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Registration Number: EU Registered Chassis Number: 50 Almost all the truly great classic cars share a single characteristic: they are racing cars which can be driven on the road - it‘s what connects a Mercedes-Benz 300SL to a Ford GT40, a Blower Bentley to a Ferrari GTO, and a Jaguar D-Type to an Alfa Monza. Over the past few years we have seen a good many so-called ‘supercars‘ appear on the scene. Most of them have been extremely impressive, with advanced technical specifications and beautiful bodywork, but they will never be great classics. They are like warriors in a time of peace, they may be in superb trim, and brilliant in exercises, but they will never know how good they really are. Being a road test team‘s favorite is not quite like winning Le Mans. From the plethora of exotic and highly desirable machinery which has emerged over the past few years, one car stands out, the Jaguar XJR-15. When Tom Walkinshaw Racing announced the car in 1990, it was as a racing car built for a new series called the Intercontinental Challenge. And so indeed it was, but it was also built to be road legal, with sensible ground clearance, bumpers, and traffic indicators. It was a car for both the race track and the road and since it has been designed as such from the beginning, it was equally competent in either environment. It also had pedigree, for it was a developed version of the Jaguar XJR-8. In 1988 the XJR-8 had a spectacular season taking wins at Jarama, Monza, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Fuji, and won the Group C World Team Championship for TWR and Jaguar, giving Martin Brundle the Drivers‘ Championship. More important than any of these, however, it took Jaguar once more to victory at Le Mans after a break of over thirty years. TWR took the XJR-8 and, without losing the essential integrity of either its carbonfibre and Kevlar monocoque, or its V12 engine, completely re-engineered the concept from stem to stern. It was not a redesign; it retained the broad mechanical specification of the Le Mans winner - its 525bhp normally aspirated six litre engine, for example, remained a stressed member which carried the rear suspension and six-speed gearbox - but it was rethought in terms of its new role. The greatest departure was the body, which was the work of Peter Stevens. He created a style which is aerodynamically efficient, distinctively Jaguar and, by common consent, the most beautiful of all the ‘supercars‘. Some of the current crop of supercars are actually at their best when parked outside a casino or an exclusive restaurant. By contrast the XJR-15 follows the XJR-14, the car that gave Jaguar and Teo Fabi the 1991 World Championships. It is part of Jaguar‘s competition series - unlike the XJ220, which is merely a six cylinder road car. In 1991 the XJR-15 demonstrated that it was worthy of the designation when it formed the basis of the most exclusive one-marque racing series in history. The XJR-15 is a Le Mans winner built for the road, yet equally at home on the track. You have to go back to the 1960s to meet its equivalents. ‘Just like a Ferrari 250LM,’ said one seasoned observer after watching the XJR-15 in action at Monaco, ‘the thing looks bloody good from any angle.’ This fine example is chassis number 50, the last of the 50 cars built, the first 30 cars being race cars and the last 20 being road versions. First registered in 2000, it has covered just 680 miles from new and is road legal with German registration papers. Finished in British Racing Green metallic with a black and grey leather interior, the car has had two owners from new and has never been raced. A rare chance for the Jaguar collector!
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