History
Tom Walkinshaw conceived the concept in 1988, following Jaguar's success at Le Mans, enlisting Peter Stevens to develop a road-going version of the XJR-9, originally designated as R-9R.
In order to adapt the XJR-9 for road use, Stevens made a number of modifications to increase space and improve access. "Taking the race car as a base, we widened the cockpit by 75mm and raised the roof by 40mm to allow more headroom" he said, when interviewed in 1991. "The scale model was ready by Easter 1989, from there we went to clay...which was finished by October (1989). The first prototype was held up by Le Mans preparations but it was ready for Tom (Walkinshaw) to drive when he came back from France in July 1990."
TWR explicitly developed the XJR-15 as a road-going racing car, in the mould of the Jaguar C and D types, the Ford GT40 and the Ferrari 250 GTO. As such, the car complied with British construction and use regulations and could be registered by the owner for road-use in the UK, although with such a limited production run, the car was never type approved.
The car's production was announced in a press release on November 15, 1990 with an official launch at Silverstone early in 1991. XJR-15 was built by Jaguar Sport in Bloxham Oxfordshire (a subsidiary of TWR) England from 1990 to 1992.
Read more about this topic: Jaguar XJR-15
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