Jabbeke

Jabbeke /yah-bay-kuh/ proper noun

Jabbeke is a municipality in Belgium, known in automotive history for a long, straight, and flat section of public motorway that was used for high-speed record-breaking runs by British car manufacturers in the post-war era. This was Britain's unofficial, and questionably legal, high-speed test track. In an age before dedicated proving grounds, this unassuming stretch of Belgian concrete became the chosen arena for a game of top-speed one-upmanship. It was a place where British engineers, with the tacit approval of the local gendarmerie, would unleash their latest creations to see what they could really do. For a brief period, the fastest cars in the world were not proven at Le Mans or Monza, but on a closed section of public highway near Ostend.

The Full Story of Jabbeke

In the late 1940s, Britain’s car industry had a problem. It was building fast cars but had nowhere to prove their ultimate top speed. The great banked circuit at Brooklands was gone, and the country's new motorways had not yet been built. The solution was found across the Channel in Belgium, on a newly constructed, dead-straight section of the E5 motorway near the village of Jabbeke. It was flat, smooth, and not yet fully open to the public.

The most famous Jabbeke run took place in 1949. Jaguar, keen to prove that its sensational new XK120 sports car was worthy of its name, took a production model to the Belgian highway. With its windscreen removed to improve aerodynamics, the car was officially timed by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium at 132.6 mph, a staggering speed for the era. The run instantly made the XK120 the fastest production car in the world and cemented its legendary status.

This act of high-speed marketing threw down a gauntlet that other British manufacturers felt compelled to pick up. In 1953, Donald Healey took his new Austin-Healey 100 to Jabbeke to prove that it could live up to its name. It did, topping 100 mph and establishing itself as a serious performance car. Soon after, Triumph arrived with their new TR2, determined to show it was faster than its Austin-Healey rival.

These events were often overseen by journalists from magazines like The Autocar, who would bring their own official timing gear to verify the claims. The process involved closing a section of the road and timing the cars over a "flying mile" or kilometre, allowing them several miles to build up to their maximum velocity.

By the mid-1950s, the party was over. The Jabbeke motorway was fully integrated into the public road network, and the Belgian authorities took a dim view of British sports cars screaming past at 140 mph. Back in Britain, the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) had opened its own high-speed proving ground, providing a legal and safe alternative. The brief, glorious era of the Jabbeke speed trials had come to an end.

For The Record

Why did the Belgians allow this?

In the early post-war years, the road was new and not yet fully open to traffic. The local authorities were surprisingly cooperative, likely enjoying the international prestige and excitement it brought to the region. This unofficial arrangement became less tenable as public traffic increased.

Was the Jaguar XK120 that ran at Jabbeke a standard car?

Mostly. The famous 132 mph run was achieved with the windscreen, hood, and side screens removed and replaced with a small aero screen. An undertray was also fitted. A fully standard, road-equipped version was later timed at a still hugely impressive 126 mph.

Who was Norman Dewis?

He was the legendary chief test driver and development engineer for Jaguar from 1952 to 1985. He was an incredibly skilled and famously fearless driver who was instrumental in developing the C-Type, D-Type, and E-Type. High-speed testing at places like Jabbeke was a key part of his job.

Did any other countries use Jabbeke?

While it is most famously associated with the British manufacturers' rivalries, other European makes also used the long, straight stretch of road for unofficial speed tests during its brief heyday.

What is MIRA?

The Motor Industry Research Association. Its proving ground, opened near Nuneaton in 1948, became the UK's primary automotive testing facility. The development of its high-speed bowl and test tracks eventually made the risky, unofficial runs at Jabbeke unnecessary.