Video: The XJS could be Jag's best sounding racer

17th February 2022

Henry Biggs

But, just as it is due a reappraisal with respect to its legendary forebear the E-type, the XJS also deserves to join the pantheon of Jaguar racing greats. The car saw early success in the USA where the Group 44 racing team took Bob Tullius to two Tran Am drivers' championships in 1977 and 1978. Scot Tom Walkinshaw's eponymous TWR team entered two V12 XJS into the European Touring Car Championship, easily outpacing rivals from Alfa Romeo and BMW and taking the1984 drivers' cup.

The best was yet to come though as Walkinshaw wanted a crack at Australia, specifically the Bathurst 1000km, the antipodean answer to Le Mans. The 1984 attempt is best left unmentioned but the following year was a different matter, the TWR team managing a 1-2-3 in Australia's greatest race with home grown Holden and Ford teams nowhere to be seen. It seems from this video that the winning car of John Goss and Armin Hahne remained down under because it can be seen taking some exercise at the Sandown Raceway near Melbourne. Sandown's long straights suit the car's V12, allowing it to howl like an AC/DC chorus to the redline as it goes up through the gears before some snarling heel and toe action under braking. This is definitely a 'turn the volume up' clip.

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