This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mulsannescorner (talk | contribs) at 03:07, 6 November 2006 (Certainly more can be added, IMSA history, more technical details, etc. Much of this will come out (at least the IMSA side) in my IMSA GTP book.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 03:07, 6 November 2006 by Mulsannescorner (talk | contribs) (Certainly more can be added, IMSA history, more technical details, etc. Much of this will come out (at least the IMSA side) in my IMSA GTP book.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Jaguar XJR-14 is a Sports-prototype racing car introduced for sportscar racing in 1991.
Designed by Ross Brawn during his spell as TWR's Technical Director, the XJR-14 was unveiled in 1991 and made its race debut in the opening race of the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season. The XJR-14 was one of the first Group C prototype to truly take advantage of a clean sheet of paper approach under the 3.5 liter regulations. Ross Brawn applied F1 thinking in designing the car, but in more ways that simply design application. He brought F1 design methodology. In the past, TWR Jaguars had been designed under the direction of Tony Southgate. Brawn brought with him the concept of the design staff. That instead of it being basically one man (Tony Southgate era), Brawn assembled a cast of 10+ which in itself was revolutionary in sportscar racing at the time. The XJR-14 is always thought of as being a dominant race car but indeed it had its failures in straight up competition. The XJR-14's advantage was being on time and more sorted at the intial events than its comeptition. By the end of the '91 season Peugeot had caught up from a performance standpoint and arguably gained a lead. In 1992, while the XJR-14 had retired with Jaguar's pullout from Group C, it did race in the form of the Mazda MXR-01 and was essentially outclassed by the continually updated Peugeot and Toyota TS010.
Three XJR-14 chassis were built, chassis #591, 691, and 791. Naturally each has a Group C history, but each chassis subsequently also had a IMSA GTP history as in 1992 TWR brought the cars to the U.S. to race in the IMSA series. Chassis 591 and 791 were heavily damaged in accidents in 1992. Both were essentially written off and turned into show cars. Though with TWR's demise, these two cars were rebuilt prior to receivership and sold to private collectors. Chassis 591 resides in the United States being owned by a U.S. collector. It is unclear who currently owns chassis 791. Chassis 691 was converted into a TWR-Porsche WSC and raced (and won) at Le Mans in 1996 and 1997. TWR manufacturerd an additional XJR-14 monocoque for the TWR-Porsche project though this chassis took on a Porsche serial number from the start. Chassis 691 resides in the Joest museum in its final double Le Mans winning form of TWR-Porshe WSC.
The Mazda MXR-01 has direct lineage to the XJR-14 and has been described as a "productionized" XJR-14, being built to a budget. It is believed that four or five chassis were manufactured.
Categories: