The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is a two-seater sports car produced by JaguarSport, a subsidiary of Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing between 1990 and 1992. Only 50 were planned (although 53 chassis were eventually made), each selling for £500,000.
The chassis was mechanically based on the Le Mans-winning XJR-9, designed by Tony Southgate. The body of the XJR-15 was designed by Peter Stevens, who went on to co-design the McLaren F1. The car competed in a single-make racing series called the Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge, which supported three Formula 1 races (Monaco, Silverstone and Spa) in 1991. The XJR-15 was the world's first road-car made entirely from carbon-fibre.
History
Tom Walkinshaw conceived the concept in 1988 after seeing the XJ220 concept at the British Motor Show. Following Jaguar's success at Le Mans, he enlisted Peter Stevens to develop a road-going version of the XJR-9, originally designated the R-9R. A number of wealthy racing enthusiasts were keen to own such a car and pressed Walkinshaw into manufacturing a 'road going racer'. This car was originally intended to be a better alternative to the XJ220. Original owners included Derek Warwick, Bob Wollek, Vern Schuppan, Matt Aitken, Andy Evans and the Sultan of Brunei.
In order to adapt the XJR-9 for road use, Stevens made a number of modifications to increase space and improve access. "Taking the race car as a base, we widened the cockpit by and raised the roof by to allow more headroom", he said when interviewed in 1991. "The scale model was ready by Easter 1989, from there we went to clay... which was finished by October (1989). The first prototype was held up by Le Mans preparations but it was ready for Tom (Walkinshaw) to drive when he came back from France in July 1990".
TWR explicitly developed the XJR-15 as a road-going racing car, in the mould of the Jaguar C and D types, the Ford GT40 and the Ferrari 250 GTO. As such, the car complied with British construction and use regulations and could be registered by the owner for road-use in the UK, although with such a limited production run, the car was never type-approved.
The car's production was announced in a press release on 15 November 1990 with an official launch at Silverstone early in 1991. The XJR-15 was built by JaguarSport in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, (a subsidiary of TWR; it was a joint venture between Jaguar Cars and TWR to produce high performance sports cars) England from 1990 to 1992 and had no official involvement from Jaguar itself.
Design and reception
The XJR-15 is powered by a , naturally aspirated 24-valve Jaguar V12 engine. The engine features an advanced electronically managed fuel injection system with a very advanced (for its time) 'fly by wire' throttle. The standard transmission is a TWR unsynchronised six-speed manual transmission while a five-speed, synchromesh transmission was also available as an optional extra.
The XJR-15's chassis and bodywork are composed of carbon fibre and Kevlar (it was the first road-going car built entirely of carbon and Kevlar composites, before the McLaren F1 used similar construction techniques in 1992). The overall proportions differed from the XJR-9, with the XJR-15 being 480 cm long, 190 cm wide and 110 cm tall. The final weight amounted to be .
A fully independent suspension was used, with non-adjustable Bilstein shock absorbers all round. Front suspension consists of wide-based wishbones and working push-rods to spring damper units mounted horizontally across the centre of the car. The car retains the rear suspension unit from the XJR-9 with vertical coil-springs mounted in units with uprights within the rear wheels, allowing for the maximum possible venturi tunnels. The engine forms a stressed member for the rear-frame. The bottom of the car is completely flat, in line with Group C practice.
The brakes are steel disc units with AP four-piston callipers.
The XJR-15 has a 0–60 mph time of 3.9 seconds and a (gearing limited) top speed of .