The Jaguar XJR sportscars were a series of

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

s used by

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

-backed teams in both the

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 No ...

(WSC)

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

and the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

Camel GTP series between 1984 and 1993.

History

Starting in 1983, the project was started by an American team Group 44 Racing, headed up by owner-driver

Bob Tullius Robert Charles "Bob" Tullius was born 7 December 1930 in Rochester, New York. He is best known as a race car driver and racing team owner. Early years Tullius considered a career in teaching after graduating from high school. He served a term in ...

, who had the backing of Jaguar to build the Fabcar designed racer known as XJR-5 in their Herndon, Virginia, US, shop and to campaign it in the IMSA Camel GTP championship. After becoming established in IMSA, Jaguar turned to

Tom Walkinshaw Racing Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw. The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring ca ...

(TWR) to develop another car known as XJR-6 for the

, using the same

Jaguar V12 engine The Jaguar V12 engine is a V12 internal combustion engine produced by Jaguar Cars. The engine was based on a prototype design by Claude Baily for an intended Le Mans car—the Jaguar XJ13. The XJ13 project was terminated in 1966 before the car wa ...

, and debuting halfway into the 1985 season. Jaguar would continue to use two different types of chassis for IMSA and the 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 The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona. Development An evolution of the design for the XJR-8, the XJR-9 was designed by Tony So ...

. After having used the V12 in a variety of sizes, TWR decided to try a new turbocharged 3.5L V6 for the XJR-10 (for IMSA) and the XJR-11 (for the WSC) in the 1989 season. However, the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

announced rule changes to come into effect for the WSC that would require all teams to change to 3.5L naturally aspirated engines. TWR decided that continuing to develop their V6 in the WSC was useless, so the new XJR-12 for the WSC in 1990 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 is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

for the XJR-14. After having won multiple championships in the 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 for the GT classes, but it was short-lived. One unique XJR model was the 1990 XJR-15, 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 (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Jaguar XJRs

The following cars were built for Jaguar's sportscar racing.

IMSA GTP

* XJR-5 * XJR-7 *

* XJR-10 * XJR-12 * XJR-14 * XJR-16 * XJR-17

WSC Group C

* XJR-6 * XJR-8 *

* XJR-11 * XJR-12 * XJR-14

Other

* XJR-15

Achievements

- Teams' champion -

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

- Overall victories -

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At 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 the Sports Car Course layou ...

- Overall victories - 1988, 1990

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaguar Xjr Sportscars XJR Group C cars IMSA GTP cars Jaguar in motorsport