Vehicle Description
1984 Jaguar TWR XJ-S Chassis number five
This important XJ-S is one of the Group A TWR works cars that raced
in the 1984 season and the last TWR XJ-S to race in period.
The XJ-S entered top-flight competition at a relatively late stage
in its development. Despite the promptings of Ralph Broad, and some
early successes in the US by Bob Tullius in his Group 44 car,
Jaguar remained unmoved throughout most of the 1970s. In fact it
wasn't until 1982 that an XJ-S competed in an International
European Championship, thanks largely to the efforts of Tom
Walkinshaw. Walkinshaw had entered two private cars into a revised
European Touring Car (ETC) Championship run to Group A regulations,
which specified that eligible cars had four seats and a production
run of 5000 units in a 12 month period; the XJ-S met these criteria
but only just.
However sceptical Jaguar might have been before the 1982 season,
the five victories achieved by the privately entered TWR cars were
enough to convince the new Jaguar management team, under John Egan,
that a works backed effort might have a real chance and so the TWR
team was officially adopted by Jaguar for 1983. The new TWR-Jaguar
team pushed hard throughout the season and managed an impressive
five victories out of twelve starts but narrowly missed out on the
Championship with BMW taking the honours. Undeterred TWR-Jaguar
entered three cars for the 1984 season, sporting the new dark green
with white livery. The season did not start well but picked up with
five victories in a row including the highly important Spa 24-hour
race, which demonstrated not only the speed but also the
reliability of the 5.3 Litre V12 engines. These performances were
enough to secure the Championship, an achievement not matched by
Jaguar since 1963 when Peter Nocker had won the inaugural ETC
Championship in a 3.8 Mark 2 Jaguar.
The example offered here is a very special XJ-S being one of the
TWR-Jaguar works cars that contended the 1984 season, driven by Win
Percy and Chuck Nicholson. Furthermore chassis number five is the
newest of all the works cars having been finished in mid-September
to replace the car written off by Chuck Nicholson at the
Silverstone Tourist Trophy on September 9th. Its first appearance
was the 3.5 hour race at Zolder held on 23rd September, only days
after the car's completion. It was during this race that
Walkinshaw, driving a sister car, secured the Championship with his
3rd place. The car's next appearance was the last event on the ETC
calendar held at Mugello on October 25th. For this race Martin
Brundle took the place of Nicholson.
In 1985 the XJS was shipped to Australia as part of a three car TWR
team to race at the famous Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst.
Driven by Jeff Allam and Ron Dickson it was lying in second when
damage to the inlet system, apparently caused by broken headlamp
glass, deprived it of a podium finish. 1986 saw the car at Fuji for
the All Japan Touring Car Championship. Here it was driven as usual
by Win Percy but he was joined by none-other-than Tom Walkinshaw
himself. Percy and Walkinshaw were also paired in chassis number
five for the first round of the New Zealand Group A Saloon
Championship, which was held at Wellington in January of 1987.
Round 2 was at Pukekohe on February 1st and, in what was to be the
last race for the TWR XJ-S cars, Percy and Armin Hahn took the car
to 2nd place.
With the end of its period competition career the car was put into
dry storage before being restored by TWR to race ready condition in
1989 before forming part of major Jaguar collection. It received a
subsequent refresh by Gary Pearson of Pearson Engineering in 2004
and then re-entered competition in 2011 when it took 1st place in
the JD Classics Challenge at the Algarve Historic Festival, driven
by Gary Pearson and Alex Buncombe. In 2012 the car ran up the hill
at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and raced at Donington, Brands
Hatch, and Oulton Park, taking a 1st and 2nd in these races. For
2013 the car was again in action taking a 2nd at Donington in May,
a 1st at Brands Hatch that same month and a hugely creditable 3rd
in class at Spa in September. Following another appearance at the
Algarve in October and a return to Donington in the May of 2014,
the XJS then received another sensitive restoration by JD Classics
in 2015/16 when it was brought up to current FIA race specification
and the engine was given a complete overhaul which included
redesigned camshafts, pistons, �connecting rods and custom
manufactured valves. A new fuel cell and Electronic Management
System were also fitted to enable participation in the High Speed
Demonstration for Group A Touring Cars at the 75th Goodwood Members
Meeting in March 2017.
Now offered in full race ready condition and accompanied by a
substantial history file it offers an incredibly rare opportunity
to acquire the last TWR-Jaguar works XJ-S built and the last to be
campaigned in period.
Please contact us for further details.
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