The 25th running of the Grand Prix of Endurance, better known as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, took place on June 22 and 23, 1957. It was also the fifth round of the World Sportscar Championship races.
For Jaguar though, there was much more to this story. As the factory had just disbanded its Works Team, the torch was passed to Privateers who now had inherited the responsibility to defend the honor of the Leaping Cat at this grand endurance event! No less than 5 Jaguar D-type cars participated, divided among 4 Private Racing Teams: Ecurie Ecosse, Peignaux / Los Amigos, Ecurie Nationale Belge, and Duncan Hamilton Racing... The end result was nothing short of magnificent, as the 5 D-type cars took the first 4 places, and the 6th place, at the end of the 24 hours! It was to be one of the best results in the racing career of the venerable Jaguar D-type.
The Peignaux / Los Amigos car, presented here, was superbly finished in beautiful French Racing Blue, wearing race No. 17. It was a wide windscreen version of the D-type, as the Le Mans regulations mandated it then. The passenger side had a soft clear Tonneau-Cover, zipped in place! One could also notice the absence of the famous vertical fin, and the appearance of a cooling air-slit on the left rear fender!... The drivers were Jean Lucas, once the manager of the Gordini Team, and Jean-Marie Brousselet (alias MARIE). The pair put their Jaguar D-type through its paces impeccably, pushing this French Blue beauty to a 3rd place, after covering a distance of 4255,155 km, at an average speed of 177.298 km/h within the 24 hours of this enduring French epreuve!
