The
XJR-14 was a response to the
changing regulations in Europe that did away with the fuel allotment
formula (Group C) in
favor of a single engine specification.
From 1991 onwards all cars in the Sportscar World
Championship would
have 3.5 liter engines, the number of cylinders was free.
Chassis wise the regulations were still
pretty open, but the minimum weight was lowered to 750 kgs. (1650 lbs.)
from around
900 kgs (1980 lbs.). Thus the regulations, going into 1991, were
a drastic departure inasmuch as the package that it would take to win
compared to years past.
With
the European XJR-14 program idled, TWR then turned to their IMSA GTP
effort. In lieu of continued development of the Jaguar
XJR-16,
TWR would instead utilized the
Jaguar XJR-14 for the IMSA GTP series in 1992
to high
expectations but mixed results. The very high downforce
nature of
US circuits and increased level of competition brought to the
fore
the Jaguar effort's weaknesses; namely ill suited wheels and the lack
of an active development program--the XJR-14 raced in the US as it
ended
the 1991 season in Europe and most of TWR USA's development effort went
in to modifying the chassis to better suit the US tracks.
It was also found that the wheels the Jaguar used could not
handle the sustained G-loading seen on American road circuits and the
team suffered two accidents (Lime Rock and Road America) as a result of
wheel failure. In
the end TWR Jaguar only finished 3rd in the IMSA Championship, their
worst showing ever in the IMSA series.Three monocoques were manufactured for the XJR-14 program; chassis #591, 691, and 791. Unfortunately the race history of each chassis has become particularly clouded over the years and little of the existing documentations agree with one another. It is our understanding that chassis #591 was the car involved in the Lime Rock crash (it is stated elsewhere that car #791 was the Lime Rock crash car). Our information comes from Tony Dowe. We're further told by Dowe that 591 ended the '92 season as a show car though a picture has surfaced showing #591 at Laguna Seca '92 (a clear shot of the chassis plate and Arie Luyendyk's name on the side of the car). Thus with that information, everything else we understand to be true must be held into question until concrete documentation surfaces. Dowe further indicates that it was chassis #691 that crashed at Road America and was subsequently written off as well. We understand that both of these cars, despite having been written off, have ended up in the hands of private collectors (indeed #591 is the focus of the images below and currently resides in Duncan Dayton's collection). While there is the possibility that TWR, prior to their door's closing, produced new monocoques and transferred the serial plates, we do not have any proof of that. The final pieces is that Dowe indicated that chassis #791 was the only chassis that came away unscathed from the 1992 IMSA outing and was eventually donated to the Porsche WSC program eventually becoming a double Le Mans winner. Whatever the true story of the particulars, one thing we're certain of is that one of the XJR-14 chassis is a double Le Mans winner and now it resides at Joest's museum.
For the 1992 Sports Car World Championship the XJR-14 became the Mazda MXR-01. The MXR-01 program was a branding exercise that gained Mazda a quick entry into the World Championship by exchanging the Ford HB engine for a Mazda badged Judd GV V10. The MXR-01 was essentially a mass produced XJR-14 and identical except for a few details. Unfortunately the MXR-01 found itself behind the development curve in Europe in '92 as well.
Five monocoques were built and assembled into chassis for the Mazda MXR-01 program.
The
XJR-14 would tangentially continue to have a life beyond 1992 when its
monocoque was utilized for the Porsche powered WSC-95. Design
work began in 1994 with the intent to enter
the 1995
24 Hours of Daytona. But a regulations change by
IMSA a mere
10 days before the race caused Porsche to reconsider and
withdraw the
car. Subsequently further development was carried out and the
TWR-Porsche WSC-95 was raced by Joest at the 1996, 1997, and 1998 24
Hours of Le Mans with overall wins coming in '96 and '97. One of the Jaguar XJR-14 chassis' would become TWR-Porsche WSC-95 #001. As a Porsche, this chassis went on to win the 1996 and 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans. One additional, made from new XJR-14 nee WSC-95, chassis was manufactured by Astec for the TWR-Porsche program. The primary chassis, WSC-95 001 (suspected to be XJR-14 #791 originally) and WSC-95 002 (new manufacture by Astec), would be utilized throughout the Joest run program (1996-1998).
