1975
Is the year that Ralph Broad got the go ahead from Leyland to take an xj coupe,
and turn it into a car they could race in the European Touring Car Championship
Ralph Broad and his Broadspeed Preparation Company where well known for racing with
the Mini's and Ford cars, set out to do so
In 1975 the energy crisis was hitting hard, and fuel efficiency was becoming more and more important
The days of the big luxury cars where numbered
The xj12c project was an attempt of the Leyland management to increase sales
When the idea was first discussed by Ralph Broad and Leyland cars management, they had considered running the xj-s
But the marketing men won, because they thought the xj12coupe would look more like a performance touring car,
and was closer to the public view of what a Jaguar looked like
So after this was decided a coupe shell was quietly delivered from Coventry to the back door of Broadspeed's workshop
at nearby Southam
March 1976 Leyland cars announced to the motor racing world
That Jaguar would return to racing again, with the xj 12 coupe
It was to be, "an all British effort" and right from the start they made it clear, that the team was going out to win
Respected drivers, Derek Bell, David Hobbs, Andy Rouse and Steve Thompson would drive the powerful cars,
so what could possibly go wrong ?
Although the public was promised that the Jaguar would race, the season started without them
due to technical difficulties in the development process
One of the biggest problems was the oil surge that would happen when breaking
Because in 1976 they could only use a wet sump
Next to that there where problems with the brakes and wheels
At last a Jaguar was entered in september at Silverstone, because British Leyland wanted something back for the investment so far
Derek Bell put the xj12 coupe at pole position, and he led on the first lap of the race itself
To delight of the crowd who had come to see the eagerly awaited " Big Cat "
Not long after the start handling began to deteriorate, due to the tires
And at lap nine one of the tires disintegrated
After he went to the pits, and got a new tire, he did twenty more laps
In the process he set a new group 2 record
Than David Hobbs took over
Only six laps later the Jaguar was out of the race, because it lost a wheel at Becketts Corner, when one of the driveshafts failed
This would be the only outing for the 76 car, and the winter was used for further development
The winter had also left the team with two driver spots to fill
Hobbs and Thompson where replaced with John fitzpatrick and Tim Schenken
March 1977
Two Jaguar xj12coupe's reported to Monza
The cars looked compleetly difrent than the season before
In it's red white and blue Leyland Motorsport colour scheme
The new bodykit, 19 inch wheels and a rear spoiler
Unlike the year before there was no trace of Jaguar to be found on the car
Every badge and logo was replaced with the Leyland logo
Underneath the car had undergone many changes, and the engine turned out about 560 bhp
Still regulations would not allow the cars to have a drysump system,
and this turned out to be the biggest problem for these heavy cars
When mid 1977 they allowed the use of drysump systems, Broadspeed tested it on one of the cars
But it was never fully developed before the cars where withdrawn from competition
The whole season was a learning curve for Broadspeed, and the cars where still under constant development
Every race changes where made
But the Leyland management was not impressed by the results
And a year after it's debut at Silverstone, Leyland announced that the cars would be withdrawn from competition
Before judging have a look at some of the statistics
The cars competed in only eight events
They where in pole position in six of these events
If you take in account that the cars where still in development
And if they had the chance to compete in the 78 season , they may have taken the title
For Jaguar the story is a painfull one, and still the years that Jaguar was running under the Leyland flag,
are years better forgotten for a lot of people
The coupe's where forgotten about for a long time, but hopefully that will change now
Because they are great cars, and should never be forgotten
Broadspeed, the cars than..... and now !
As I have written before, there are a few cars that where build by Ralph Broad
that could be considdered as Broadspeed cars,
although some people may think or say difrently
There are the cars that actualy raced, and the cars that have not
To be specific only 3 cars actualy raced !
