Automotive

This week's Mille Miglia represents the 60th anniversary of the disc brake

This week's Mille Miglia represents the 60th anniversary of the disc brake
The original car itself, being fettled in the workshops of Jaguar Heritage Racing
The original car itself, being fettled in the workshops of Jaguar Heritage Racing
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The first competitive outing for the disc-brake was on a Jaguar C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss driving and Norman Dewis, then Jaguar's chief development engineer, navigating
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The first competitive outing for the disc-brake was on a Jaguar C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss driving and Norman Dewis, then Jaguar's chief development engineer, navigating
The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
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The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
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The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
Sir Stirling Moss and the car he will drive in the Mille Miglia - the very first car to have disc brakes
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Sir Stirling Moss and the car he will drive in the Mille Miglia - the very first car to have disc brakes
A Jaguar C-type in the Jaguar Heritage Racing workshop
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A Jaguar C-type in the Jaguar Heritage Racing workshop
Sir Stirling Moss in the car he will drive in the Mille Miglia - the very first car to have disc brakes
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Sir Stirling Moss in the car he will drive in the Mille Miglia - the very first car to have disc brakes
Last year's Mille Miglia - always an event worth attending for motoring enthusiasts
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Last year's Mille Miglia - always an event worth attending for motoring enthusiasts
The original car itself, being fettled in the workshops of Jaguar Heritage Racing
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The original car itself, being fettled in the workshops of Jaguar Heritage Racing
View gallery - 8 images

The annual reenactment of the Mille Miglia 1000 mile road race on public roads gets underway on Wednesday, with Jaguar Heritage Racing involved in the event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of developing the disc brake.

Jaguar Heritage Racing will field a six-car team in the 2012 Mille Miglia on the 60th anniversary of its entering a C-type equipped with a prototype disc-brake system in the 1952. That 1952 Mille Miglia entry represented the first competitive endurance test in Jaguar's development of disc-brakes for eventual wide-scale road car use.

The first competitive outing for the disc-brake was on a Jaguar C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss driving and Norman Dewis, then Jaguar's chief development engineer, navigating
The first competitive outing for the disc-brake was on a Jaguar C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss driving and Norman Dewis, then Jaguar's chief development engineer, navigating

Behind the wheel of that disc-braked equipped C-type in the 1952 Mille Miglia was Sir Stirling Moss, and alongside him was Norman Dewis, then Jaguar's chief development engineer.

Last year's Mille Miglia - always an event worth attending for motoring enthusiasts
Last year's Mille Miglia - always an event worth attending for motoring enthusiasts

In 2012, Moss and Dewis, now 82 and 91 years of age respectively, will once again take the start of the Mille Miglia in a C-type.

The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes

This particular C-type, XKC 005, is also the same car which, later in 1952, Sir Stirling Moss drove to victory in a sports car race at Reims to record the first ever win for a disc-braked car.

The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes
The C-type at the 1952 Reims Grand Prix - the first win for a car with disc brakes

The 2012 Mille Miglia is the first competitive outing for the Jaguar Heritage Racing program which, later this year, will also see works-backed C- and D-types race competitively for the first time since 1956 at both the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix and the Goodwood Revival.

View gallery - 8 images
1 comment
1 comment
Nicolas Zart
My mechanics in the south of France worked on Italians and I would bring him my Alfa Romeos. He told me once how Ferrari got all the serious mechanics in the region to fit the 250 GTOs with discs. That story is etched upon my mind as if I had been there. What an era this was.