The first Jaguar to shake things up in Le Mans was the XJR5 entered by Bob Tilius and his team, Group 44 Racing, in 1984. Then Jaguar turned to one man, Tom Walkinshaw, who now symbolizes the marque's return to endurance. At the time, he had a very close relationship with Jaguar and had even won the 24 Hours of Spa in 1984, winning the European Championship driver title with a Jaguar XJS the same year.

At mid-season 1985, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) - commissioned to design and prepare a Group C - raced a Jaguar (XJR 6) in the World Championship for the first time. Results poured in quickly as the Walkinshaw/Jaguar association worked so well that in 1987 the marque clinched its first two world champion titles: the driver title for Raul Boesel (XJR 7) and the team title. This was followed up with two other driver/team one-twos in 1988 (Martin Brundle, Jaguar XJR9) and in 1991 (Teo Fabi, XJR-14).

As for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the great race failed to succumb to Jaguar's assaults for a long time before finally giving in in 1988 with the win for Wallace-Dumfries-Lammers. That edition was particularly memorable because of a fierce battle between the official Jaguar XJR 9s and Porsche 962 Cs. Two years later, Jaguar won again with Brundle-Nielsen-Cobb in a XJR-12. Also in 1990, Jaguar won the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the same driver line-up. 

This video retraces Jaguar's endurance adventure of the '80s and '90s. Check out the race archives of the Sport Prototypes World Championship (1986-1990), Sports Car World Championship (1991) as well as footage of two wins at Le Mans. After the prototype period, the film ends with the 1993 Jaguar XJ220 which marked the marque's return to the GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A final touch before moving on to Formula 1 without great success. 

David Bristol / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Video: You Tube – Jaguar Heritage