With five overall victories in seven years, Jaguar was the most successful brand at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1950s. After the rules were changed in 1957, the successful Jaguar D-Type was no longer competitive. After that, the Jaguar team’s racing activities were mainly reserved for privately run racing teams.
When England try to conquer Le Mans again – Part One – Silk Cut Jaguar
In the early 1980s, the two most successful racing teams using Jaguars were Bob Tullius’ US based Group 44 and Tom Walkingshaw’s Britain based TWR in Europe. They had a lot of experience with the latest version of the V12 engine. They both thought this engine could be a very strong and successful competitor in the newly created Group C. However, they would definitely need factory support to defeat the almost overpowering Porsche 956 and 962.
Surprisingly, both received the full support of the Jaguar factory. Bob Tullius’ Group 44 would contest the American IMSA GTP Championship and Walkingshaw’s TWR the Group C World Endurance Championship.
Group 44 started with the Jaguar XJR 5 with a few good results, but the Jaguar factory didn’t think this team had a real chance of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so they opted for the TWR team with Tom Walkingshaw at the helm. Tony Southgate was the designer and soon developed the XJR 6 with huge ground effect tunnels and a carbon fibre monocoque. They also developed their own fuel injection system in co-operation with Zytek. The aim was to maximise the power and efficiency of the V12 engine to meet the stringent Group C fuel restrictions.
Three Jaguar XJR 6s were built, but they could only be used shortly before the end of the 1985 season. It quickly became clear that the cars were too heavy. Over the winter, three more race cars were built to contest the first full season of the World Endurance Championship in 1986. A first victory in the 1000 KM race at Silverstone was good for morale, but unfortunately none of the three Jaguar XJR 6s entered made it to the finish line at Le Mans.
The following winter, after 64 changes and modifications, the new XJR 8 was built. The biggest change was the increase in engine capacity to 7 litres. The XJR was a huge success, winning 8 out of 10 races and the manufacturers’ world championship by a large margin. However, success was again denied in Le Mans of all places. Three XJR 8 racing cars had been prepared for the infamous 24-hour race. The racing cars had been specially equipped with a so-called low drag body in order to have a significant speed advantage on the long straights and thus be able to outrun the other competitors. But the Jaguar racing cars were again beaten by the powerful Porsche 956 and 962, so that Porsche was victorious for the fifth time in a row. The Porsche works team was also supported by very strong private teams such as Joest and Brun, who entered their own 962s and were therefore an almost insurmountable force.
At the end of 1987, Jaguar also commissioned Tom Walkingshaw Racing to contest the American IMSA Championship after the Group 44 was no longer making any progress. The 24 Hours of Daytona became part of the 1988 programme, with the remaining XJR 6 and 8 receiving significant upgrades and forming a strong team with the new XJR 9. TWR Jaguar dominated the 1988 season as they had the previous one, winning the Manufacturers’ World Championship once again.
And then finally in 1988 Jaguar was also successful at Le Mans in the most difficult and toughest 24-hour race and, after many technical difficulties and uncertainties, won with Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries with a two-minute lead over the fastest Porsche. It was also the sixth success for a Jaguar racing car at Le Mans. Two more historic and prestigious victories were to follow in 1990. Jaguar won the 24 Hours of Daytona with the XJR 12 and again the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the seventh and to this day last overall victory of a Jaguar racing car on the Sarthe race track. Find out more about our photographer Ralph Lüker.
