1991 Jaguar XJR-15 - Jay Leno's Garage

[Music] like it I like advances to the ark they have a cat [Music] Jay Leno's Garage very exciting car today very rare car one of only 53 produced this is the XJ ar-15 this is derived from the Lamar winning car the xjr-9 a road-going version very raw car very visceral car let's meet the man who owns a jazz Dillon just come on in here congratulations I'm wearing this thanks very much thank you certainly rarer than the f40 Ferrari or even the McLaren or just about any car yeah that was a really a kind of a golden era for super cause then restarting in 85 with the 288 GTO and then the 959 came along the f40 and then subsequently this car the XJ are at the xj220 and then culminating finally and then the granddaddy of the mold and McLaren f1 yeah and we here in America missed a lot of that because these cars were not legal they couldn't be brought into the States okay we missed that them even though McLaren took years of you know going through federalization everything before you you couldn't even bring one in officially that's right you know had to be what they call show and display and all that kind of stuff right so to have one here in the States is really how many are these how many are in the states are there so I think this right now I think there's three I think there's a fourth one coming in now you know this cars a 1991 so you know 25 years later in 2016 it was eligible to come into the country without any modifications and and much less headache so you know it's a I think we're gonna start to see a lot more of these coming in and much like the 427 Cobra from the 60s this is a truly analog car you're not getting your computer you're not plugging into a port to read anything it's it's normally aspirated it's no turbochargers none of that v12 management correct yeah and this was not developed by Jaguar as a road car was developed by Tom Walkinshaw Tom Walker yeah initially the racing exactly at Tom Walkinshaw racing because Tom Walkinshaw was at the forefront of all of Jaguars success in the 80s and early 90s in racing and Durance racing after you know a long hiatus of success and so he basically after the success in 88 decided to build a road-going version as the you know Jaguar realized that this was a tremendous opportunity to brand their own you know brand in there as well so Jaguar and twr formed a relationship called Jaguar sporting okay so like Carroll Shelby with fall exactly yes yes and this is what everybody thought the xj220 would be v12 normally aspirated then of course wound up being a v6 with twin turbos and people were disappointed then the recession hit and yeah yes right true and the xj220 is a brilliant car in its own right but this is I think more of what the initial customers thought they were getting an aspirated v12 and I was very surprised by the 220 I enjoyed driving it quite fast yes and a bit of turbo lag but very enjoyable it just literally just pushes you down exactly right you know the the styling of the car is still in date today right right and Peter Stevens probably our favorite design yes and had a lot to do with this as well didn't he he did and he was basically put in charge of all of the external and internal visual elements of the cost so basically here's the tub you create what you want to create with that you know and so there's when you look and subsequent to his work at TWU on Jaguar sport you know he would join McLaren right and again created you know the greatest car ever you know and so it's there's some design elements of the car when you look at the side of the car the way it swoops up and down very similar to the side profile of the of the McLaren f1 so it's neat to see that pedigree but for me the exciting part of this car is is when you look at the xjr-9 and you look at some of the switch gear in here the layouts identical they didn't really change much at all and they know so it does give you a very very raw experience on the road driving it and the great thing about Peter Stevens designs for me they seem timeless you know certain designs like a Countach could only exist in the 70s in the 80s now it looks a bit you know bit overdone you know these always have a flow to them that's just very nice yeah it's just the way but and it did have an industry-first I mean this was the first all carbon-fiber road car you know with the chassis and and skin on it so yeah and for that reason it's very light it only weighs a thousand and fifty kilos so 2,300 pounds yeah you know super light the same as some of the f1 yeah and it's interesting how like the McLaren f1 and certain extent the Countach you know only got a little bit of a window here because for whatever reason nobody had a window that could take that kind of pressure 200 miles an hour they would pop out so you just noticed I had a window in a window right that type of thing you know because this is bonded to here isn't it it is yeah so it's got quite a bit of support behind it and quite honestly if you didn't have the air conditioning on and you had that window open all you're really doing is lying a hot radiator here to come through and going through tollbooths throwing the money like this then it falls on the ground then everybody honking behind I hope they catch it and what does it have does it have mufflers on because it has it does it it actually has so the manifolds obviously down there and bases got a fairly large box box muffler back there and it's um still gives you a real raucous sound on the road it's a you can definitely hear it coming and and there's no insulation if you can see from the right where the tubs bolted to the engine there's nothing in between really the the cockpit and the the engine baton well I love the whole old-school part of it because this much like a 427 Cobra I keep comparing your tube is that was the most powerful car the 60s there's nothing here you can't really fix with tools it's very true it's very true and you know Cobb was restored in England that donlore racing and they did a fantastic job and then you know I wanted to take it apart here in the last couple of weeks just to