Jaguar XJR-9, chassis #388. Photos by Tim Scott/Fluid Images, courtesy RM Auctions.
As the 1980s came to a close, Porsche, Nissan and Jaguar were locked in a three-way battle for dominance in sportscar endurance racing. In 1988, Jaguar unleashed its latest four-wheel weapon to challenge for the title, and the XJR-9 went on to prove itself a versatile competitor in both IMSA and World Sportscar Championship competition. Next March, in the year that marks the 25th anniversary of its win at the 24 Hours of Daytona, XJR-9 chassis #388 will cross the block at RM’s Amelia Island sale.
As the 1988 season dawned, Tom Walkinshaw Racing prepared threeXJR-9s to run in the North American IMSA Camel GTP series. Chassis #188 was built from a 1986 XJR-8, and would be used primarily for testing and as a backup car. Chassis #288 and #388 were built from the ground up as XJR-9s, but all three cars used the same 7.0-liter, 690-horsepower Jaguar V-12 drivetrain. At Le Mans, in the lower-drag XJR-9 LM bodywork, the cars were capable of speeds approaching 240 MPH; at Daytona, with its shorter straights and bumpier surface, the higher-downforce XJR-9s were still hitting 200 MPH, “day or night, dry or wet,” in the words of Martin Brundle.
In the XJR-9′s North American debut at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona, chassis #288 took the win, while #188 finished third and #388 retired after 512 laps with an engine failure. It would prove to be one of just two DNFs for #388 during the 1988 season; although the car failed to deliver a victory in 1988, #388 never qualified or finished out of seventh position during the nine races it completed. Of these nine, four events ended in podium finishes, an impressive performance for a racing car in its first year of competition. At San Antonio, in round 12, a collision would bring a premature end to #388s season, and #188 stepped in to compete while #388 was returned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) for repair.
During the 1989 season, the XJR-9s were joined by the XJR-10, which lacked the earlier car’s skirted fenders and substituted a turbocharged V-6 for the former car’s normally aspirated V-12. Jaguar was hedging its bets, believing that the older cars would prove more durable than the newer and faster turbos, and XJR-9 #388 delivered another consistent season. This time, the car contested 12 races, scoring podium finishes in eight and DNFs in just two events. As in 1988, however, #388′s season would end in San Antonio, where an accident during the race prompted another return to TWR.
The XJR-9 was now end of life, so TWR rebuilt chassis #388 as an XJR-12D, complete with a normally aspirated 7.0-liter V-12 now rated at 730 horsepower. As with previous seasons, the car’s North American debut occurred at Daytona, and in 1990 it was chassis #388′s time to shine. With drivers Davy Jones, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace behind the wheel, the car delivered victory, with chassis 288 (also upgraded to XJR-12D specifications) finishing four laps down, but still in second place. Six weeks later, chassis #388 would deliver a podium finish at Sebring, all the more impressive considering the car’s 11th place grid position at the start of the race.
With that, #388′s career effectively came to an end, as the faster turbocharged cars proved to be durable enough for the sprint races that made up the remainder of the season’s events. Chassis #388 did return to the track in January of 1991, but only for testing at Daytona. Despite its dated chassis and powertrain, #388 finished sixth in testing and proved to be the second fastest non-turbocharged car in the field, a fitting end to its racing legacy.
RM describes chassis #388 as “the only remaining example of just two XJR-9 chassis ever manufactured as purpose-built IMSA specification cars,” and there’s no denying that the car played a key role in Jaguar’s third place finish in the 1988 IMSA season and second place finish in the 1989 IMSA season. The auction firm isn’t giving a precise pre-auction estimate for the car, but it does expect #388 to sell for “more than $3 million” when it crosses the stage in Amelia Island next March.
The Amelia Island sale takes place on March 14, 2015. For additional details, visit RMAuctions.com.
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