This was Jaguar’s return to Le Mans after twenty years.  Group 44 was doing well in the US with its IMSA GTP XJR5s, so was chosen to field a two-car factory team.  Their 6-liter V12 normally aspirated engines hit 222 mph on the Mulsanne straight.  It was a sweet car in every respect, however, was not in the same class as the lighter Group C cars.  Nevertheless, the beautiful Jags proved enormously popular with the crowd and persuaded a new generation of Jaguar execs of the value of racing at Le Mans.

The car was designed by Lee Dykstra and constructed at Dave Klym’s Fabcar Engineering workshop.

After a pit stop & fresh tires, I took my turn in the car.  I had fresh tires, so proceeded to warm them up and break them in.  As I entered the fast right-hand turn before the Mulsanne straight, the car suddenly started to understeer badly and crashed into the barrier.

The vehicle was damaged on left front which damaged the oil line to the engine.  I tried to call the pits on the radio, however I could not make contact, so I proceeded around the course idling in low gear.  I finally got to the pits and the crew determined the car was repairable.  However, the engine oil lines & cooler were damaged.  Even though the car was driven slowly around the course, the oil level was low, in fact nearly depleted.  No apparent damage to the engine, nor was there any loss of oil pressure.  The one thing Jaguar officials did not want was a V-12 engine failure, so they retired the car.

Goodyear examined the tire and determined its failure caused the incident.  The tire deflating causing the car to understeer into the barrier.  This information was shared with the Jaguar VIPs and pit crew.

The other car eventually went out with a gearbox failure in the 21st hour.  It seems no effort was made to filter Hewland gearbox debris, so shifting became impossible, and they popped out of gear.  Dog ring and bearing wear, etc.  I’m sure my car would have suffered the same fate later on.  Running short GTP races had not shown any problems, but unfiltered Hewland gearboxes weren’t durable enough for the 24-hour event.  Jag VIPs were OK with that kind of a failure, at least it was not their engine.  The Group C Lancia’s had the same trouble.  Porsche on the other hand learned from their long distance past and were the winners.  Perhaps a little harshly, Group 44 was cast aside as Jaguar’s works team after Le Mans.

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