This is J12 Jaguar XJS V12. You may have seen one before. It may have rusted away in a lot of back repairs, or taking off on a side street on the other side of town. But this one is different, because one of the greatest stories in car racing could not have happened without it.
Each year, Jalopnik ‘s best members – well, just me this year – have brought you the best Group C and GT1 races since the 1980s and 1990s. We even did a Group B rally topic once. But for some reason we had never argued the most successful racing formula ever. This is an awkwardly titled title A-smas group, worthy of celebration.
At the wheel of this thing is Tom Walkinshaw from Tom Walkinshaw Racing, or TWR. You should not get into the story of this car without introducing it at the most sensible level. You have to see it torn around one of the largest race tracks in the world, faster than anything else in time. This is 1985 James Hardy 1000, better known as the Bathurst 1000 these days, runs up and down Mt. Panorama in Australia. It’s usually Fords and Holdens land, but in ’85, Tom Walkinshaw ran the show in this big, light Jag. With the appearance of his pole, it was not easy:
This was not the first major success for TWR and the XJS. The team was into it European Touring Car Competition in 1982 when the series turned to Group A homologation rules, and by the end of that year they were starting to reap benefits. Tom won the series outright in ’84, and by ’85 made history at Bathurst.
I will roll the clock back just a little to that first Group A TWR XJS. As a result of its four-speed transmission, it had three times the cylinders of the gears, and Tom Walkinshaw had to compete with 3,100 pounds of a 375 horsepower car around the major European routes, as identified by ToursCarRacing.net. By the time Tom won Bathurst, he had at least five paces.
I mean, luxury car stiff competition in an awful road course is in itself good. But there is more to this car. XJS by Tom Walkinshaw he was the first affiliated with Jaguar, and grew from that Group A enterprise car group into a full Group C prototype program. Just a few years later, TWR led Jaguar to full victory at 24 Hours With Mans, from XJS to XJR-9.
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That success had two interesting effects. The first is that he seems to have taken over Aston Martin’s chance at returning to glory at Le Mans, Orphans the promising prototype AMR-1. Ford was monitoring both Jaguar and Aston at the time, and only made budget room for one. You could say the Jaguar’success ruined any glory opportunity for Aston.
Plus, the TWR Jags they ended up getting out of the racing league in which they competed completely, and Jaguar was involved in sports car racing as well. When Group C died, TWR continued, turning the XJR-14 later to Mazda for a year as the MXR-01 before bringing it under its own wing. The XJR-14, the latest evolution of the Jaguar sports car program started by that A XJS group, had once become a TWR WSC-95. With a Porsche-six flat behind it the driver compared to that big, big Jaguar V12, the Le Mans car won two years in a row, in 1996 and 1997.
Can we achieve three victories at 24 Hours By Mans and destroy otherwisefull program nufacturer? I mean, if you look at the truth about it, that seems like too much. But when you see this car, hear it running, I think you and I know that there is nothing that could not do this thing.