"The 1950s at Le Mans could be described as the 'Jaguar-Years' with the marque winning five times using the C-Type and D-Type. Jaguar wanted to relive their successes at the most grueling endurance in the 1980s. They teamed up with TWR, run by Tom Walkinshaw who raced with Jaguars since the 1970s.
Their first jointly developed Group C racer was the XJR-6 introduced late in 1985. It was powered by an enlarged and extensively modified version of Jaguar's road going V12 engine. This engine itself was a direct development of the engine used in Jaguar's last prototype racer of the 1960s, the XJ13. The XJR-6 proved fast but lacked the reliability to really threaten the German Porsches.
For the 1987 season TWR/Jaguar revised the XJR-6 and renamed it XJR-8. The biggest change was found in the engine bay, it now housed a 7 litre long stroke V12 engine. The XJR-8 also incorporated revised front and rear suspension.
The new package proved a winner straight out of box and it dominated the season's sprint races. The team scored eight victories and took the constructor's championship with almost twice as much points as its nearest competitor. Raul Boesel chlinched the driver's title.
Le Mans however was a different story, the XJR-8 LMs were fast but let down by many small mechanical problems. Only one of the three cars did manage to finish but many laps down from the winning Porsches.
The XJR-8 seen above is fitted with the very successful 'sprint' style bodywork."
- from ultimatecarpage.com
The XJR-8 has a 7.0 V-12 with 720 hp at 7,000 rpm and 605 lb-ft of torque at 5,250 rpm.
