As previously announced on our website, JD Classics will be hosting another of our ever popular breakfast mornings. Throughout 2012 we will be opening our doors and inviting all petrol heads to join us and lap up the sights that our five showrooms have to offer. This year we have some particularly special mornings lined up as we have the pleasure of welcoming some very special guests to JD Classics this year.
Following the success of our previous breakfast mornings (one of which saw us welcome motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss in March) we hoped to carry on the momentum with many more significant faces from the motoring World, and as we expected 2012 looks set to be just as exciting.
It is with this that JD Classics have the pleasure of announcing that, come Sunday 3rd June we will be welcoming the 1988 Jaguar Le Mans winning team to our Essex based showrooms.
The Holy Grail for any Group C Racing enthusiast, this will be the first time that the 1988 team would have all been together in 25 years. Veteran motor racing journalist and author Alan Henry will hold court for the morning and be our compare as he introduces our guests and leads the morning’s discussion. Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace will all be present in our midsts, not to mention of course the actual car they drove to their historic victory – the Jaguar XJR-9LM.
Originally the World Sportscar Championship car for Jan Lammers and Johnny Dumfries, the XJR-9LM produced a succession of consistent performances and good results. For the 24 hours of Le Mans, Dumfries and Lammers were joined by Andy Wallace. The race in question – the 1988 Le Mans 24 hour race was a battle from the outset with the XJR-9LM fighting off serious competition from the sheer force of the Porsche team. Two retirements meant that it wasn’t long before XJR-9LM was the only remaining Jaguar of the field.
Despite the persistence of the Porsche 962C, and a transmission problem which left Lammers driving the Jaguar in fourth gear only, the car still finished a clear two laps ahead of the Porsche to take victory at the 1988 Le Mans 24 hour. In doing so, Jaguar also ended the Porsche team’s seven year reign at the famous French circuit.
Now part of the JDHT (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust) the Jaguar XJR-9LM holds a significant place in automotive and racing history and it is our great pleasure to welcome the 1988 Le Mans winning team to our vast complex at JD Classics.