​Jaguar XJR8/9-287

Brought Raul Boesel the 1987 world drivers championship and Silk Cut Jaguar a dominant team championship win

The XJR-8 followed on from the XJR6 used in the 1985/86 seasons, named the XJR-8 because the XJR-7 name was already being used for the Jaguar IMSA GTP car by Group 44. 

Following extensive development over the winter, the XJR-8 was packed with upgrades to maximise performance and combat previous reliability issues. The most notable change was a larger 7-litre engine, which pushed power to 720bhp. It also saw slight adaptions to the bodywork as well as a revised Silk Cut livery, perhaps the most iconic iteration.

It seemed that Jaguar had finally found the right balance with the XJR platform, Silk Cut Jaguar won the world championship with the XJR8 winning 8 out of the 10 races. This car was the most dominant, taking 4 wins, a 2nd place, a 3rd place and two 4th places. The home fans must have further boosted the car as it took wins at both Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

Although XJR8-287 was hugely successful in 1987, it did not compete at the mighty Le Mans 24 hours. This was arguably the most important race of the season for the Silk Cut team as they had their sights set on the first Jaguar Lemans win since 1957.

For the 1988 season, #385 was upgraded to the new XJR9 LM spec in order to make its Lemans debut. Unfortunately the car was forced to retire due to a gearbox issue. However the number 2 car of Lammers, Dumfries and Wallace battled the Porsches until the end and brought home the long awaited Jaguar Lemans win.

Returning to Le Mans for a final time in 1989, the car had reliability on its side. It was running as high as second place behind the 962 of Hans Stuck but the pace dropped off towards the end of the race and an 8th place finish was all that could be managed.

Following the success of the turbo Sauber C9 at Le Mans Jaguar launched their 3.5l turbo XJR-11 however performance of the new turbo cars was disappointing. This led to the older naturally aspirated cars to be substituted back in later in the season. The last race for this car was the 6 hours of Mexico in which it finished a respectable 5th place after qualifying in 10th. Not bad going for a car that was now 3 seasons old!

The Mexico race was the end of period racing for #287 however we’re still keeping it busy. In more recent times it has raced in the slightly soggy Group C support race for the 2010 Le Mans 24 hours, multiple appearances at Goodwood Festival of Speed, and most recently the Group C celebration at Silverstone Classic.