Jaguar Heritage Racing will make its debut in the 2012 Mille Miglia as Jaguar celebrates the 60th anniversary of developing the disc brake

Modified On May 14, 2012 01:28 PM By CarDekho

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Jaguar Heritage Racing will field a six-car strong team in the 2012 Mille Miglia, an event which will see Jaguar celebrate the 60th anniversary of its entering a C-type equipped with a prototype disc-brake system in the 1952 running of the 1,000-mile road race. That 1952 Mille Miglia entry represented the first competitive endurance test in Jaguar’s development of disc-brakes for eventual wide-scale road car use. Behind the wheel of that disc-braked equipped C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia was Sir Stirling Moss, and sat alongside him was Norman Dewis, then Jaguar’s chief development engineer. In 2012, this remarkable pairing – now 82 and 91 years of age respectively – will once again take the start of the Mille Miglia in a C-type.

This particular C-type, XKC 005, is also the same car which, later in 1952, Sir Stirling Moss drove to victory in a sports car race at Reims to record the first ever win for a disc-braked car. Following Moss and Dewis away from the start the five further Jaguar Heritage Racing entries in this year's Mille Miglia include two more C-types (XKC 018, first owned by Juan Manuel Fangio, and XKC 045), a Mk VII saloon, and both roadster and fixed-head examples of the XK 120. Some 32 Jaguars are expected to participate in total – a new record for the event.

Said Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director, Jaguar Cars: "This year's Mille Miglia is very significant for Jaguar. It marks both the start of the Jaguar Heritage Racing programme, a living celebration of our rich heritage, and also a true milestone in the brand's history of producing innovative technology: 60 years since Sir Stirling Moss scored the very first race win for a disc-braked car at Reims. "To see Sir Stirling Moss take the start in Brescia alongside Norman Dewis will be a very special moment. We wish them and all participants in this year's Mille Miglia – an event Jaguar is again proud to sponsor – all the very best."

Following the six Jaguar Heritage Racing entries on the 2012 Mille Miglia will be support teams in the latest examples of the Jaguar range: XF, XJ and XKR-S – each of them models that have resulted from the same ethos of engineering and design innovation that was epitomised by the efforts of Moss and Dewis 60 years ago. The 2012 Mille Miglia is the first competitive outing for the Jaguar Heritage Racing programme which, later this year, will also see works-backed C- and D-types race competitively for the first time since 1956 at both the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix and the Goodwood Revival.