The Jaguar XJR-17 was an IMSA Lights racing car, built by

Tom Walkinshaw Racing Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw. The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring car ...

. Rebuilt from a Jaguar XJR-16 for the IMSA Camel Lights, the XJR-17 never competed in the event due to funding issues and has since only been used in a few minor British events and historic races. It used a modified version of the XJR-16's 3.5-litre

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders and cylinder blocks share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, ...

, stripped of the twin-turbochargers and producing a claimed output of , whilst its bodywork was cobbled together using various parts from older

Jaguar XJR Sportscars The Jaguar XJR sportscars were a series of race cars used by Jaguar-backed teams in both the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) Group C and the IMSA Camel GTP series between 1984 and 1993. History Starting in 1983, the project was started by a ...

Design and development

Andy Evans approached

(TWR) about the possibility of running a full-works

IMSA GTP IMSA GT classes are former classifications of sports prototypes in sports car racing competing in the IMSA GT Championship. The classes were used at different, overlapping times during the period from 1971 to 1998, over which the championship ran. ...

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to simply as a prototype, is a type of Auto racing, race car that is used in high-level categories of sports car racing. They are purpose-built auto-sports race cars, as opposed to production-car based or s ...

for the

1991 IMSA GT Championship season The 1991 Camel GT Championship and Exxon Supreme GT Series seasons were the 21st season of the IMSA GT Championship auto racing series. It was for GTP and Lights classes of prototypes, as well as Grand Tourer-style racing cars which ran in the ...

, but such a deal proved unworkable. However, as TWR were winding down their project, a deal was struck to instead strip down a Jaguar XJR-16 for use in the IMSA Camel Lights championship. David Fullerton designed the car, dubbed the XJR-17, whilst TWR SVO and Andy Morrison were the constructors. The XJR-16 chassis was stripped down to reduce cost and parts from various

were installed: the front wing came from the XJR-14, the rear wing came from one of the

XJR-9 The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing. In 1988, Jaguar's XJR-9 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after debuting that year at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Development An evolutio ...

, the gearbox casing was a mixture of XJR-11 tunnels and the XJR-16's bellhousing, and the nose was remodelled in the style of the XJR-14, as was the engine inlet. The engine was essentially the XJR-16's 3.5-litre V6, but with the twin-turbochargers removed; in this configuration, it produced a claimed .

Win Percy Winston Walter Frederick Percy (born 28 September 1943, near Tolpuddle, Dorset) is a British former motor racing driver from England. Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful ...

gave the XJR-17 its first shakedown at

Enstone Airfield Enstone Aerodrome is a small unlicensed civilian airfield in England close to Enstone in Oxfordshire, which is currently used for microlights, light aircraft and motor gliders. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) designator is ...

before a test session was held at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...

. However, the deal collapsed, and Hugh Chamberlain instead was to use the car as a

Group C2 Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

entrant in the

1992 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 60th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on the 20 and 21 June 1992. It was also the third round of the 1992 World Sportscar Championship season, 1992 FIA Sportscar Worl ...

. Chamberlain, however, was also unable to get enough funding to compete, and the car, already prepared for the Le Mans qualifying session, was not used in the event. The XJR-17 eventually ended up in the hands of Brian Chatfield, who ran the car in a few minor races held at

Castle Combe Castle Combe is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is around north-west of Chippenham and north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had ...

in 1993 and 1994, whilst racing driver John Grant used it in some races from 2003 until 2004.

References

{{Jaguar modern timeline XJR-17 Group C cars Sports prototypes Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles

Design and development

See also

References