Friday 15th June 2018

Jaguar XJR-9: Pic of the Week

Thirty years on from that famous Le Mans victory, the V12 Jag takes pride of place as Pic of the Week

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Three decades ago this weekend (alright, actually the 11th and 12th June 1988, but it's close enough), the Jaguar XJR-9 took a momentous first place at Le Mans. Not only did it end seven years of Porsche dominance at La Sarthe, it was also Jaguar's first Le Mans triumph in more than 30 years, since the last D-Type victory of 1957.

It wasn't easy, either, with the Porsche 962 of Hans Stuck, Klaus Ludwig and Derek Bell - not a bad trio of drivers, it must be said - finishing on the same 394 laps as the 7.0-litre Jag. However, despite gearbox problems and eight Porsches also in the top 10, the XJR9 of Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries was first across the line.

Given we're now 30 years from that success (and nearly 30 years from Jaguar's last win at Le Mans, with the XJR-12 in 1990), there seemed no better time to remind ourselves what a wild racing car the XJR-9 is. In a world where the most dramatic Jaguar road car was an XJS it must have looked completely absurd; even in the 21st century, with all the incredible racing cars we see in motorsport, nothing quite gets people going like the Silk Cut XJR9. The livery, the covered wheels, the kerb scraping stance and the deranged V12 shriek means the XJR9 is as revered 30 years later as it's ever been, and will hopefully continue to be as 40, 50 and 60 years pass since its win. What a car.

Now all you have to do is choose your desktop resolution below to spruce up your screensaver with some Silk Cut. And see you at Le Mans!

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[Lordbenny]

Legendary car but I personally have never liked covered rear wheels, they always look odd IMO.

[unpc]

Lordbenny said:

Legendary car but I personally have never liked covered rear wheels, they always look odd IMO.

Yep without the spats and a high wing in short circuit config this looked the nuts. Always looked a bit awkward in low drag mode.


I used to go every year when these were their heyday but after the demise of Group C it lost it's appeal IMO.

[Vocal Minority]

Fairly amazing story around the win and Jan Lammers completing most of the last hour in 4th (the gearbox was so near death he feared another change would kill it), and the team mate cars holding station behind, as plan B was (allegedly) to push it round the last lap if it failed....

[moffspeed]

Happy memories for me also, I was there to watch the Jaguar win.

Amazing that 30 years on the design is timeless - if you could stick modern livery on this car and sit it on the grid for tomorrow's LM24 I doubt whether the casual observer would realise it was from a different generation.

On the other hand wind the clock back 30 years prior to 1988 and I suspect you would discern the difference between this Jag and its D type predecessor....

[VladD]

I think my old boss bought one of these after he sold his company for lots of money. I think he bought a couple of XJ220s too and a D-Type. He took me for a spin in the D-Type.

Edited by VladD on Friday 15th June 11:53

[Turbobanana]

Great car, but for me it needs to be a dynamic shot of it racing rather than in a studio.

Point of interest: Jan Lammers is still racing, although I believe this is his last Le Mans. Legend.

[Ved]

My favourite car of all time. Was amazing to stand next to it at a Sunday Service when they turned it over and I even picked up a sign book from Andy Wallace too.

Just listen to that thing! https://youtu.be/IST-Wezl5Zk