Than there is a fourth car that was build in the early eighties, out of spare parts
And there are several cars that have a big mystery hanging around them
In 1976 Leyland and Broadspeed started it all off with chassis nr 1
This is the car for the first season, and promotional purposes, but due to some development problems it only raced once
at the TT at silverstone
Driven by Derek Bell and David Hobbs
Due to a puncure of the rear tire, and a mechanical failure it did not finish
After that the car was put asside, and the focus was on two new cars for the 1977 season
When it reappeared at the Coventry museum in the eighties, it was painted in the 1977 colours,
and it was fitted with the front and rear spoiler of the 1977 car
At this point the car did not have an engine, and was used only for display purposes
The car, together with a lot of parts was sold in 2001
and for years not a lot had been done to the car, although the owned was planning to have it restored, and use it for race events
Several parts where made to upgrade the car
In 2008 it was sold again to someone who had it restored and made race ready again
Some consessions where made though, to the technics and the look of the car
25th of October 2009 was it's first outing after 33 years
And the car did what Bell and Hobbs failed to do
The car won it's first race, the second race one of the 76 gremlins got the best of the car, and again it showed that
this car has a mind of it's own
Hope to see more of the car this year........!
1977 Broadspeed started the season with 2 new cars,
the 76 car was totaly difrent compared to the 77 car
First of all the outside of the cars where stripped of anything that said Jaguar
The colours where changed to Leyland colours, ( red , white, and blue )
with big Leyland decals all over the car
The wheels of the 76 car where 16 inch, in a style that resembled the Kent wheels on the production XJ's
The 77 wheels where 19 inch Speedline wheels
The front spoiler changed, and the car got a rear spoiler
Next to the outside of the cars, they changed a lot technicaly to
First the body's where put into an acid bath, to strip them of all sealant and bodycoating,
to make the cars lighter
The rear axle was mounted solid to the body,
and the front axle was changed, to keep the weight down
Aside from the look of the car, it did not realy have a lot to do anymore with it's counterparts "the roadgoing coupe"
The engine was tuned for more power, and during the 77 season they tried a dry sump system
All this was not enough for the Leyland management to let them procede into the 1978 season
After the 77 season the cars returned to Coventry where they where displayed in a museum for a while
A few years back the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust had the cars checked over, to see what car was the best to keep
They kept the nr3 car, and sold the number 4 car to someone in Australia
The nr3 car is still owned by the Trust, and is displayed at events occasionaly
The nr4 car was the car that was used to test the drysump system on,
and has been displayed at events in Australia
But both cars have not seen a lot of the race tracks since 1977
Than there is the car they call the nr2 car
Also known as the Bob Kerr car
In 1981 Bob Kerr ( Scottish Area Chairman) got his hands on a bare shell of what was claimed to be a Broadspeed race car,
over the next few monthes he gathered all sorts of parts for the car that came from the closing down sale at Broadspeed
And as he had the choice of parts, he build the car to look like the 77 cars did
With engine , suspention , wheels and so on
The engine modifications did not go so far as they where on the 3 race cars,
because he wanted to use the car, but not have to rebuild the engine everytime he raced it
When the car was finished it was used for hillclimbs and other small events
Later on Bob sold the car, and it has passed on several times over the years
It has been driven at Goodwood a few times,
and last year it was sold at the Goodwood revival for 80,700 gbp
Next to these 4 cars there have been stories of other cars
Tv viewers of the 70s will probably remember the car they used for "The New Avengers "
This was a pre production coupe provided by Leyland for the tv show, and modified by Broadspeed
With the big wheelarches, and 76 Kent style racing wheels
The body was painted in british racing green, with a gold pinstripe on the side
This car was offered for sale in the eighties to the Avengers fanclub, but no one wanted it
It was on display at the NEC, and eventualy it was sold
After the sale the car was stored in a warehouse, but the owner did not pick it up
Eventualy when the owner of the warehouse needed the space, the car was picked up by someone,
and the car was never seen again ( although it is still registered at the dvla )
I do have information that the car is still around, although in a bad state
There was a car at the Malvern museum in the UK, that looked like the racers, but it had an automatic gearbox
There is a car in the south of France, that is claimed to be a propper racer "by the owner" , but not confirmed by anyone
Than there are stories of a car that Leyland used for promotional purposes, to display at dealerships around the country
But none of these cars are proven to be real Broadspeed cars
And I guess that only the people who worked for Broadspeed, or who have build these cars can say what they are
In the years after, there where several replica's build in 2 and 4 door versions,
but due to the rust problems of the coupe not a lot of these cars survived
On the subject of the real Broadspeed cars, i can say that all off them have been accounted for
Altough i do not kow exactly who owns the nr2 car at this point ( information is always welcome ) 
