<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Three cars were constructed in 1985, but they did not debut until the end of the season. One of the early problems was the XJR-6's high weight, which also meant the engine could not be run at full power to preserve fuel. Another three cars were built over the winter and prepared for the TWR's first full season in Group C. A victory in the Silverstone 1000 km race was a clear boost to the moral, although Le Mans still proved a bridge too far with all three cars failing to reach the finish. Over the next winter TWR continued their development program and made many (sixty-four to be precise) detail changes to create the XJR-8 (Group 44's latest IMSA GTP car used the XJR-7 moniker).
No doubt the single biggest change was the increase in displacement to 7 litre, boosting the power to 720 bhp. It proved to be the winning formula with the TWR Jaguar team winning eight of the ten races in the World Championship and obviously the championship. Three cars were prepared for Le Mans with special low drag bodies, but it was again not to be for the Jaguar team. The only surviving XJR-8 limped to finish after gearbox problems robbed it from a clear shot at the victory. Porsche won for the fifth year running and as always their strength was in numbers, with the factory team backed up by many privately entered 962s.
As the Group 44 effort faded at the end of 1987, Jaguar commissioned TWR to also campaign their latest XJR-9 in the IMSA GTP in 1988. Again there were only detail changes and one of both the XJR-6 and XJR-8 chassis were upgraded to join the new XJR-9s in the 1988 season. TWR Jaguar again dominated the Word Championship and now also added IMSA's Daytona 24 Hours to the team's tally. Taking a page from Porsche's book, five cars were fielded at Le Mans. This was made possible by IMSA GTP effort and two cars were ran by the team that spent the rest of the season in North America.
During the race, the five Jaguars gradually fought their way to the top until the first car retired with transmission problems eight hours in the race. Eleven hours later a head gasket on the second car failed. All was not lost as Jan Lammers led the race in one of the three surviving examples. Tragedy almost struck when the car suffered from the same transmission problems as the first retiree, but Lammers noticed it in time and left the car in fourth gear to complete the race two minutes ahead of the fastest Porsche. If he had only changed gears once, the transmission would have died and with it the dream of Jaguar's sixth Le Mans win. Lammers took the win together with Andy Wallace and John Dumfries.
After using the same basic chassis design for three years, TWR set about developing two brand new cars for 1989; the XJR-10 and XJR-11 for IMSA and Group C respectively. Both featured a Turbocharged V6 engine of 3 and 3.5 litre displacement. The XJR-10 car was moderately successful, but with one victory the XJR-11 was not a worthy replacement for the XJR-9. Especially in long races, the V6 engine proved fragile and in 1990 the old V12 engine was brought back out for Le Mans. This XJR-12 proved successful once more and scored Jaguar's seventh and final win at Le Mans. After the rules changed again, Jaguar withdrew from racing. TWR used one of the XJR-14 chassis propelled by a Porsche engine to win at Le Mans in 1996 and 1997. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Three cars were constructed in 1985, but they did not debut until the end of the season. One of the early problems was the XJR-6's high weight, which also meant the engine could not be run at full power to preserve fuel. Another three cars were built over the winter and prepared for the TWR's first full season in Group C. A victory in the Silverstone 1000 km race was a clear boost to the moral, although Le Mans still proved a bridge too far with all three cars failing to reach the finish. Over the next winter TWR continued their development program and made many (sixty-four to be precise) detail changes to create the XJR-8 (Group 44's latest IMSA GTP car used the XJR-7 moniker).