What is it about the Jaguar XJ13? What other racing car could have once attracted an offer of £7 million despite never having been entered into, let alone won, a single race?

Perversely, it is this very lack of anything you might describe as success which stops people short of calling it a failure. It was only ever designed to compete at Le Mans and, by the time its protracted development programme had been completed, it would have lined up in the 1967 race against the 7.0-litre Ford GT40s and the Ferrari P4s. Had it lasted, there are those who believe it might possibly have won but, with British Leyland now writing the cheques, it is hard to see how it would have vanquished the two most formidable names in ’60s sports car racing.

This alone, however, fails to come even close to explaining the XJ13’s mythical status. That stems from a coincidence of facts, the largest of which is that curiously British penchant for believing what you wish to be so until presented with incontrovertible evidence to the contrary; and while the XJ13 may never have won a race, it just as surely never lost one either.