Home / Social media / News / Ultra-rare Jaguar XJR-15 with just 125 km on the odo should fetch around R40mil.

ULTRA-RARE JAGUAR XJR-15 WITH JUST 125 KM ON THE ODO SHOULD FETCH AROUND R40MIL.

Published: 2024-04-28 14:44:39 Last Updated: 2024-04-28 15:09:45

Back in the late 1980s, Jaguar moved into the limelight of motorsport by teaming up with the well-known Tom Walkinshaw Racing to create JaguarSport, a division of the company dedicated to all things fast. Their goal was a massive one, to dominate the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) where Jaguar had already left its mark in the competition with iconic racers like the C-Type and D-Type. Their efforts paid off big time, and as a result of it all, the iconic XJR-9 and XJR-12 cars were created and they were so good that they managed to clinch victory at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1988 and 1990. Race-spec cars like this are pretty serious, but they don’t really make any money as such. That said, Jaguar fans with the means clamoured for a road-going version of these beasts, and thus the mighty XJR-15 was created. It’s one thing to be able to make a racecar from a streetcar, but doing the reverse is quite a big project, a lot of things need to be considered. Racecars don’t need any specific crumple zones or collapsible sections in the bodywork to enhance passenger safety, they just get a stainless steel or Chromoly roll cage and harnesses. On the plus side, all the work on the suspension, the powerplant and the drivetrain carried out to make the racecar as competent as possible can be used for the street version. When the R&D was done, the XJR-15 was officially launched in 1990 and as is the norm with special cars like this, it was limited to a small series production run of just 50 examples, and out of those few, a mere 27 units were built in road trim, which is what you see here in these pics by Robin Adams. It's rare, it’s a beaut, it’s fast and it’s going up for sale at an upcoming RM Stheby’s auction.

The XJR-15 features a carbon fibre and kevlar composite monocoque body, something rare for the time, designed by the same man responsible for the even more iconic McLaren F1, Peter Stevens. In fact, the XJR-15 was the first production road car to wear a carbon body. It has to be one of the most beautiful shapes of any car, ever. If the same shape was updated with a modern headlight design it would be perfect. The car rolls on some 3-piece centrelock lightweight OZ racing wheels that do suit the car, but with a 17-inch diameter, they do look a little undersized. The front measures in with a 9J width and the rears are a nice and fat 13J which would require a small fortune in tyres. Hidden behind the 6-spoke wheels are the AP Racing calipers that reign in the car from high speeds. Inside it’s function over form, but there are still leather-covered race seats, an array of the necessary gauges and a Nardi steering wheel, but a lot of what you see is bare carbon fibre. Powering the 90’s supercar is a massive normally aspirated 6.0 litre V12 that was tuned to produce an impressive 336 kW of power with 569 Nm of torque. A 5-speed manual transmission is in play for cog-swapping duties, a gear less than the track version. It’s properly fast, the XJR-15 can get to 100 km/h in as little as a reported 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 307 km/h. There’s no price listed for the sale on the RM Sotheby’s site, but it will rake in some serious money. One of the 17 sold back in 2022 for £1,450,000, or around R34,500,000, but that one had 1,362 miles on the odo while this one has 78 miles and that should see it pull in a decent amount more.

Take a look at the YouTube video from Carfection that shows off all the reasons that the Jaguar XJR-15 is so special, and just how different a drive in a 90s supercar is compared to the modern things we all (sorta) know: Jaguar XJR-15: Before the McLaren F1, There Was This | Catchpole on Carfection | Carfection

Be sure to check out our YouTube channel here for more exciting and exclusive SXdrv content! And don't forget to smash that subscribe button!

Article Tags: News SXdrv Jaguar XJR-15 XJR-15 Jaguar Rare Auction RM Sotheby's