{"id":610774,"date":"2020-01-13T14:55:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T14:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/\/\/martin-brundle-in-jaguar-xjr12"},"modified":"2023-10-27T17:31:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T16:31:44","slug":"martin-brundle-in-jaguar-xjr12","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/july-2019\/66\/martin-brundle-in-jaguar-xjr12\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Brundle and son Alex drive Le Mans-winning Jaguar XJR-12"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The look on Martin Brundle\u2019s face the minute he walks into the garage at Silverstone is a picture. There\u2019s an instant flicker of recognition. The same reaction as meeting an old friend.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happening here. These two haven\u2019t seen each other for 29 years, but today is the unexpected reunion. The moment is made even sweeter by the presence of Alex Brundle \u2013 Martin\u2019s son and current FIA World Endurance Championship racer \u2013 who\u2019s come along to get a feel for his father\u2019s past. He\u2019s getting the chance to jump into his father\u2019s seat and relive a key moment in the family\u2019s racing legacy.<\/p>\n

The old friend waiting for them is the Jaguar XJR-12. It\u2019s unquestionably one of the finest racing Jaguars ever built, and it\u2019s a car that\u2019s been kind to the Brundle family.<\/p>\n

Moments after 16.00 on Sunday June 17, 1990, Martin\u2019s dream of winning Le Mans came true with this model, but not actually this exact chassis.<\/p>\n

Jaguar\u2019s Le Mans success in 1988 had kick-started a fevered wave of interest among fans back home. After years of German domination, the Union Flag was flying on the top step at La Sarthe again. And for 1990 the stakes were even higher as four major manufacturers \u2013 Jaguar, Nissan, Porsche and Toyota \u2013 were vying for victory during perhaps the ultimate iteration of the power-hungry Group C era.<\/p>\n

\"Tom
Tom Walkinshaw, left, was like a motor sport father figure to a young Brundle, right<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brundle had started the race in XJR-12 chassis 990, the very car we have here. It was his lucky car, an evolution of XJR-9 chassis 588, the machine that had powered him to the 1988 FIA World Sports-Prototype Championship. But it\u2019s an ironic twist that it let him down in France, and it was only a late and controversial team shuffle that saved the dream of a British driver winning Le Mans in a British car that year.<\/p>\n

After leading for about seven hours, the big V12 of chassis 990 overheated. Its water pump had slipped a drive belt, and the number 1 car had to be retired. But Tom Walkinshaw, the driving force behind TWR and a father figure to Brundle, had a plan up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

He deliberately kept just two drivers \u2013 Jaguar\u2019s successful IMSA pairing, John Nielsen and Price Cobb \u2013 running back-to-back stints aboard the number 3, while third driver Eliseo Salazar sat in the garage. With more than 50,000 British fans having travelled to La Sarthe to cheer on the home-grown Jaguar team and its home-grown star Brundle, Martin was ushered straight into Salazar\u2019s seat when his own car retired \u2013 and subsequently took the chequered flag to cement the dream result.<\/p>\n

It might sound harsh, and it was on Salazar, who effectively walked away from sports car racing there and then, but there was logic behind it. Brundle was not only Jaguar\u2019s fastest driver, but he was also one of the most mechanically sympathetic. With number 3 already nursing a dropped fourth gear, it made sense for Brundle to safeguard the car rather than the more erratic Salazar.<\/p>\n

But regardless of the intra-team politics, Brundle was finally able to appreciate the words of John Wyer: \u201cWinning at Le Mans is worth all the other world championship rounds put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brundle would return to the cockpit of an XJR, this time the 14, for a handful of races in 1991, and then he and Jaguar parted ways. Now, 29 years later, he and chassis 990 will take to the track together again.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s relationship with Jaguar\u2019s Group C cars goes right back to the beginning, and the XJR-6. He was the first driver to get behind the wheel, during its inaugural test session, at his home circuit, Snetterton.<\/p>\n

Over time, he\u2019d go on to become the most successful driver in Jaguar\u2019s Group C racers, along with Eddie Cheever. But Cheever never counted a world championship title or a Le Mans win among his successes.<\/p>\n