Car and engine development histories

A question on the Motorsport Trivia thread touched on the issue of how various developments of a car or an engine get named.

For a starter, here’s a potted history (mainly from Wikipedia) of the development of the Coventry Climax racing engine, which was billed in period as “The fire pump engine that wins motor races” .

Coventry Climax made engines which were used in several makes of car in the thirties. They also made portable fire pumps which were used by the fire services during the Blitz. After World War 2 they were invited to develop a new lightweight fire pump. A team headed by Wally Hassan, who had been involved with the design of the Jaguar XK120 and the prewar Barnato-Hassan Bentley, produced the 4-cylinder single overhead camshaft “FW” or “Feather weight” engine to power the new pump.

The requirements for a fire pump engine and a racing engine are similar – power and light weight. Cyril Kieft saw the possibilities and approached Wally Hassan at Coventry Climax. The result was the 1100cc Coventry Climax “FWA” or “Featherweight Automative” engine which made its competition debut in a Kieft at Le Mans in 1955. The Kieft was soon followed by the Cooper Bobtail, Lotus Eleven and other small sports cars.
The announcement of the 1500cc Formula 2 led to the 1500cc “FWB”, so named as B comes after A in the alphabet which appeared in the back of a modified Bobtail chassis as a Cooper F2 car and in others such as the Lotus 12.
They then developed the shorter stroke 750cc “FWC” which powered the 1957 Le Mans Index of Performance winning Lotus Eleven. The “FWD” (“Feather Weight Diesel”?) was an experimental diesel version and the “FWE” a 1200 cc version that powered the Lotus Elite (“Feather Weight Elite” perhaps)
Then we jump to a marine version of the engine, not surprisingly it was designated the “FWM”, with the M standing for “Marine”
A development of the FWM, the FWMA may have been the engine in the 1957 Le Mans Lotus rather than the FWC(reports differ) .
The FWMB was the prototype of what became the Hillman Imp
The FWMC was a 750cc engine that ran in a Lotus Elite at Le Mans in 1961 but failed to finish.
Let’s leave the FW series there for a minute. And go back to 1954-55.

With the introduction of the 2.5 litre Formula 1 in 1954, Coventry Climax developed a 2.5 litre V8 engine with twin overhead camshafts nicknamed the “Godiva” engine. Its designation was the “FPE”, the “Fire Pump Engine”. It was either called that as a joke or so that the management wouldn’t realise what the development department were up to. When they heard the power outputs claimed for Maserati, Ferrari and Mercedes engines, which were significantly higher than the FPE, Coventry Climax quietly stopped development after 2 or 3 prototypes had been made. It now appears that these power figures were somewhat inflated and the “Godiva” would have been competitive.

As Formula 2 developed, the teams felt that the FWB wasn’t powerful enough. So Coventry Climax produced a 4-cylinder twin overhead camshaft engine based on half the “FPE” block. They named it the “FPF” as F follows E in the alphabet. As time went on, the FPF was stretched from 1.5 litres to 2 litres, in which form it won the 1958 Argentine and Monaco Grands Prix, to 2.2 litres, to 2.5 litres, which powered Jack Brabham’s Cooper to his first two world championships in 1959 and 1960. The ultimate stretch of the engine was to 2.7 litres for the 1961 Indianapolis Cooper. This engine later went into Cooper Monaco and Lotus XIX sports cars and into the first Eagle when the Weslake engine was delayed.
For the new 1.5 litre Formula 1 in 1961, Coventry Climax produced a “Mark 2” version of the 1.5 litre FPF incorporating all the improvements they had made for the Formula 1 engines. This wasn’t really competitive with either the Ferrari V6 or the Porsche but Stirling Moss did win the 1961 Monaco and German GPs with the engine.
Unlike the FW-series all these engines were designated as FPF.

Now to go back to the FW-series. When the FPF Mk2 proved to be uncompetitive, Coventry Climax had to develop a new engine. They effectively combined two of the FWMC 750cc engines to produce a V8 which was named the FWMV. Various developments of this engine from Mk1 to Mk5 powered Lotus, Brabham, Cooper and Lola cars through the 1.5 litre formula to 1965 and a 2 litre stretched version served as a stopgap for 1966 when the 3 litre Formula 1 came in.

Having nothing more to prove and realising that the cost of developing competitive engines was rising, at this point Coventry Climax withdrew from racing and closed their competition department. The tooling and manufacturing rights were sold to Repco in Australia who continued to provide parts and engines for competitors in Australian and NZ racing including the 2.5 litre Tasman Formula cars.

Does anybody want to add a potted history of another engine or car development?

Let’s take a look at Jaguar next.

First the name:
When William Lyons started in business making motorcycle sidecars he called his “Swallow Sidecars”. Once he moved into car body and later car manufacture, the name became SS which variously stood for “Swallow Sports”, “Standard Swallow”, or “Standard Special” (the latter two names be4ing used for cars with Standard chassis and engine or later Standard-based engines. Then the car became the SS Jaguar, the animal name creating an image of piower and speed. After World War 2 with the unpleasant connotations of the initials SS the cars and company became simply “Jaguar”. And it’s been Jaguar ever since.

Next the cars:
Here there are several interlinking threads covering sports cars, saloons and sports racers which I’ll try and unravel, with the emphasis on those that raced or rallied.
The first (prewar) SS cars were the SS I and SS II sports, or rather, GT cars. The next model was the SS 90 so named because it could do 90mph followed by the SS 100. The saloons were simply called the 1½ litre, 2½ litre and 3½ litre SS or SS Jaguar models.

Then came the World War and the well-known story of how William Lyons, and his engineers Bill Heynes, Claude Baily and Wally Hassan conceived and designed a new engine to power the large saloon cars whilst on fire watching duty. They started with the XA and after various prototypes came up with the 6-cylinder 3.4 litre twin overhead cam XK engine.