kind of cinch everything down I treat it like a race car I just got to put a wrench on every every nut and everything and got a great mechanic back home mike cremonini he's a great friend and so we basically took the rear bodywork off and we put a wrench on everything and you know it's very analog yeah every analogue and it's something that if you're inclined at all with a wrench it's not overwhelming it's now does it do you ever run it with this window out I don't know I managed to get heat out of it now yeah but it's vented its measured at the bottom and the top so it lacks the extracts and then there's got extraction motors at the bottom that will extract the the engine bay heat as well it's you know some of the things that were done during the restoration of this car we put a bigger radiator in it bigger air conditioning condenser to run in Tennessee right yeah Tennessee summers so it runs it runs cool now your wheels are so really far out at each corner hmm I can't tell just longer than a 911 Porsche is about the same you know it it's it's I had it parked next to a roof ctr2 and and amazing they look to me it looked a bit smaller well you know it's funny because when you see pictures of it yeah because of the light like the Citroen SM or I mean like like the DES over there the wheels are way off so it gives you a parents of being quite a large car but and when I get up to it I realize it's it's actually that's very good way to sit in it really feel quite to come back but the wheels are the same size front and back as their as the f 4335 size so you're married has your wife gone from she hasn't yet she's awesome no she she she finds the getting in and out of the Kasbah the wide sill as she puts it it's all legs and you get this why is it so noisy yes exactly why does it make so much noise yeah well she asked me that you said what's it like the driver said you know it's all of those things it's hot it's no easy it's you know it's a borderline uncomfortable but that's why you love it what it was very cool let's see around the back are those taillights from something else oh yeah they're actually they were sourced from Rover okay those were over lights again they look familiar okay yeah yeah yeah so why only 53 road cars you and I are not the only enthusiasts in the world you were lucky enough to get this and there are plenty of guys and the price was not outrageous I mean it was in line with other and I think as enthused I would prefer this over the 220 so why did they not with him why did they not go with the v12 I think at the time this was sort of it actually was actually in production at the same time they were going to start the xj220 this car was finished up at the Bloxom plant that they built for the xj220 and the xj220 production actually got delayed by about four months while they were finishing this car up so you know they all of the cars were sold when they were new they were about a million dollars new and you could get it with a straight cut six box which was very difficult to drive in traffic right and or for $50,000 option you had the synchromesh gearbox this has a synchromesh gearbox in it which makes it the straight cut gears are really noisy yeah those are for the really hardcore almost like just a shrieking that's yes yeah I mean straight cut gears are stronger it's you're less likely to break a gear yes but it's almost unlivable really yeah you know and it is and you know there were 27 of these Road versions made the rest of them were race cars and what we're seeing in England now is that some of the track cars former track cars are being converted to Road use and the laws are much more liberal there yeah it's a conversion so we're gonna actually start to see a few more of these on the road that were ex race cars which is kind of and of course this predates the carbon fibre brake drums I bring our rotors rather right carbon fibre rubbish this has what just a steel which I prefer on the street actually I mean you don't have to get them red-hot to work do they screech on you there's a little bit of squeal yeah yeah a little bit so you either deaf or you just that's right my f1 McLaren has that too it's got steel Brody why why is it why is this car cost so much the brakes screech yeah you know you're missing the whole point that's right yeah to me it's just a Penta Cates the fact that it's a race coverage and you see why notice how the two front seats are extremely close together and weights uh you know McLaren is doing that now with their new with their new cars you know you see this deceit is is you you literally sit like this in the p1 because you want to get the center of gravity's close to this that's right true you know very nice that's probably what my wife doesn't maybe like to be in it as much because of the sills very wide to get across you know there's no elegant way to get out of it no elegant way to get out of it it's hot it's noisy yeah oh and you've got tanks on each side to sell yeah thanks okay so this is this is the dry sump oil tank Oh oil and oil on the side and then the other side is the is the fuel tank and it doesn't have a fuel gauge it has a field warning light oh yeah so if you trust British electrics take your chance how often do you ever make that mistake you got that part yeah you know it's it's it's much pretty clearly on there so you'd be yourself to blame you know yeah well oil is very tiny like yeah and how many quarts as a motor like this take you know it'll hold I think the capacity on it is like 20 is 20 liters okay well either engine you okay there's no real storage in the car at all it's basically the table up front and and nothing else and there's no hood that opens yeah you can oh you actually worth we can show you the boy look at the beautiful carbon fiber and that's what the days when it took four thousand hours to make that yeah when you look at the patent the way it's laid you can tell the attention to detail yeah I mean the I think the f1 McLaren was 2,000 hours to make the tub and now they can do it an hour and a half oh really that's amazing okay you can see there and if you give to give