One to Buy: 1 of 3 ex-works 1993 Jaguar XJ220C
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Following the best part of a ten-year period when the Le Mans 24 Hours was contested exclusively by purpose-built Sports Prototypes, 1993’s event marked the return of production-based GT cars to this, the most famous international endurance race of all.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s decision to organise a GT category wasn’t announced until March ‘93 which left potential competitors just a few weeks to ready qualifying machinery ahead of the big race scheduled for the weekend of June 19th and 20th.
Although Jaguar had pulled out of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1991 and Tom Walkinshaw had taken on the role of engineering director for the Benetton F1 team, TWR elected to create a trio of GT1 cars based on the XJ220 in the hope that 1993 would see another Le Mans victory added to Jaguar’s already impressive resume at la Sarthe.
Scandalously, although the XJ220C of David Brabham, David Coulthard and John Nielsen finished first in the GT class, a month after the event Jaguar was excluded owing to the late filing of an appeal owing to the car’s lack of catalytic converters.
Currently on offer at the Gallery Aaldering showroom in Brummern, The Netherlands, is one of the three cars that contested that ‘93 event: chassis 003.
Driven by Jay Cochran, Paul Belmondo and Andreas Fuchs, chassis 003 qualified third fastest for the GT class but failed to finish as a result of damage to the cooling system incurred after a spin.
Having raced at Le Mans again in 1995, chassis 003 subsequently headed out to Japan an,d in more recent times, has been the subject of a £200,000 restoration at renowned Jaguar and XJ220 specialist, Don Law Racing.
