Jaguar E-type wins engineering heritage award

The classic car, which Enzo Ferrari once called 'the most beautiful car ever made', will join the world's first railway locomotive, the Vulcan Bomber and Bletchley Park's Bombe code breaking machine on the list of award winners. The E-type will become the first and only automobile to win a Heritage Award, which celebrates Britain's greatest engineering feats. Professor Isobel Pollock, president elect of the IMechE, said: "The E-type is truly one of Britain's greatest engineering triumphs, defining a decade and putting the Midlands car industry on the world stage. "This award is in honour of those Coventry engineers and designers that produced the fastest, most advanced sports car in the world on its release. We also want to give recognition to Jaguar, which continues to act as a standard-bearer for UK manufacturing to this day." Mike Beasley, former md of Jaguar and trustee of Jaguar Heritage, commented: "Fifty years after its launch, the E-type remains one of the most iconic cars ever made and its design and engineering continue to inspire the Jaguars of the future. It is a great honour for it to join such illustrious company by winning this award." Designed and manufactured in Coventry in 1961, the E-type's design was shaped by the emerging field of automotive aerodynamics. Capable of reaching speeds of up to 150mph, it went on to inspire several breakthroughs in engineering technology. Prof Pollock will present the award to Beasley and Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis at a ceremony at the Jaguar Heritage Museum in Coventry later today.