the tub a good rap there Jay you can really kind of tell how it was a good crash structure Wow really solid I expected a little bit of flex there but yeah okay I see a new aluminum radiator yeah so that was part of the upgrades that that donlore did was just a bigger cooling capacity radiator and higher efficiency fan I love the fact that you went to Napa to get a battery out of some sort of lithium ion tiny thing up in the front that makes me like it's old school and one thing you have to watch with these cars is that if the terminals contact any of the apparatus for the the pop-up headlights that it can conduct it and it conducted to the Osher so yes rubber caps on them you know yep and what are you running for coolant on this you just run regular or just regular stuff yep well that's what's fun is as much of a supercar as it is there's enough regular car stuff about it you can just stick a battery in it you can run regular coolant you can run normal oils and how big the gas tank does it that so it's a 25 gallon tank yeah it's a fuel cell so it's made by premier fuels you know they were making the same fuel cell five years yeah exactly and this is not movable at all no it's not adjustable PAH the the you know the the car is got on air under the under side aerodynamics with the diffuser and and right rain the race cars was set up a little bit lower so they handled you know as they should this is a good compromise with softness for Road use you'll see when you drive it yes it's got race like qualities but you can also when you're driving it it's it's not so uncomfortable that it's the you can't stand it they made it you know change of direction is very good and you know these clips to hold you well I always wonder why they stick out so far yeah what's the thinking they're keep they're not obviously backing off yeah I just don't think they really cared about the aesthetics of it looks yeah you know just you know I think maybe a holds enough tension if it's that long but yeah just keeps their nut fun it's a nice looking wheel and even tires back in the day that was a massive tire back in the day right yeah this is a 335 times so you've got some really big hooks on the backs of the speaker and interesting like I say this is exact same front and back size as the f40 yeah same size exactly there's no there's no key in these there's no fuel gauge as I mentioned so right they see a master battery switch and then going up through the cycle and turning it on I love the shape of the steering wheel yeah it really aids in in getting in you have to step on the seat when you when you get in the car and then just kind of lower your legs underneath this so having a flat bottom allows for that that clearance there and you know it's if you look it's also got a set of headphones right behind you right you know and those are absolutely necessary it gets very loud in there there's no insulation up front or back and it's it's really for sound deadening as well as an intercom system to talk to each other you know arguments because well the battery's dead now how about air moving through it you're in Tennessee gets pretty hot in the summer does she stay pretty cool those fancy he does do you have to just keep it moving I mean you said the light is it yeah it does it gets a little bit hot but the fans keep it keep it you know within spec so it's the the high-efficiency fans and the the radiate have made a huge difference the air-conditioning makes a huge difference because you really need it actually works it works yeah absolutely you know what I got when I got my f1 McLaren it came with air conditioning yes but if you want the good air conditioning it's another twenty five thousand what the cars a million dollar conditioning like British air conditioner you know like just like that you know how owner you want them good air that's okay that's just makes me laugh yeah that's absolutely essential in this car is that the air conditioning I mean it's funny that they actually have the vents because you think of racing how you think you just have a big plastic hose going to your head you know but the fact that they actually put the little yes you know a little vents and you can move it back and forth okay and that event is actually pretty neat if you have it pushed all the way down it's allowing for air conditioned air but if you push it all the way up then it allows for just fresh air to come through oh I say fresh air or hot air basically gas mileage you get in a race car like this you know I've never really never really figured that out because I'm just always topping it up right there's no fuel gauge but well every time you take it out you gotta fill it up right I do I do just dimension so how far do you go 25 miles 30 miles no I know you can actually there's guys in English talking to a fellow in English go and he said he drives it a hundred and fifty miles and yeah tops it back up you know and so he's not taking any chances beyond that but you know I think you can get about nine 10 miles to the gallon I don't imagine the Tennessee Highway Patrol sees too many of these no no no I and but the one thing Tennessee does allow you to you can keep the original plate on it the British plate you can but it's registered in Tennessee so it's got a tennessee historic vehicle plate on it oh I see okay that's fully registered they that's right because it's 25 you can bring it into the States I'm not sure if you can bring it into California you'd still have to smog it if you were in Calif yes yeah interesting why it's a five-speed don't wonder why than a 6b you know I think some of them the cause of the area there a lot of them were 5-speed cause you know the f40 the the 288 GTO true I think the 959 was a 6-speed yeah well I mean obviously the more power you have the stronger the gears gotta be so no the more gears you have the the weaker the gears going to be even smaller and smaller so I imagine a 5-speed as well yeah and the the top gear is pretty long on it you know it's the car is good for 200 miles an hour so it has to be has to be fairly long when we were going through it in the last