Walter Hassan

Engineer involved in the wartime planning and development of Jaguar’s XK six, then Coventry Climax’s FW engine.

At Bentley’s Cricklewood works, Hassan moved from the engine shop to the chassis shop, road testing and race-mechanic duties. Frank Clement recommended him for the racing team, and he became Woolf Barnato’s mechanic. After Bentley’s 1931 liquidation and purchase by Rolls-Royce, Barnato retained him. Hassan built the Bentley-based Barnato-Hassan in 1934 and, with Wally Saunders, the Pacey-Hassan for the 1936 season.

He worked briefly at ERA in Bourne with Peter Berthon on engine development before Reid Railton brought him to Thomson & Taylor in 1937. There Hassan managed contracts for John Cobb’s 400 mph Land Speed Record car, while Railton remained its designer. He joined SS Cars later in 1938 as Chief Experimental Engineer. In September 1939 he left for Bristol’s aircraft-engine work but returned to Foleshill about a year later.

During wartime fire-watch duty at Foleshill, Hassan, William Heynes and Claude Baily discussed the post-war XK engine with William Lyons. The 3,442 cc twin-cam six pursued a 160 bhp target and appeared in the XK120 in 1948. In September 1950 Hassan joined Coventry Climax, where he and Harry Mundy developed the Featherweight FW light-alloy overhead-cam engine for fire pumps before developing it for racing.

Jaguar acquired Coventry Climax in 1963 and Hassan returned to Jaguar’s power-unit work; he retired in 1972. The D-Type used a 270 bhp development of the XK engine. It won Le Mans in 1955 with Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb, in 1956 with Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson, and in 1957 with Flockhart and Bueb.