Ecurie Ecosse - return to Le Mans?

[XJ13]

So good to see Ecurie Ecosse racing again at the highest level - after 70 years it seems the spirit of Ecurie Ecosse is still very much alive and their goal of tackling the 24 Hours of Le Mans is within their grasp once again

As most of you will be fully aware, Ecurie Ecosse drivers Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson made history in 1956 by winning the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The small Edinburgh team shook the world of motor racing as they overcame giants such as Ferrari, Lotus and Maserati to claim their laurels. The following year, the team again appeared at Le Mans and astonishingly managed to do it all again – this time securing a stunning 1-2 finish.

Ecurie Ecosse of course, were far more successful at the famous 24-hour Le Mans endurance race than Jaguar ever were. The iconic status of Jaguar's D-Type owes more to Ecurie Ecosse (and other privateers) than Jaguar.

Every Scottish racing driver to have won a Formula One Grand Prix has driven with Ecurie Ecosse at one time or another. Household names to have raced in Ecurie’s famous Flag Blue include: Jim Clark; Sir Jackie Stewart; Sir Stirling Moss; Sir Jack Brabham; David Leslie; John Cleland; David Coulthard; Allan McNish and Dario Franchitti. The legendary Scottish motor racing outfit Ecurie Ecosse still successfully races today at the highest level.

In recent years team boss Alasdair McCaig has guided the team to many race victories, podium positions and overall championship titles within race series including Blancpain Endurance Series, British GT, Spa Francorchamps 24 Hours and the European Le Mans Series to name a few.

I for one, would love to see Ecurie Ecosse back at the 24-hours of Le Mans!









Anyone know if this was ever built?

[Gemaeden]

Lotus were not a giant in '56. Their cars had less than 1100 cc compared to the Jaguars with engines more than three times the size.

[Kccv23highliftcam]

Hmm.

[LotusOmega375D]

XJ13 said:

Ecurie Ecosse of course, were far more successful at the famous 24-hour Le Mans endurance race than Jaguar ever were. The iconic status of Jaguar's D-Type owes more to Ecurie Ecosse (and other privateers) than Jaguar.

Jaguars have won Le Mans 7 times.

"Works" team
1951: C-Type
1953: C-Type
1955: D-Type

Ecurie Ecosse privateer team
1956: D-Type
1957: D-Type (no "Works" entries that year)

TWR Jaguar "Works" team
1988: XJR-9
1990: XJR-12

So certainly EE had more success at LM with the D-Type than the Works team (2 wins to 1), but Jaguar themselves have more success overall at LM. As for the D-Type's iconic status being primarily down to EE and the other privateers, if Jaguar hadn't designed and built the car in the first place...

[RoverP6B]

So is McCaig's outfit involved in your new EE XJ13, Neville?