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Golden Era




Price is $650,000


We are very proud to be able to offer the best, fastest, and only(!) Jaguar XJR7 available, with an excellent race history for sale. Superb condition, nearly fresh Ted Wenz built engine, new EFI, four noses (plus nose mould), several splitters, three rear wings, three sets of wheels and tires, two spare wings, two new glass windshields, numerous gear ratios and other spare parts. There are original set up sheets, the owner having owned the car since 1992, when he bought it directly from Bob Tullius, after negotiations, which lasted five years!

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The history of the "American" Jaguar racing effort in GTP and at Le Mans is inextricably linked to Bob Tullius. A long time enthusiast for British sports racing cars, Bob Tullius formed the Group 44 racing team in the early '60s with partner Brian Feurstenau and, although he was involved with the Howmet Turbine car in 1968, he loyally campaigned Jaguar E-types, MGs and Triumph TR8s in the United States for the next two decades.

He had raced the Howmet at Le Mans and he determined to return to the Sarthe one day with a car of his own construction. The result was the Jaguar XJR-5, which was built primarily with IMSA's premier GTP class in mind, but which was always intended to run eventually at the French classic. Tullius persuaded Mike Dale of Jaguar Cars Inc., of New Jersey, to bankroll the project in 1981 and engaged former GM and Ford designer Lee Dykstra to pen the ground effect aluminum honeycomb semi-monocoque car.

Dale was attracted to the idea because he estimated that Jaguar's then current poor image in North America would be masked by success in top-line racing and could be worth sales of upwards of 200 extra units per year in the US. It would also provide a new image for Jaguar, which had recently been released from the shackles of the rather staid British Leyland organization. New British chairman John Egan did not take long to approve the idea and by January 1982, drawings and clay models of the new car were on public display.

Bob Tullius has been kind enough to get in touch and following our conversation with him, we include the following comments:-

He had begun his relationship with British car companies in 1962 with Triumph, successfully racing a succession of their sportscars and afterwards raced a Jaguar E Type and then an XJS. He was extremely successful in these endeavors, winning just about all that he entered with his Group 44 Inc-prepared cars. An interesting drive was the turbine powered Howmet car, replacing Ed Lowther. Bob drove that car at Watkins Glen and Le Mans.

After the Jaguar XJS project, Bob Tullius suggested to Mike Dale, then Executive Vice President of Jaguar, that he should build a Jaguar-powered GTP car for the new IMSA rules and the Jaguar Chairman, John Egan, with substantial encouragement from Mike Dale, signed off on the project in February 1981. Upon returning from the organizational meeting in the UK, Bob Tullius hired Lee Dykstra to design and develop the new car, to be known as the "XJR-5".

At the meeting’s conclusion, while shaking hands on the deal, John Egan said to Bob, "Take us back to Le Mans. The company will want to do our own racing one day." Bob took this to mean that Egan would one day find a British Team to take over their racing program and was not at all surprised. The TWR involvement in US racing was totally opposed by the US company that ran Jaguar distribution in America but was forced upon them against their wishes.

Bob comments: "I did not sell Mike Dale on the idea of Jaguar racing in IMSA; he needed to save the company and knew racing would go a long way towards saving the company, which he did. John Egan never approved any drawings nor was he interested in doing so and the clay models were never on display to my knowledge."

"The cars always had Hewland gear boxes but Mike Hewland developed an improved version which we used late in the program."

"The 1985 season was exasperating in that we finished, I believe, nine times. Interesting to note, we (Group 44 Inc.) had, I think eleven victories in IMSA, Ford had one, Chevrolet had none and BMW had none!"

"The 1986 Daytona Finale victory with Chip Robinson and I was particularly significant for me because Mike Dale and I had agreed that it would be my last drive as a regular team driver, which no one knew about except he and I."

"It was Hurley Haywood and John Morton who had the victories in 1986."

Dykstra's design was a sheet aluminum monocoque, with a honeycomb floor sectionand tubular-reinforced steel bulkheads. The configuration incorporated venturii running from behind the flat-bottom cockpit area alongside the long fully-stressed V-12 engine block, curving upwards towards the rear to exit under the rear wing. The coachwork was in kevlar and carbonfiber and the suspension was traditional double wishbones front and rear, but with the rear coil/damper units mounted high above the upper wishbone to clear the venturi.

The first 5.3-liter prototype was first run at Summit Point in June 1982, and had its race debut at Road America in late August, where Tullius and Bill Adam finished third behind two Porsche 935s and were the first GTP team home. After such a promising start, results were harder to come by for the remainder of the year.

