There is no doubt that Bob Tullius must be given credit for the return of Jaguar to Le Mans.

He had been campaigning the superb V12 E-Type and then developed the XJS extremely successfully before commissioning Lee Dykstra to design the full prototype specification Jaguar XJR-5 to campaign in the extremely competitive world of IMSA racing.This campaign included the gruelling Daytona 24 hour race and an absolutely focused ambition to return Jaguar, the previous 5 times winner, to the Le Mans 24 hour race.   

The model made its racing debut at Wisconsin on 22nd August 1982, with a maiden GTP class win and 3rd overall. That all important first win came the following year at Road Atlanta, with a further 3 victories to follow and a memorable win at Miami in 1984. Of tremendous excitement that year was the return of Jaguar to Le Mans for the first time as a fully factory supported entry since the works cars of 1956.   

Tullius himself drove, and briefly led early on, with both cars running well in 6th and 7th overall mid race. The fabulous sound of the V12 Jaguar engines gave an insight of what was to come as the decade progressed. The year later, 1985, Group 44 returned to Le Mans and was chosen as the car to feature on the front of the programme as well as the tickets and all the official posters.    

That year, the cars produced 10% more power and featured a completely new suspension and improved aerodynamics and the team were duly rewarded with a class win and a 13th place overall. By now however, Jaguar really understood the marketing power that another win at Le Mans would offer and Tom Walkinshaw, who had won the 1984 European Touring Car title for Jaguar with the factory supported XJS models, managed to get the factory to support him to design and build a brand new Jaguar sports racing car. The intention was to take on the might of Porsche in the world championship and the ultimate goal - a win at Le Mans.  

To start with, Group 44 dispatched one of the XJR-5’s to England and it was evaluated on the 2nd January 1985 to identify the modifications required for it to run to Group C regulations until the new TWR car was ready. The race numbers of 51, 52 and 53 were reserved in February and further correspondence on file confirms the plan was to run two XJR-5’s run by Group 44 and two British racing green examples, prepared and run by TWR. Within these records are the entry forms for the Silverstone 1,000 kms from TWR for two cars, a 1984 and 1985 example and a team of three cars for the 1985 24 hours of Le Mans.    

On the 26th April it was decided to concentrate all efforts on the development of the new car, rather than the distraction of running the XJR-5’s at Le Mans and Silverstone and a Jaguar press release confirmed the two Group 44 entries for Le Mans and the planned debut of the brand new XJR 6 model at Hockenheim on 14th July. 

The same day Jaguar withdrew the TWR entry for Le Mans. Jaguar and TWR therefore cancelled the XJR-5’s project and as such the new 1985 car – this car - was never completed for that season.   

It was the last chassis constructed, and was built up as a rolling chassis representing the 1984 Miami winning car. Walter Hill’s fabulous Jaguar collection contained the first XJR-5 built, on loan from Bob Tullius, so the chance for him to acquire and finish the last car made was irresistible. It features a 650 bhp engine which is the highest output ever achieved on this simple and more reliable carburettor set up. It has been featured in various publications over the years.  

Overall, this offers a unique opportunity to acquire a fantastic example of the model that brought Jaguar into that that 'modern' era of world class endurance racing and achieved the first Jaguar finish at Le Mans since 1963, and it would also be a perfect and very welcome entry in the current Group C Racing series.