Michael Turner's highly evocative painting of Mike Hawthorn racing VDU 881 at Silverstone against Tommy Sopwith

This section documents the people who have painstakingly recreated Mike's Jaguar Mk 1 that the Company provided him and he had extensively modified for racing and for personal use.


Mike Hawthorn's original Jaguar Mk 1 was destroyed at the factory on Lofty England's instructions after Mike's fatal accident and only the engine is known to have been officially disposed of for further use at the time. Lofty said this was sold to Peter Lindner and that he used it for touring car racing - although no record of its current whereabouts is known.

VDU 881 was loaned to Mike while he was racing for Jaguar, Lofty allowing him to continue using it afterwards. Chassis number S970806DN, it was the 806th right hand drive 3.4 saloon built, British Racing Green with a suede green interior and first registered on October 3rd 1957 by Jaguar Cars Ltd.


No special remarks are recorded in Jaguar's chassis record book, just that it was "On loan to Mike Hawthorn"; it appears to have started life as a perfectly normal car with overdrive and pressed steel wheels. Not even high ratio steering featured.

Lofty said that Hawthorn didn't want the heavier steering as he intended to "steer it on the throttle." VDU 881 was subsequently modified by Ted Papsch at Hawthorn's own Tourist Trophy Garage (whether tuning work was also carried out by Jaguar is unclear).

Tommy Sopwith, Mike's on-track sparring partner, said: "Michael's Jaguar was similar to mine in many ways although EN 400 was prepared and tuned by my own garage. I don't remember a great deal about VDU, through I do remember at Silverstone VDU was shod on Dunlop racing tyres (with the diamond tread pattern). I said to Mike: 'You'll win this one because you have better tyres than mine.' '"All right', he said,'I'll give you the wheels and tyres after the race!'. That was the biggest compliment he could give, but Lofty would not let him part with them! "I doubt if any modifications were carried out without Lofty's consent as the car was never Michael's in the first place."

A magazine review and road test of the car appeared in the February 1959 issue of Motoro Racing.

For more on the car see Mike's Fatal Accident here.

The registration plate VDU 881 will never be reissued by the DVLA if you are wondering - it is their policy not to do this for cars that have been destroyed.

Gary Oxley from the Jaguar Model Club tells us that he intends to build a Limited Edition model of VDU 881! If you are interested, there will only be 25 so get in the queue quickly!

Here are the stories then of people who have recreated Mike's Mark 1, VDU 881. If you need your story told then please contact us!

The first car covered here is that of Paul Roach from the UK. As Paul grew up, like most boys of his age he had an interest in sports but motor racing and cars in general had him spellbound. He was mysteriously drawn to the career of the late Mike Hawthorn. Books and newspaper articles were studied at length and over the years, he absorbed so much information about his hero that he probably knows as much about the man as any person living.



Please read Paul's Story...

The second car covered here is that of Nigel Webb from the UK. Nigel is a long term and dedicated Mike Hawthorn fan and has spared no effort whatsoever in his research to get his recreation as exact as it can possibly be.

He obtained one of the nearest registrations possible - '881 VDU' - for it and has also obtained a few items from the original car that escaped official destruction back in 1959.

Please read Nigel Webb's story