After the high of the D-type cars taking Le Mans wins in the late 50s and the Mk1 and Mk2 scoring Touring Car wins during the early 60s, Jaguar hadn’t really seen a lot of success in motorsport. The E-types, as legendary as they were, had not seen any notable success on the track. This meant that by the early seventies, the company had very little or no presence in racing activities.
This was also the time when most of the British car industry had consolidated itself into the British Leyland Motor Corporation. The company housed the Austin, Land Rover, Leyland, MG, Jaguar, Mini, Morris, Rover and Triumph brands. Consequently, all motorsport activities were brought under one wing; development and management of competition cars were usually contracted out to smaller outfits.
The mid-1970s were the heydey of the World Touring Car Championships. Competitors of Jaguar like Ford and BMW had seen success here and it was a logical progression for Jaguar to try their hand at it too. For the 1976 season, British Leyland contracted James Broad and his tuning and engineering outfit, Broadspeed Engineering, a firm which had seen previous success racing Minis and Ford Capris around Europe. Broad saw potential in Jaguar’s then flagship coupe, the XJ12C.