Jaguar's long-serving test driver Norman Dewis dies aged 98

As Jaguar's chief test driver, Dewis helped with the development of the C-type and D-type machines that won the 24 Hours five times between 1951 and '57. Arguably Jaguar's finest achievement during the period was its 1-2-3-4-6 result at Le Mans with D-types in 1957.

Due to his value to Jaguar, Dewis's racing activities were limited, but he co-drove a C-type with Stirling Moss in the 1952 Mille Miglia and started the 1955 Le Mans, driving a D-type (pictured below) with Don Beauman.

A confident character, Dewis defended Mike Hawthorn following the Jaguar ace's involvement in the accident that claimed more than 80 lives in the 1955 24 Hours.

He was also at the wheel of the special XK120 that hit 172mph, then a record for production cars, at Jabbeke in Belgium in 1953.

Dewis, who was a member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, later drove the XJ13 sportscar that never raced - surviving a high-speed crash after a tyre failure - and was involved in Jaguar's road car projects from the '50s into the '80s, including the E-type. In later years he remained a Jaguar ambassador.

After working at the Humber car factory, his first job as a test driver had come with Armstrong-Siddeley prior to the Second World War. He then served on Bristol Blenheims during the conflict, but it is for his time with Jaguar - where he helped develop the first disc brakes - that he is best remembered.

"Jaguar owes a huge debt to Norman Dewis," said Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations managing director John Edwards when Dewis was awarded an OBE in 2015.

"His incredible skills have resulted in some of the finest cars Jaguar has ever made."