1952 Cunningham C4R

A Cunningham C4R at the Le Mans Classic in 2018.

For more photos from the 2018 Le Mans Classic Plateau 2 - click here.

B.S.Cunningham Company, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.   Briggs Cunningham first entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race in 1950 and was determined to win it.   He never actually did but came relatively close on at least one occasion, especially with the C4R which was powered by a 5.4 litre (later 5.5 litre) Chrysler V8 engine.  The first Cunningham C4Rs were built in 1952 with George Briggs Weaver in charge of the body and chassis design.  The car was a typical front engined rear wheel drive roadster with a big engined American V8 under the bonnet.  The roadholding was reputed to be very good but brakes and steering were a weak pont compared to the Jaguars of the era.   Top speed was around 155mph.

In 1952 two of these cars came to Le Mans and came away with fourth place in the hands of Briggs Cunningham himself and Bill Spear.  Later in the year John Fitch took the car to its first win in a 200 mile race at Elkhart Lake,  1953 saw the first ever World Sportscar Championship and a Cunningham C4R won the first ever round of the Championship in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring with John Fitch and Phil Walters at the wheel.   However, at Le Mans the sole C4R could only finish seventh.  Some consolation was gained a few weeks later with a 3rd place in the Reims 12 Hours.  It also appeared in a support race at the British GP.  In 1954 two C4Rs appeared at Le Mans and one of them came third driven by Bill Spear and Sherwood Johnston.   It was a brave effort but it was becoming very difficult to take on Jaguar, Ferrari and Mercedes at Le Mans.  The car did take a few more small victories in US races.   Only two cars (plus a C4RK coupé) were built in period, but 4 authorised continuation cars were built in the 1990s and another replica was built on a C3 chassis.  

1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

1952 Jaguar XK120, Peter Terrell/Michael Holland, 2017 Tour Auto.

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Jaguar Cars, Coventry, England.   The XK120 was introduced in 1948 and produced until 1954.  It was the first car to be powered by the famous 3.4 litre XK straight six engine and was called the 120 because it was capable of over 120mph which made it the fasted production sports car at that time.  The 0-60mph time was around 10 seconds.  There were three versions including the open roadster seen here, a drop head convertible and a closed coupé version.  Early cars were aluminium bodied but later cars were steel.   The XK120 was extensively raced and rallied and achieved much success.  Victories included the 1950 Tourist trophy, the 1950 & 1951 Alpine rally, In the Tour de France Automobile one finished fifth in 1951.

1952 Jaguar XK120 C Type

Nigel Webb, Jaguar C Type - Le Mans Classic 2016

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Jaguar Cars, Coventry, England.  The C of C type stood for Competition, there was no A or B type.  It was the first Jaguar to win Le Mans, doing so on its first attempt in 1951 and then again in 1953.  Th chassis had the engine and running gear of the Jaguar XJ120 in a special tubular frame and lightweight low drag aluminium body.  The 6 cylinder 3.4 litre engine was specially tuned to produce over 200bhp.  Over 50 C types were made in period and many replicas since.  As well as wining at Le Mans, C Types won the Tourist Trophy in 1951 and the Reims 12 hours in 1953 plus many minor national and international races. The car pictured above was the first privately owned C-Type Jaguar and was owned by Duncan Hamilton.  In his autobiography Duncan Hamilton said the C Type was last sports racing car that was equally as home being driven on the road and on the track.  

Siata 208S

Siata 208S, Tour Auto 2016

Siata, Turin, Italy.  Siata stood for Societa Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori.  Between 1952 and 1955 they produced over 30 of these 208S sports cars.  They were powered by a 2 litre 8V Fiat engine.  The car was available either as an open car or with a hardtop. The most famous owner was Steve McQueen who raced one at Palm Springs.