01 Meet the same car - chassis #387, #388, #890 and #1090 winning Le Mans in 1990. It is undoubtedly one of the
most successful TWR Jaguar chassis, but multiple versions of the one car exist so it is not recognised for winning
Spa and the Daytona 24 Hour classic as well as Le Mans.01
for chassis #387 was rebuilt and sold to Mr Schuster.
"During 1990 it (#388) changed to chassis #890 for the
Daytona and Sebring races, and for the Le Mans race it was
changed again to chassis #1090.
"To complete the rebuild programme, based on the total
to date of 21 chassis numbers with history, TWR will have to
construct a further four monocoques.
"This would give TWR the opportunity to produce from
race cars a total of 21 chassis numbers." That was to the end
of 1990 and V12 TWR Jaguars raced on until the end of 1993 -
with no new chassis being built.
We have been told too by long term TWR team members
the first three TWR XJ-S saloons built and raced in 1982 and
'83 were all scrapped by the team. They too were recreated and
sold as the originals.
We likewise have been told by those on the inside, that
most of the 'Fast Masters' XJ220 US Indy-track race cars were
shuffled into seclusion by TWR before Jaguar could take
them back to the UK. Another authoritative source claims
the missing cars became XJ220Ss with exotic 1993 XJ220C Le
Mans XJ220C body kits. They were sold by TWR as '220S's -
not Jaguar XJ220Ss' - even though Jaguar and TWR were equal
partners in JaguarSport!
A very highly respected US XJ220 authority claims to have
examined the engine computer chips of XJ220S cars and proved
they competed in the Fast Masters series.
We feel for the owners of those cloned cars. Those buyers
were not privy to the details revealed in the TWR documents.
Perhaps the duplicated machines could be regarded in
the same esteem as the continuation D-Types, XK-SSs and
Lightweight E-Types?
After all, they were all built and prepared by the team Jaguar
employed to race its V12 engined sports racers.
Perhaps this saga says more about ways to turn additional
revenue. TWR was charging Jaguar to create, prepare and race
new cars which Jaguar recognised - while recycling and racing
older machines in new guise.
Whatever, welcome to another nightmare for collectors.EDITION 198 JAGUAR MAGAZINE 85