Poswar, Jaguar initially continued with the prewar cars but named them "Jaguars" and dropping the "SS" with its Nazi connotations.

The first new saloon model postwar was the Mark V. There were no Mks 1 to 4. The Mark V name is reputed to have come about as it was the 5th prototype that was adopted.

The new saloon designed to use the new XK engine was not ready and as a stopgap measure Jaguar installed the engine in a cut down Mk V chassis fitted with a stunning body which was the star of the 1948 motor show – the XK120, named following the prewar tradition as they claimed it would do 120mph. They also announced a similar downmarket model with a 4-cylinder 2-litre engine named the XK100. But the XK120 was such a resounding success that the XK100 was quietly dropped.

The new saloon with the XK engine was finally announced in 1950. Logically it should have been the Mark VI but the current Bentley model was the Continental Mark VI so Jaguar were persuaded to name their new model the Mark VII. Amongst other successes, the Mk VII won the 1957 Monte Carlo Rally. In time the Mk VII became the Mk VIII, Mk IX and ultimately the Mk X and the engine grew to 3.8 litres and later 4.2 litres.

The XK120 was fast and gave a good account of itself. As a rally car it netted Ian Appleyard a Gold Coupe des Alpes in the Alpine Rally for consecutive penalty free runs in 1950-52. But in racing it wasn’t competitive with the Continental racing-derived Ferraris, Delages, Talbots etc. So Jaguar developed a special competition, or sports racing, model with a stiffer tubular frame and lightweight body – the XK120C (for Competition) with chassis numbers XKC 001, to XKC 053 and won Le Mans in 1951 and 1953 with it. It was generally referred to as the “C-Type”.

Then in 1954 they produced a new sports racing car with monocoque construction and even more streamlined lines. Technically this was the Mk 2 Competition model so Jaguar numbered the chassis in the XKC series but started the sequence at XKC 401. But the press and everyone called the new car the “D-Type”. Jaguar bowed to popular demand, adopted the name, and started to number the chassis as XKD~. The 1954 cars being numbered in the XKD 405 and XKD406, the 1955 cars XKD 501 etc and the 1956 cars XKD601 etc. Jaguar withdrew from competition on a high note having scored three consecutive Le Mans wins from 1955 to 1957. But the competition department continued in a low key way. On the competition front, Jaguar produced the E1 prototype that never raced in about 1958 and then in 1960 the prototype E2A (A for aluminium) with independent rear suspension appeared at Le Mans but as a Cunningham entry and not as a works car. Technically this was probably the XKC Mk 3 but was always referred to as the “E-Type”

In 1955 Jaguar introduced a new small 2.4 litre saloon to complement the Mk VII. They simply called it the 2.4 litre and when they introduced a larger engined version it was the 3.4 litre. When Mk 2 versions in 2.4, 3.4 and 3.8 litre form were introduced the early cars were retrospectively named Mk 1’s.

By now the road going sports cars had become the XK140 and later the XK150 - although Jaguar no longer claimed that they could attain those speeds.

In 1961 the E-Type road going sports car was introduced superseding the XK150. Hence E2A had to be retrospectively re-christened the “E Type prototype”. The E-Type’s parentage from the racing D-Type with the IRS of E2A was obvious. (For some reason it was known in the States as the XKE). Jaguar developed the “Lightweight” and “Low drag” E-Types to compete in GT racing against the Ferrari 250 GTO and the Aston Martin DB4GT. But the XK engine was by now outdated as an out-and-out competition engine and the car met with only limited success.

On the saloon car front, things get complicated with engine options being dropped and reinstated and models renamed. The small model became the 240 or 340, but there was no 380 as the 3.8 litre engine was dropped. By now the big model had reached Mark X. The small saloon was given a tail similar to the Markk X, independent rear suspension like the E-Type and a choice of 3.4 and 3.8 litre engines and renamed the S-Type. With the advent of the 4.2 litre engine, the small bodied car was given a nose like the Markk X and became the 420 and the Mark X became the 420G.

Both ranges were replaced by the new XJ6 which combined the two saloons into one model with a range of engines, initially 4.2 and 2.8 litre XK engines. I don’t know the origin of the XJ6 name – one theory is it was the factory code name which the marketing people adopted. The ‘6’ might mean 6-cylinder as when the V12 engine was fitted in the XJ6 body the car was called the XJ12. This was raced but was not successful as Jaguar were not prepared to spend the money on homologated modifications.

Although they had officially withdrawn from racing, Jaguar produced the experimental XJ13 with a prototype V12 engine in the rear in the mid sixties. The reason for the name is a mystery as it was well before the XJ6 and XJ12. But while this was being tested and developed in a low key way, the Ford GT40 and the 7 litre Mk II arrived and the regulations changed so development was stopped before the XJ13 reached the tracks.

The replacement for the E-Type was a fixed head coupé that was more of a GT than a sports car based to a large extent on the XJ6 platform. Possibly to connect it in people’s minds, Jaguar named it the XJS. The XJS body dimensions [just] qualified it as a saloon car and Tom Walkinshaw developed it to win the European Touring Car Championship.

In the USA, Group 44 headed by Bob Tullius raced the V12 E type in SCCA racing netting numerous wins and one national championship and when the XJS arrived they raced it in the Trans Am series with considerable success.

The Group 44 and Tom Walkinshaw operations jointly developed the XJR (XJ Racing?) series of mid engined sports racing cars from the XJR 5 through to the XJR 17. I’ll not go into the various cars and the results achieved as the information is readily available. In summary: they won Le Mans twice, the Team and Driver World Endurance Racing Championships twice each and many IMSA races.

Any takers for tackling the numbering of Porsches or Ferraris?