Many sports cars have been billed as a race car for the road, but few if them actually fit that mold. Jay Leno got to sample a true street-legal race car on the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage: the Jaguar XJR-15.
When it comes to supercars from the ‘90s, the Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, Jaguar XJ220, and McLaren F1 are standout vehicles that every car enthusiast surely remembers. The , XJR-15, though, is equal, if not better, to all of them.
Built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing who took care of Jag’s racing programs, the XJR-15 was a very limited run to celebrate the wins at Le Mans and Daytona. How limited? Apparently, only 53 units were built and only half of those were actually road legal, while the rest were pure racers.
The XJR-15 utilized the same carbon-fiber chassis as the XJR-9 Group-C racing car. Not only that, but it also had a similar engine: a naturally-aspirated 6.0-liter V12 engine that cranks out 450 horsepower. That might not sound like a lot of power by today’s standards, but with its carbon-fiber bodywork, there’s not a lot of weight to haul down the road.
The XJR-15 really is a race car – it even came with a gearbox that had straight-cut gears. It’s so loud, Jaguar actually sold the vehicle with headsets for the passengers to talk to one another. It sounds amazing, looks incredible, and has an awesome story.
The owner of this particular example, Dr. Jasbir Dhillon from Tennessee, actually wrenches on the car, as you don’t need any fancy tools or an automotive degree to perform most jobs if you have a solid understanding of how it works.
You can watch Leno and Dhillon take the car for a spin around Los Angeles and talk about its history in the video right below.
VIDEO
The post The Jaguar XJR-15 Really Was A Street-Legal Le Mans Racer appeared first on Carscoops.
