VIN: the Matt Aitken Jaguar XJR-15 chassis 001
History of chassis 001
Chassis 001 was the first of 50 XJR-15 production cars built between 1991 and 1992.
It was sold to British songwriter and record producer, Matt Aitken, who was one of just two XJR-15 owners to compete in the JaguarSport Intercontinental Challenge with their cars. The other owners all got professional drivers to do the racing.
Having built a recording studio underneath his house in Abbey Wood, London, Aitken spent much of the early 1980s writing songs and recording local bands. In January 1984, he teamed up with Mike Stock and Pete Waterman to form the writing and production team, Stock Aitken Waterman.
Over the next seven years, Stock Aitken Waterman achieved a huge level of success; with artists like Kylie Minogue, they sold over 200m records and had 13 UK number one hits.
In 1991, Aitken decided to take a break from the music industry. He was the first to put his name down for one of the $1m XJR-15s and also signed up to be one of the 16 participants for the three-race Intercontinental Challenge. Aitken acquired 001 in a trade with an ex-Group 44 XJR-5. At the time he also owned an ex-Stefan Johansson Ferrari 156 F1 car.
Aitken had started racing in the 1988 Formula Ford 1600 Championship and proved respectably quick earning some good results.
Aitken first ran 001 at the official Silverstone test day; in wet conditions he crashed at Copse with predictably expensive results.
At Monaco, Aitken qualified a solid 13th, four seconds off the pace of the leaders.
The race [roved eventful and Aitken had three spins. The last of these came on the final lap when 001 clouted the wall at Tabac. Fortunately, damage was minor and Aitken was classified in 15th.
Round two took place at Silverstone a couple of months later and Aitken qualified 14th. The race saw a very high attrition rate as many of the professional drivers crashed out. Aitken looked set to finish seventh until a late high speed spin at Becketts flat-spotted his tyres and he retired.
With $1m on the line for the winner at Spa six weeks later, Aitken decided to have experienced pro David Leslie do the racing. In the previous two rounds, Leslie had finished eleventh (Monaco) and fourth (Silverstone) driving Nigel Spiro’s car.
Leslie qualified eighth on the grid, but by the end of the first lap 001 was showing body scars after a clash with David Brabham. The Scot eventually crossed the line seventh.
001 saw no further action in period. Matt Aitken went on to compete in the British Pro Sport 3000 series.
Notable History
Sold to Matt Aitken, London
11/05/1991 JIC Monaco (M. Aitken) 15th oa (#1)
14/07/1991 JIC Silverstone (M. Aitken) DNF (#1)
25/08/1991 JIC Spa (D. Leslie) 7th oa (#1)
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
