YOU PROTESTED TOO LATE! The Story of the Le Mans XJ220

David Coulthard won his class at Le Mans in 1993, don't you know? Well... He did and then he was disqualified for a weird technicality. Apparently his exhaust was illegal.
So he, David Brabham and their team mate were disqualified from a win that saw them dominate their class, a month after the race ended. So what happened? Let's find out.
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
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[@fuzzy1dk]

I've heard John Nielsen say he still has his winners trophy from the race

[@simonkevnorris]

I had heard that they refused to return the trophies.

[@martinwebb3017]

@@simonkevnorris I believe Martin Brundle kept hold of his second place trophy from the 1984 Detroit Grand Prix, despite his later disqualification.

[@ibex485]

For three decades I've been periodically trying to find out why the TWR XJ220 was disqualified that year, and every time I look I find more questions than answers. I remember the subject coming up during ITV/BBC's F1 coverage years ago and Martin Brundle bluntly responding 'because they cheated'. Tom Walkinshaw certainly had many enemies, he had a reputation for... doing the sort of things Charlie Whiting, Bernie Ecclestone & co. got away with at Brabham in the '70s & '80s. It was widely said that ehen he ran TWR Jaguar XJ220s in European Touring Cars in the '80s they filled the rollcage with fuel - although nobody ever seems to have said how this could give an advantage, so... Sidenote - In the glorious Super Touring years of the 1990s, it is said everyone had something cheaty. They all had something they shouldn't have been doing which gained an unfair advantage to some degree. Alfa Romeo's rear spoiler & front splitter is well known, others less so. Peugeot's 'cheat' was their suspension and they dominated in Germany & France. But in the BTCC they weren't allowed to use it, and left in a huff - iirc they were the only manufacturer not to win a race during the BTCC Super Touring era. Ford's 'cheat' was their engine. The TWR Volvos were up to something too, so were the Hondas, BMWs, Vauxhalls and the rest... More information has come out about these come out over time. If you can find enough information it could make an interesing video.

[@scordatura9259]

As far as I know the twr supertouring Volvos had an interesting interpretation on how they could modify their cylinder heads so they can come close to the ford's power

[@ibex485]

@@scordatura9259 I think you're right, thank you. Iirc the Ford engine managed to rev higher than it should have been able to (even for a V6 - and they were downsizing the 2.5L road V6 to 2L, rather than using the 4 cylinder 2L road car enging) and they were interpreting the rules in an interesting way to rotate the engine and have it mounted lower and further back.

[@scordatura9259]

@@ibex485 yeah those fords were crazy with how the engine was mounted when I saw them pop the bonnet. Still crazy though with all that budget from ford and going through so many works teams they only manage one championship when everyone basically already left

[@PuncakeLena]

I'd love to hear about all the cheats every manufacturer had during Super Touring, sounds interesting

[@simonkevnorris]

The Alphas did not cheat with the front splitter and read wing. The car was built with them while no other car did the same.

[@duncanhamilton5841]

More likely it was DQ'd a month later because the team hadn't returned all the stuff they'd 'borrowed' from the circuit (several paintings, the silverware, the petty cash, a grid girl, and most of of the roofing lead) because - as you quite rightly point out - Jaaaaaaaaag.

[@serenawatkins6875]

To many, the XJ220C will always be the moral winner in the GT class. Seems like the rule makers and ACO just didn't want a British car and a British team to win. It's probably why Jaguar has never returned to Le Mans since as a works team. They were robbed.

[@tangerinedream7211]

Tommy was always very very clever with rule interpretations, the French always flexible with their interpretations of the rules in post race/rally scrutineering. Imho if it passes scrutineering and at the end of the race is identical then it's legit. Remember the issue of the external oil cooler on the last Mirage running at Le Man's, passed scrutineering,but thrown off the grid . Beautiful car, saw it at LM in period, got a slot version last year, by Mrslotcar Canada.

[@reptongeek]

Tom Walkinshaw passing someone off sounds a bit like Max Moseley fining McLaren $100m because he didn't like Ron Dennis Another bizarre disqualification you could cover is the Mini's getting dq from the Monte Carlo Rally for a lighting infringement which allowed a French car to win

[@CyanRooper]

"We've been disqualified." "For what?" "We used the wrong lightbulb for one of the headlights." "FOR WHAT?!?"

[@tomanderson6335]

Or the Mirage M12 co-driven by Mario and Michael Andretti getting thrown out of the 1982 Le Mans *20 MINUTES BEFORE RACE START* for...the location of an oil cooler.