couple of weeks just to cinch everything down just to check everything over to get to the body work you have to take the rear wheels off remove the liners and then remove bolts all the way around to take the rear bodywork off man but then once you've got that off everything's successful yeah you know it's just everything's there and so like you said it's very very analog yeah I mean it's funny to have no electronics I mean that's the way they all were then all of a sudden everything had electronic you know people marvel at the f1 you know it has no electronics well he's an mg yeah you know I had the the ECU in this car was as I tech ECU and and you know remember there was a tech Formula one cars I sponsored but the xytec ECU on this car the the interface for it you would love it's it's this Toshiba laptop from nineteen yeah F ones like that it looks like some steam driven from the 1800s so I actually had this converted over to motek just so that if somebody wanted to plug it in here you know they would easily be able to read motek anywhere and you know just trying to find that computer to interface with the xytec they're out there and there's some specialists that have them but I think it's just easier to run motek on them now I saw a video you did on pitch relations it was very good but I noticed an XKE yes as well as a t20 you have your husband a Jaguar man yeah you know I grew up in England was your dad a Jaguar guy dad was a car guy in general oh yeah yeah just he dad worked at the Ford plant and agony engine noise and it was an engineer yeah and I he actually worked on engine Co camshafts and everything and and so we always had an interest in cars you know and you know the first really nice car Bo actually was an Audi an Audi hundred LS and I remember the day but at home you know dad worked at Ford my mom worked yeah drama factory there initially and you know self-made guy and we used to always buy these old affords you know what we could afford and then subsequently one day you know he came home with this brand new hundred 100 LS and he goes you know I bought a new car so we went outside and there were three cars parked they remember there's two Ford's in this Audi and we automatically went to the Ford's thing you know but we babied that car I mean that was just you will never forget their wonderful trips with it now did he live long enough to see you be successful yeah he's dad did that saw the xj220 and Wow you go for riving yeah he went into riding that what do you think of that yeah he loved that he wanted to drive it of course you know so yeah and and the f40 saw that one time as well so he he yeah he used to always be very encouraging you know and so when he saw you excited about something he got excited yeah yeah that's you know that's great that's really cool yeah that's really cool well very nice good so can we take it for a ride absolutely yes [Music] the very hot day here today in Los Angeles the temperature is 160 and I think an energy that I hope people wonderful I mean everything as well as a badly filled trying to work it but I like that I'd like the lightning nothing on this guy's it does need to be there I'm gonna be smart love that reading you know [Music] legatus man guess what okay 9850 a you know fights me enjoy a selfie stops being fourth or fifth with the headphones on it's not yeah but there is a whole set of Mission Control feel free and visibilities actually excellent for a supercar very good way better than a good McLaren that only has to be an idiot though you can see directly behind you you have a driver's from work at the hospital yeah has to be the serious doctor yeah that's right kind of better than easy Oh combative gun [Music] nobody I have business be 12 probably love for life Yankel all the vacuum huh business you know fuel and Joe and stuff that could be right I mean this is almost like a British version of American IRA you know instead of a big B a is the big beat well in pretty simple induction you know he's advised me box the whole body is carbon-fibre it really was the first day of carpet fiber was no are to be [Music] han are you gonna fill a big one to one of jasmine than the autumn companies Simon stop by the cops on us [Music] [Music] so it's jacked up your brand that that's what you have the postcard from but you had a mess we have a look at that yeah the Reverend Ohio people think it's an exotic Italian man yet but I think it was in America and he got the more and evil we gotta India thing yeah I never knew that I'd like any of the engine meaning men and the Nocturnals be a great gotta make house talking head you can get there fairly quickly my wife not like [Music] that gal Tamils a something I cannot get run out if you want me to that's right em you gotta go get it probably in Cleveland yeah Oh in New York who never carry any weapons involving raises and basically a Jaguar 12 [Music] every game well I feel like I just ran them off pretty amazing wow what a fantastic cars is in fact I'm not even to let you film me getting out of it because it takes too long but anyway yes thank you my friend thank you okay thank you very much the kind of doctor I want and I don't get these don't be doctors don't know anything about cars this is this is the doctor you want to go to we'll see you next week thanks again thanks look I'm fun that was [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 637,462

Keywords: Jaguar, race car, carbon monocoque, V12, 6 liter, rare, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: zzRne46f6AQ

Length: 30min 3sec (1803 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 04 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/doublepancakes]

Former Jaguar XJR-15?! Did you sell it off or were you the owner before the current owner? Loved this and the Petrolicious videos. Beautiful car.

[u/Wicked4wesome]

That car is amazing. Got the chance to see it a while back and was blown away. Jazz really knows and has a lot of enthusiasm about the brand.

[u/whosthatcarguy]

Did you buy the car new? What else have you got in your collection? Anything else Jay might want to drive?