This is a 1991 JaguarSport XJR-15 (chassis 33), which is believed to have served as a test-bed for a racing version of the XJR-15 LM cars. This car is also believed to have served as a back-up car for the racing series, and orignally started it's life as road car chassis 017, before having it's number plate switched to 033. Check out our progress of registering every XJR-15 chassis on @jaguarsportxjr15registry! The JaguarSport XJR-15 was developed by a British racing driver from Scotland by the name of Tom Walkinshaw, who also was the founder of the Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) team. Walkinshaw’s relationship with Jaguar truly ascended after his auspicious efforts racing a Jaguar XJ-S during the European Touring Car Championship in the year 1982. By the year 1988, the successful TWR-designed Jaguar XJR-9 was able to secure a victory in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. Jaguar customers and automotive enthusiasts of all kinds began to grow a general inquisitiveness for a road-going version of the effectual XJR-9. This unprecedented desire for a racing road car was becoming evident for both TWR and Jaguar, and in order to capitalize on this small, but profitable opportunity, in the late 1980’s, TWR and Jaguar Cars Limited created a new subsidiary company known as JaguarSport. Around the same time, Jaguar’s Director of Engineering, Jim Randle, was putting together a team of volunteers to begin the development of new supercar that would be manufactured by JaguarSport, the XJ220. Designed by South African automotive designer, Keith Helfet, the XJ220 made it’s debut in 1988. The XJ220 concept promised scissor doors and a Jaguar V12, however, by production, many of the promises were not kept. Seemingly, all of those lost promises were made with a new Peter Stevens designed, and TWR developed model. This project, then known as ‘R9-R’, is mechanically based on the chassis of the Le Mans winning XJR-9 race car, and would later become this known as the JaguarSport XJR-15.
How many made? 52 total including prototypes.
Engine: 6.0L Naturally aspirated dry sump V12 450 horsepower
Debut: 1991 at the Silverstone circuit in the United Kingdom, for a testing day
Top Speed: ~185mph
0-60: around 3.3 seconds
Photo Credit: Sergei Yakovlev
Research: @rarecarsonly