, together with the 250 GTO. In the World Championship for Sports Cars was victorious in 1957, 1958 and 1960 and won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1960 and in 1961. The last evaluation of this car is nearly $17,000,000.

1960 Winner 24 Hours of Le Mans

Jaguar E1A was a prototype used only for factory testing.  The E2A was commisioned by Briggs Cunningham to run at Le Mans as an interim race car between the D-Type and the E-Type that would be introduced in 1961.  It had a steel chassis and aluminum body.

E2A was run at the 1960 Le Mans Practice using the #7 and fell out out the actual race due to a leaking head gasket caused by faulty fuel injection.  It ran four more races before returning to Jaguar to be scrapped.  Roger Woodley, Jaguar's customer competition car manager, saved the car for his wife and she kept it until 2008 when it was auctioned for five million US.

This Briggs Cunningham entry exited the race with a leaking head gasket.

The Jaguar Works team had withdrawn from racing at the end of 1956. Privateers were still at it and Ecurie Ecosse had won Le Mans in 1957, but Le Mans rule changes had rendered the three-time winner D-Type uncompetitive for 1958.  Jaguar used their defunct racing department to hammer and massage the car into a genuine road car to replace the XK150. The first E-Type prototype was labeled E1A, with the suffix a reference to the aluminum monocoque.  It was decided that the chassis of the production car should be steel for practical and financial reasons.

William Lyons thought that cars were tested most effectively in racing conditions, so E2A was built as a race car with an eye on new regulations regarding minimum heights. A higher windscreen necessitated wipers instead of just looking over the top.  It also meant the car would have to be extended six inches to maintain aerodynamics.  Construction of the steel chassis, aluminum bodied E2A began early in 1960 and it was ready for testing in March.

As Jaguar was no longer in the racing business, the car was given to Briggs Cunningham for the Le Mans. It was probably a surreptitious factory effort that he had little involvement in, because he already had a clandestine deal going with Chevrolet to bring Corvette to the race for the first time.  With drivers Dan Gurney and Walt Hansgen, the E2A ran 89 laps before retiring from head gasket failure caused by faulty Lucas fuel injection. 

After the race, the windshield height was reduced and it was given a bigger 3.8 liter engine then shipped off to race in the US.  Hansgen won at Bridgehampton and was 3rd at Road America. Jack Brabham piloted it to 10th at the LA Times Grand Prix,  Bruce McLaren was next handed the reins at Laguna Seca, but could do no better than 12th.  The car was shipped back to the factory at the end of the 1960 season and the production E-Type made its debut in Geneva on 15 March 1961.  E2A passed to Jaguar's privateer racing manager, and his wife kept it until 2008 when it went to auction.