Dykstra was concentrating on 1983 though and began a gradual refinement of the car which by the summer of 1985, just prior to the introduction of the XJR-7, saw a claimed "99.9%" of the original components of the car being redrawn. Weight and aerodynamics were a major concern, as was the enlarging of the carbureted 5.3 V-12 to 6-liters, a unit that was installed (with Lucas/Micos engine management) for 1984. Meanwhile, the drivers were starting to rack-up the results. Tullius and Adam won their first race at Road Atlanta in ’83 and there were further victories at Lime Rock, Mosport and Pocono (Tullius and ‘Doc’ Bundy) and Tullius was runner-up to Al Holbert in the drivers’ championship.

These successes - and a favourable report from Derek Bell, who had tested one of the XJR-5s at Silverstone during mid-1983, gave the final green-light to Group 44’s plans for a crack at Le Mans in 1984. The 24 Hours was unkind to the two car team though, they looked immaculate and created the desired impression, but were obviously slower than the Porsche armada and both retired before the end, one from crash damage when a tire deflated and the other with crippled transmission (though it was still running, unclassified) - a problem that would plague the cars until the introduction of Hewland VGC boxes in 1986. Back in America though, there was a superb 1-2 win at the Miami Grand Prix 3 Hours by Redman/Bundy and Tullius/Pat Bedard, probably the cars’ finest moment, followed by five second placings and two thirds by the end of 1984.

By 1985, the Porsche 962s were really coming on steam in IMSA and during the year Tullius had to be satified with a single win at Road Atlanta (Redman/Haywood) and a number of good placings. A return visit to Le Mans was another disappointment, but at least recorded Jaguar’s first finish at the track since 1963. Tullius, Chip Robinson and Claude Ballot-Lena finished 13th on 11 cylinders and the other car broke its drive-shaft.

The XJR-7 made its debut for fourth place in the Daytona 3 hours at the end of the year driven by Chip Robinson and Tullius and gave Group 44 renewed hope for 1986. Although it resembled the XJR-5 externally, it was lighter, had more downforce and lower drag. The chassis now had the floor and side panels made of machined aluminum and there was liberal use of composite materials elsewhere - particularly the pedal box and the rear bulkhead, with its integral driving seat. Lightened suspension components (from the last version of the XJR-5) were incorporated and the steering had been made made more’'driver friendly’.

Meanwhile, events were moving quickly in Jaguar’s empire and not in Tullius’ favour. Tom Walkinshaw, who had been so successful running the works XJ-S touring car programme, had been tasked with implementing a British-based Jaguar sports car project. He was loaned an XJR-5 for evaluation during early 1985 at the behest of Jaguar’s management (this car was displayed at the Silversone ‘Motor 100’ exhibition that year incidentally) and quickly made it clear that he had no intention of using the Dykstra design - as it had too little down-force for Group C. He then went away and hired Tony Southgate to design the all-composite XJR-6 for its WEC debut at the end of the year.

If Tullius was upset, perhaps he had a right to be, for he had been the prime-mover in getting Coventry back into World Class motor racing and had even dreamed-up the ‘XJR’ appellation. Now it was likely that the factory’s loyalties and cash would be moving elsewhere in the near future. It would take two further seasons and the introduction of the 1988 Walkinshaw XJR-9 GTPs into IMSA for that to finally happen though.

The 1986 Daytona 24 Hours was a fraught affair for Group 44, they had a new car and tensions had built up between Tullius and Dykstra to such an extent that the designer was banished from the pit half-way through the race. Nevertheless, they salvaged sixth place there, but had to wait until the 3 Hour race at the same venue in December to record their only win of the the calendar (Tullius/Robinson), using a 6.5-liter engine that had been introduced at Road Atlanta in April. Two further second places and two thirds, placed Jaguar/Group 44 second in the 1986 manufacturers’ table.

By the middle of 1987, it was known that Jaguar would be withdrawing its support from Tullius’ outfit at the end of the year - but American XJRs went out in fine style anyway and took two further victories at Riverside and West Palm Beach, both driven by Robinson and John Morton, and both taken by narrow margins from Chip Robinson (who had left the team and joined the Porsche ranks). The Jaguar XJR-7’s ‘official’ factory-sanctioned career ended at Watkins Glen with a DNF. However, in a defiant last hurrah it re-emerged as the ‘Group 44 V-12’ at the 1988 Daytona 24 Hours (the debut of the TWR XJR-9 GTP), driven by Tullius, Haywood and Whitney Ganz, but retired during Saturday evening with a blown cylinder-head gasket.

Greg Hall: "All the XJR7 chassis were built/assembled at the Group 44 shop in Winchester, VA. I know because I was the primary fabricator of the aluminum skin/honeycomb components and led the assembly of the various components into a complete tub. The remaining chassis components were all fabricated/machined at the Group 44 facilities as well. The carbon composite portions of the tub were manufactured in Indianapolis. The aluminum skins for the tub were fabricated and the honeycomb was rough-cut in Winchester and then shipped to and bonded together by the same company in Indy, then returned to Group 44 for assembly."

