24 Hours of Le Mans

Jan Lammers back in his winning Jaguar

© © JanLammers.com

Jaguar will commemorate the 20th anniversary of its historic 1988 Le Mans win by returning the race winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9LM which will lead a special parade lap ahead of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours Race on Saturday, June 14.

The winning car, owned today by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in Coventry, will be driven by Jan Lammers, who will thus briefly return behind the wheel of ‘his’ XJR-9LM.

Jan, along with co-drivers Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries, drove the XJR-9LM to victory from sixth place on the grid in the 56th Le Mans 24 Hours.

An evolution of the XJR-9, the XJR-9LM was designed by Tony Southgate and built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) specifically for the 24 Hours of Le Mans where the requirement for high straight line speeds on the Mulsanne straight necessitated a low-drag aerodynamic package.

Jaguar went to Le Mans with an entry of five XJR-9 cars, all powered by the Jaguar V12 engine producing 750bhp from a capacity of 7.0 litres, which was based on the 5.3 litre V12 from the XJS. At the end of the race three cars were still running finishing first, fourth and sixteenth.

The winning Jaguar completed 394 laps and covered a distance of 5332km (3313 miles), in comparison the winning D-type of 1957 covered a distance of 4397km (2732 miles).

Together with Jan we go back in time 20 years; “That 1988 victory was a very special one, but that only started to sink in sometime after the race. It was the first one for Jaguar since 1957 and bridged a gap of more than 30 years. I had the opportunity to do most of the driving that race, which made it extra special for me, along with the electric atmosphere at the circuit. It also was the first real endurance race of Andy Wallace, who now is one of the few drivers that has won Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. There are not a lot of people who can boast that,” says Jan who also compares both the cars and the Circuit de la Sarthe of then and now. “The most obvious changes on the track are of course the two chicanes on the Mulsanne straight. Otherwise we would still do more than 400 kph there. This has made it a lot safer. But then you also see how fast the cars develop. With the chicanes the Peugeots still reach 346 kph, otherwise they might have reached a top speed of 430 kph. Also on safety the cars have improved massively. This is proven by the recent huge crashes we have seen, where the injuries of the drivers have been fairly minor. When I compare my Jaguar back then with the Peugeot of today (both are closed prototypes) then there is not much difference in power I think, but there is a significant difference in downforce and drag, there have been major developments in those areas, it is much more refined today. I am really looking forward to driving my old car on Saturday. I am curious wether or not they have saved my old seat. I am also curious to see if it all feels familiar again after two turns, or if it is like a whole different universe….”