[@McLarenMercedes]

@@CyanRooper Kimi actually got the same information *twice* which is why he angrily yelled "for what?!?". They mentioned the drive through penalty twice and not why he had gotten it for in the first place.

[@CyanRooper]

​@@McLarenMercedes 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏?!?

[@zanemurcha9742]

There was a guy who bought this car called an Allard, for about 70,000 pounds and wanted to enter it at Le Mans. He ran it at the Le Mans Test and the car was so slow he decided to save himself the embarrassment of racing at Le Mans in a batmobile looking race car that proved to be slower than most GT cars.

[@AidanMillward]

It was sold to one of the Brunei Royal Family first I think.

[@Tom_Hadler]

Is that the J2X? Quite a pretty car, but slow on the Mulsanne

[@f1fan3000]

4:30 The MIG M100 wasn't connected to Mikoyan-Gurevich. It originally was the MCA Centenaire, a supercar from Monaco. This company was acquired in 1993 by Migrelia & Georgia. They renamed the Centenaire to M100, (obviously modified it for racing) and entered the 1993 Le Mans 24h. The company then was bought by Méga.

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

Being a Ferrari supporter, 2008 was gutting, I don't remember why it stayed in my head but I always remember a Bernie interview after Brazil, where something just came across as "odd", he pointed out to the interview "Lewis isn't the champion, nobody is until the prize giving ceremony, who knows what will happen" or along those lines, only recently when it was revealed Bernie knew about Singapore did the phrasing he used finally make sense

[@samiraperi467]

NGL, sounds like what happened at that Monte Carlo rally where Minis took the first three spots but were DQ'd based on lights. The 4th car was a Citroën, with "legal" lights. Funny that.

[@CyanRooper]

"We've been disqualified." "For what?" "We used the wrong lightbulb for one of the headlights." "FOR WHAT?!?"

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

I once was demoted a place because the race winner was penalised... SPORT 😊

[@tbone121974]

The XJ220 is a beautiful vehicle and a legend in its day. It was the fastest road legal production car at launch. Weird piece of trivia: The rear light cluster was taken from the parts bin for a Rover 200.

[@JohnSmithShields]

Loved that XJ220 since it was first announced.

[@karlosh9286]

me too. I just "looks" fast and beautifully curvy !

[@Tacko14]

4:28 I love the Citroën CX sidemirrors on that thing. I mean, back then they were used a lot but… a Lemans racecar? Crique!

[@vincentbruins8320]

The XJ220 one-make series is still one of the weirdest championships in motor racing ever: Fast Masters. Six events in 1993, its sole season, and all held on the Indianapolis Raceway Park short track with a chicane-type section in Turn 1. Drivers were all retired legends in their 50s and up. It was nothing but "sheer misery to Jaguar, [broadcaster] ESPN, and series sponsor Havoline".

[@scottmiller1531]

As I recall, it quickly earned tthe title of "CrashMasters".

[@jacekatalakis8316]

wasn't that part of Thursday Night Thunder too, IIRC? I thought it was effectively the main event on Thursday Night Thunder for those six races. It could have worked but needed a lot more time and effort put into it IMO

[@scottmiller1531]

@@jacekatalakis8316 I can't recall when it aired in the show, but yes, it was featured. Names like (I think) Bobby Unser, Parnelli Jones, Jim McElreath, Roger McCluskey. I could have worked too had they been in Mustangs or Camaroes, NOT in brand new British Super Cars. The people at Jag were shocked and dismayed when the cars kept getting torn up. What did they think would happen?

[@gwcrispi]

It started being an all oval series, but they quickly switched to the road course at IRP to slow them down. I can remember the first races having 14-16 cars but later ones were heats of 8 or so. They couldn't keep enough of them intact.

[@scottmiller1531]

@@gwcrispi Yep, doing the infield made it worse as it is/was so cramped.

[@Eagleracer38x]

Jaguar is my favorite car manufacturer, because of all the beautiful racecars they have made. The C-Type, D-Type, E-Type, XJ220, all the prototypes from the 80's and 90's. I have framed pictures and art of many of them on the walls of my place.

[@AmericasChoice]

the XJS won Trans Am and European Touring Car Championships.

[@fuzzynutter8344]

I was at the 1993 Le Mans, my first time there too and what an amazing experience it was. I always remember the XJ220C, they not only looked fabulous but they were quick too. It was also my first experience of seeing sports-prototypes racing and omg, they were a sight to behold. Then you had the quite simply awesome sound of the 3.5 litre N/A engines in the Peugeot and Toyota.

[@AmericasChoice]

The XJ 220, especially in racing trim, was also a great handling car.