"FABCAR built two XJR5 chassis (XJR5-007 and -009) during the 1984 ‘rush’ to prepare for Le Mans, with a full complement of cars ready for both the Sarthe and the U.S. The FABCAR tubs remained in the U.S. at Bob’s insistence, as he wanted to race only Group 44-built cars at the 24hrs du Mans – they were XJR5-006 and -008 with -010 along as a spare – both in 1984 and 1985. That number of cars was necessary as we were not to miss any U.S. IMSA races and the amount of time required to ship the transporter, cars and equipment would have caused us to miss at least one race if we didn’t have six cars ready. (At the beginning of 1984 there were only two complete cars! We had six by late April!)"

"The XJR7 chassis had no tubular reinforced steel bulkheads as did the XJR5 (square tube). The bulkheads were machined from 1 inch thick aluminum plate by the machinists at Group 44. The only tubular steel that was actually a part of the original XJR7 tub was the roll cage – all 4130 steel."

"In addition, beginning with the ’84 Le Mans race, the cars were equipped with BBS wheels, as it had been determined by Jaguar engineers that the Jongbloed wheels might not be able to handle the downforce/speed combination that would be experienced on the Mulsanne which, at that time, had no chicanes."

"Also, I believe that it should read that the final 2 races were won by Haywood and Morton, not Robinson and Morton, as Chip had already left for Holbert’s team."



Constructor Group 44, Victory Lane, Winchester, Virginia, U.S.A.

Chassis fabricator Dave Klym (Fabcar).

Chassis Semi-monocoque sheet aluminum, with honeycomb floor panel and tubular reinforced steel bulkheads, designed by Lee Dykstra. Ground effect car. Twin side-mounted Alan Docking water radiators, single side-mounted Setraub oil radiator. 27 gallon, mid-mounted fuel tank, single 4 gallon oil tank in left side-pod.

Body Kevlar and carbonfiber panels.

Engine Jaguar 60 degree V12 (John Huber) unblown, watercooled. 90.0 x 70.0mm/5343 cc. Aluminum block and heads. Stressed chassis member. Wet cast iron liners. 7 plain main bearings. Steel crankshaft with harmonic damper. Steel con rods. Hepworth light alloy 3-ring pistons. SOHC - single duplex chain driven. 2 titanium valves/cylinder, 1 plug. Lucas Opus ignition, 6 Weber carburetors*. Borg & Beck 3-plate clutch. 570 bhp at 6,900 rpm.

Weight 240 kgs approx.

* Lucas Micos engine management and Bosch solenoid injection fitted to 6.0 and 6.5-liter (XJR-7) versions.

Suspension Upper and lower wishbones, Koni coil/damper units and anti-roll bars front and rear. Rear coil/dampers mounted above upper wishbones at the rear to clear venturi tunnels. Cast-iron ventilated discs with AP 4-pot calipers outboard. Jongbloed 15 inch dia rims (later 16 inch) - 11.5 inch wide front, 14 inch rear. Goodyear tires.

Gearbox Hewland VG5-200 5-speed.

Dimensions Wheelbase - 2756 mm. Front track - 1676 mm. Rear track - 1575 mm.

Weight 930 kgs.

Top Speed 190 mph.

XJR7.001 GTP Group 44
Bob Tullius.

1985:
12/1: Daytona Finale: Tullius/Robinson, #44; 4th.
thath
1986:
14/4: Charlotte tire test: Robinson, #44: Robinson: Crash. Repair.
26/5: Lime Rock: H. Haywood, #04; DNF.
08/6: Mid-Ohio: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; 5th OA.
22/6: W. Palm Beach: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; 3rd OA.
06/7: Watkins Glen 1: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; DNF.
27/7: Portland: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; 9th OA.
03/8: Sears Point: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; 3rd OA.
24/8: Road America: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; DNF.
26/10: Daytona: B. Redman/H. Haywood, #04; DNF.

1987:
01/3: Miami: H. Haywood/J. Morton, #44; 10th OA.
03/5: Laguna Seca: H. Haywood/J. Morton, #44; 4th.
25/3: Lime Rock: J. Morton/H. Haywood, #44; 5th.
21/6: W. Palm Beach: H. Haywood/J. Morton, #44; 1st OA.
05/7: Watkins Glen 1: B. Tullius/J. Morton, #44; 13th OA.
25/10: San Diego: H. Haywood/J. Morton, #44; 10th.

1988:
31/1: 24 hours of Daytona: H. Haywood/W. Ganz/B. Tullius, #44; 61st NR.

1992: Sold to present owner.




Site Contents © John Starkey 2006