Winner of the 1990 Silverstone FIA World Sportscar race with Martin Brundle and Alain Ferte
Double podium finisher in the 1990 FIA World Sportscar Championship at Monza and Donington
Fully restored by marque specialists
The most successful Jaguar XJR-11, designed by Tony Southgate and Ross Brawn
The final of only three Jaguar XJR-11 chassis built
This
Jaguar XJR-11
The Jaguar
XJR-11 was developed for the 1989 FIA World Sportscar Prototype Championship, competing
with Group C regulations, with events around the world at circuits including
Monza, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Dijon, Nurburgring, Montreal and Mexico.
Group C
regulations created one of the greatest eras of sportscar racing, with major
manufacturers racing around the world to claim the fastest car. This era of
regulation saw huge technical diversity, with engines racing from a
twin-turbocharged V8 engine by Mercedes, naturally aspirated V12 by Jaguar or a
twin-turbocharged flat-six cylinder engine by Porsche. As a result of these
Group C regulations, the World Sportscar Prototype was almost as popular as
Formula One, with speeds exceeding 400 kilometres per hour!
At round
three of the 1989 World Sportscar Prototype Championship, Jaguar unveiled to
the press the XJR-11, but it would not compete until the following race at
Brands Hatch in England. This new car was designed by Tony Southgate with the
help of Ross Brawn. The chassis was a compacter evolution of the highly
successful Jaguar XJR-6/8/9 carbon fibre monocoque. Over the last few seasons
of sportscar racing, Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing had seen that their
large, production based V12 engines were becoming increasingly uncompetitive,
with competition coming in the form of lighter and more compact high-performance
engines.
This Jaguar
XJR-11 offered here, chassis 490, is the third of only three examples built by
Tom Walkinshaw Racing for Jaguar. This car made its competition debut at the
1990 Monza 480km event on 29th April, being driven by Le Mans
overall winner, Martin Brundle and F3 Champion Alain Ferte. The pair qualified
an impressive 4th overall, and stood on the podium the following
day, finishing 3rd overall in the race.
Round three
of the 1990 World Sportscar Prototype Championship was at Silverstone, England,
where 490 was once again driven by Brundle and Ferte, wearing race number 3. The
Jaguars were always going to be strong on home soil, and 490 lined up second on
the grid, ahead of the sister XJR-11 in third. The race started with 490, the
leading Jaguar battling intensely with the Mercedes of Schlesser and Baldi for
the overall race lead. When the chequered flag fell, it was this Jaguar XJR-11,
chassis 490, which won the race with Martin Brundle behind the wheel, leading
the sister XJR-11. This was to be the only victory for a Jaguar XJR-11 in the
World Sportscar Prototype Championship.
This car,
chassis 490 continued to compete with the works Silk Cut Jaguar Team, racing at
Spa-Francorchamps, Dijon, Nurburgring, Donington Park and Montreal before
claiming Pole Position at the season-ending race at Mexico City where it was
driven by Brundle and Jan Lammers.
At the end
of the 1989 World Sportscar Prototype Championship, the Silk Cut Jaguar team
finished fourth, bettered only by Team Sauber Mercedes and the Porsche 962’s of
Joest Racing and Respol Brun Motorsport. Silk Cut Jaguar beat the works Nissan
Motorsport International team, Aston Martin and Porsche Kremer Racing, an
impressive showing.
For 1991, this XJR-11 raced in the All Japan
Sportscar-Prototype Championship, being driven by Le Mans overall winner John
Neilsen, and Le Mans class-winners Jeff Krosnoff and Mauro Martini. This car
entered five rounds of the Championship, three races at Fuji International
Raceway, one race at Suzuka, and one at Sugo. In a deal between Tom Walkinshaw
Racing and the Japanese Subtec Team, chassis 490 was supplied to race, with
chassis 590 delivered as a spare car. The car was finished in a striking green
and white livery, with red and yellow accents, wearing only Jaguar, Castrol,
Dunlop, Bosch and TWR decals.
Once its
competition duties were over, this XJR-11 returned to TWR for a complete
restoration before being prominently displayed in the TWR Museum. Later the car
was acquired by Paul Spires, Team Director and Owner of AM Racing, and later
President of Aston Martin Works Limited. During his ownership, 490 was raced by
ex-TWR Racing, double Spa-24 Hours winner and three-time British Touring Car
Champion, Win Percy in the inaugural Historic Group C Championship. The
combination of Percy and this twin-turbocharged Jaguar dominated, taking four
wins, five pole positions and five fastest laps in five events!
Later the
car was prepared and restored by Jaguar specialists, JD Classics, before being
bought by its current owner at the Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction in
September 2018. This discerning collector then embarked upon a thorough rebuild
by leading Group C and prototype specialists, Moto Historics. These works,
started in late 2018 included a thorough and complete engine rebuild, with the
car now being offered ready to return to the track, perhaps at Silverstone
where it claimed victory in 1990.
Group C is without doubt one of World Sportscar Racing’s high marks, with many of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, including Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota and Aston Martin battling it out be the fastest. This Jaguar offers an incredibly rare opportunity to obtain a race-winning Group C car, built by one of the most successful and famous race teams, in race-ready condition, fresh from a complete and exacting restoration.
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