Certain racing cars, especially older ones, are inextricably linked with individual liveries. Rally Lancias are almost always seen in Martini, same with Rothmans Porsches. And a T16 Peugeot just looks best in a Pioneer livery.
So seeing a Jaguar XJR-9 in anything other than the Le Mans Silk Cut colours is rather bizarre. This Castrol car (another great colour scheme though, don't you think?) won the Daytona 24 Hours in 1990 and is being sold by RM Auctions next March in its Amelia Island sale.
Chassis #388 was built in 1988 and was upgraded to XJR-12 spec by the time of the 1990 victory. It had also racked up 12 podiums during the 1988 and 1989 IMSA championships.
This video features RM's Max Girado (as seen in the 250 TdF vid) and Martin Brundle. Even while talking about the Jag in a fairly subdued fashion, the latter makes the XJR-9 sound like a hugely intimidating race car; up to 240mph down the Mulsanne, blipping every single downchange, monitoring the dials and all the time managing that huge V12 lump behind.
And there are some lovely details too. That gorgeous Momo wheel, the big chunky switches and the impossibly delicate driver's door. Walkaround videos aren't usually the most engaging but we'll make an exception for this. It's terrific.
[Image: Tim Scott for RM Auctions]