This Monaco-Winning Jaguar Supercar is a Rare eBay Find

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2016 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by Zach Doell 

 

                               

                                     

Cultural luminary Ricky Bobby once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” And you know what? The Talladega Nights character has a point. Few people remember the rest of the field, but everyone remembers the winner.

 

This ‘90s Jaguar supercar is one such vehicle—a winner—however the race and the series in which it was campaigned aren’t so well remembered.

In 1991, race driver Derek Warwick slid this svelte Jaguar XJR-15 around the principality of Monaco’s street circuit to claim his first win of the one-make Jaguar Sport Intercontinental Challenge, which ironically was held only in Western Europe. Today the rare race car has weaved its way onto the pages of eBay, where bidding has already surpassed the $75,000 mark… and is likely to climb much higher.

While most cars are hazily billed by automakers as “race cars for the road,” the XJR-15 actually was one. It was the product of Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which at the time had grown its motorsport program to form Jaguar Sport with the esteemed British marque. The team’s success in racing was admirable, especially the iconic Silk Cut sponsored Jaguar XJR-9, which took the overall win at the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Building off that success, TWR decided to redesign the brutal XJR-9 racer and turn it into a road car, now clothed in more street-able bodywork (styled by designer Peter Stevens) and housing a 6.0-liter V12 with various Cosworth bits, which pumped out 450 horsepower and could achieve speeds in excess of 210 mph.

A three-race support series for the 1991 Formula 1 calendar was drafted in order to highlight the new Jaguar supercars, each of which cost just shy of $1 million. Despite that sky-high price, 16 cars lined up to the starting grid of the first event in Monaco and Warwick’s #11 car finished as the victor after 16 laps. In fact, take a peek below for a race review from the legendary Murray Walker.





Between 1990 and 1992 a scant 53 XJR-15 cars were built, making them fairly hard to come by, even in comparison to the car’s more popular successor, the Jaguar XJ220. This car would arguably be one of the most important examples of the breed, that said the listing does seem startlingly short on details, especially considering the provenance due a race winner. However, if it all does check out, this XJR-15 could be quite the appreciating classic.