Jaguar XJR Sportscars
Encyclopedia
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
-backed teams in both the World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
(WSC) Group C
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
and the IMSA
International Motor Sports Association
The International Motor Sports Association is an American sports car auto racing sanctioning body based in Braselton, Georgia. It was started by John Bishop, a former employee of SCCA , and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France, Sr...
Camel GTP
IMSA GT Championship
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada.-History:...
series between 1984 and 1993.
History
Starting in 1983, the project was started by American team Group 44 Racing who had the backing of Jaguar to supply V12 engines for the Fabcar-built racer known as XJR-5 and participated in the IMSA Camel GTP championship. After becoming established in IMSA, Jaguar turned to Tom Walkinshaw RacingTom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing , was an auto racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976 by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.-History:TWR started by modifying BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head Mazda's works program in the British Touring Car Championship. The TWR developed RX-7, with Win...
(TWR) to develop another car known as XJR-6 for the World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
, using the same Jaguar V12, and debuting halfway into the 1985 season
1985 World Sportscar Championship season
The 1985 World Sportscar Championship season was the 33rd season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1985 World Endurance Championship which was contested over a series of races for Group C1 and Group C2 Prototypes, Group B GT Cars and IMSA GTP cars...
.
Jaguar would continue to use two different types of chassis for IMSA and WSC until 1988 when Jaguar chose to have TWR take over their team for both championships, and building an identical car for both series, known as the XJR-9
Jaguar XJR-9
The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP, debuting in at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona....
.
After having used the V12 in varying sizes, TWR decided to try a new turbocharged 3.5L V6 for the XJR-10 (for IMSA) and XJR-11
Jaguar XJR-11
The Jaguar XJR-11 was a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1989 World Sportscar Championship season - its sister car the XJR-10 running in IMSA....
(for WSC) in the 1989 season. However, the FIA announced rule changes to come into effect for the World Sportscar Championship that would require all teams to change to 3.5L naturally aspirated engines. TWR decided that continuing to develop their V6 in WSC was useless, so the new XJR-12
Jaguar XJR-12
The Jaguar XJR-12 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP. The car is famous for winning the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans....
for WSC in 1991 was better suited to carry the old but reliable V12. The XJR-12 was short lived as in 1991, Jaguar decided to debut their new 3.5L naturally aspirated V8 engine by Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
for the XJR-14
Jaguar XJR-14
The Jaguar XJR-14 was a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season.-Introduction:The 1991 season marked the introduction of the FIA’s new, and controversial, 3.5 Litre Formula which replaced the highly successful Group C category that had been used in...
.
After having won multiple championships in WSC, and instability due to multiple rule changes, Jaguar decided to drop out following the 1991 season and concentrate on IMSA. However, after attempting the first few races of the 1993 season, Jaguar decided to end the project altogether, marking the end of the XJR sportscars. Jaguar and TWR attempted to continue racing on with a cheaper and smaller scale project, a racing version of the XJ220
Jaguar XJ220
The Jaguar XJ220 is a mid-engined supercar produced by Jaguar in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing as Jaguar Sport between 1992 and 1994. It held the record for the highest top speed of a production car , until the arrival of the McLaren F1 in 1994...
for the GT classes, but it was short lived.
One unique XJR model was the 1990 XJR-15
Jaguar XJR-15
The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is a RMR layout sports car produced by British automaker Jaguar between 1990 and 1992. Only 50 were made, each selling for US$960,165...
, which was a limited edition road legal supercar built by TWR from the design of the XJR-9 and featuring Jaguar's V12. Several XJR-15s were also built into racing cars for a special one-make series meant as a support race for Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
.
Jaguar XJRs
IMSA GTP
- XJR-5
- XJR-7
- XJR-9Jaguar XJR-9The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP, debuting in at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona....
- XJR-10
- XJR-12Jaguar XJR-12The Jaguar XJR-12 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP. The car is famous for winning the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans....
- XJR-14Jaguar XJR-14The Jaguar XJR-14 was a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season.-Introduction:The 1991 season marked the introduction of the FIA’s new, and controversial, 3.5 Litre Formula which replaced the highly successful Group C category that had been used in...
- XJR-16
WSC Group C
- XJR-6
- XJR-8
- XJR-9Jaguar XJR-9The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP, debuting in at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona....
- XJR-11Jaguar XJR-11The Jaguar XJR-11 was a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1989 World Sportscar Championship season - its sister car the XJR-10 running in IMSA....
- XJR-12Jaguar XJR-12The Jaguar XJR-12 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP. The car is famous for winning the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans....
- XJR-14Jaguar XJR-14The Jaguar XJR-14 was a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season.-Introduction:The 1991 season marked the introduction of the FIA’s new, and controversial, 3.5 Litre Formula which replaced the highly successful Group C category that had been used in...
- XJR-17
Achievements
- World Sportscar ChampionshipWorld Sportscar ChampionshipThe World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
- Teams Champion - 19871987 World Sportscar Championship seasonThe 1987 World Sportscar Championship season was the 35th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the World Sports-Prototype Championship which was a series which ran from March 22, 1987 to September 27, 1987 and was composed of ten races. The series was open to cars running...
, 19881988 World Sportscar Championship seasonThe 1988 World Sports-Prototype Championship season was the 36th FIA World Sportscar Championship season. It was a series running under the Group C formula, running cars in two classes known as C1 and C2. An invitational GTP class was also run for IMSA-spec cars...
, 19911991 World Sportscar Championship seasonThe 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship season was the 39th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship, which was contested over an eight race series from 14 April to 28 October 28 1991... - 24 Hours of Le Mans24 Hours of Le MansThe 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
- Overall victories - 19881988 24 Hours of Le MansThe 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 56th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 11 and 12 1988. It was also the fifth round of the World Sports-Prototype Championship season.-Race:...
, 19901990 24 Hours of Le MansThe 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 58th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 16 and 17 1990.-Pre-race:This was the first race after the installation of two chicanes along the Mulsanne Straight in an attempt to slow the prototypes down after speeds of were reached in previous... - 24 Hours of Daytona24 Hours of DaytonaThe 24 Hours of Daytona, currently known as the Rolex 24 Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on a combined road course, utilizing portions of the NASCAR tri-oval and an infield...
- Overall victories - 1988, 1990