[@ES90344]

Love this era of GT racing. Story idea, The Race posted a graphic showing F1 wins by starting position today. There's one win from 22nd.

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

Ah the long beach GP won by John Watson I believe John Watson is the only man to win 2 races in F1 starting from at least p17 in the race that he won

[@T_Mo271]

Just a personal artistic observation - the Jag looks amazing from the front, and in that left rear quarter-view at the end of the video, well let's say that's not its most complementary viewpoint.

[@LoganMPierce]

Jaguar’s greatest accomplishment is that they once made a car that reached 5,000 miles before it needed a tune up.

[@brokentuskclan1795]

Possibly the most bonkers case involving a Le Mans winners, is John Paul Sr. Black Flag Matters does a great video on it.

[@wolfsruhm]

It is also one of my most favourite cars (together with the Mitsubishi GTO and the 787B), and it is a shame what happend there, and that the XJ220 Racecar project never really took off in major ways

[@SaraSpruce]

This reminds me of the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally, where the Minis were disqualified for supposedly having the wrong type of headlight bulbs, conveniently handing the victory to Citroën.

[@paulreilly3904]

More great Le mans content, fascinating. I think there's plenty of scope for videos on teams from the past and their cast of characters. Not far off 100k subscribers.

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

We need a video on the 24hrs of Le Mons 🤔 the sort of parody race of LM24H

[@aranpedernales19]

​@@Sebastianraikkonen_actualnamethe $500 lemon cars?

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

@@aranpedernales19 summit like that. I'm influenced bya bottle of wine right now so do NOT expect intellectual responses 😂

[@chrisdavidson911]

Lotus Elite wheel nuts, The Sequel

[@olivergould3878]

One of my best friends got me a scale model of a road going XJ220 for Xmas a few years ago

[@DeletedScenes312]

One of my all time favourites, too. I used to walk past a garage on my way to college, years back. Just a run-of-the-mill small backstreet garage, on the face of it. Surrounded by terraced houses, pub on the corner, old pottery factory just past that. You know the sort. Well this one must have specialised in repairing/servicing XJ220s, because there seemed to be a different one parked there every week. It wasn't uncommon to see 2 or 3 of them. One morning, I even caught sight of an ultra-rare, bright yellow, TWR XJ220S (the homologation version of the race car), just parked there in the street. In a run down corner of Stoke-on-Trent, of all places. If I wasn't such a scared kid, I'd have taken the day off to just, well, look at it. Gorgeous car. And yes, it did win Le Mans.

[@AmericasChoice]

The XJ 220S is as a rare as an honest politician. Lucky to see one in the wild, and not parked at a car show.

[@Holden308]

Did you know?? Despite Australia's rich motor racing history ... there have only been 4 Australian outright winners at Le Mans. 1928 - Bernard Rubin (Bentley 4½ Litre, driving with Bentley director Woolf Barnato) 1983 - Vern Schuppan (Porsche 956C driving with Al Holbert and Hurley Heywood) 1993 - Geoff Brabham (Peugeot 905 Evo 1B with Christophe Bouchut and Éric Hélary) 2009 - David Brabham (Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz) Additionally, Jack Brabham won the only modern F1GP held at Le Mans when he won the 1967 French Grand Prix held on the Bugatti Circuit.

[@owensnicholas]

The 220 is one of my favorite cars, ever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person. Interesting story. Thanks. :)

[@JoshuaC923]

Just watched the tvr twr video from Big car

[@mohammadalfattal2902]

jaguar is honestly unlucky with the XJ220, they wanted to put a V12 but they ended up with a V6, they wanted to reach 220 mph but reached 217, and their class win at lemans was taken away from them and at the end they lost in the Global GT Championship to McLaren F1, not to mention how they struggled to sell the car still, the car is legendary and i truly love it

[@RACECAR]

Ok, hold up. Let me get this straight: You're telling me that Mikoyan-Gurevich (As in, the makers of the Mig-25 Foxbat AND Mig -29 Fulcrum) made a car...to compete at Le Mans... As an Aviation enthusiast, now you REALLLLY have my interested in knowing more about this.

[@f1fan3000]

The video is wrong. The car has no connection to Mikoyan-Gurevich. MIG means in this case Migrelia & Georgia. It originally was the MCA Centenaire. MCA was acquired by a Georgian who then entered Le Mans with the MCA Centenaire, renamed to MIG M100. It then was bought by Méga.

[@AndrewGeierMelons]

As a former Jaguar owner, thanks for covering this. #justiceforjaguar has a nice ring to it

[@calumclark1719]

Xj220 is a beautiful car just wish before the ice generation ended ian callum had designed a modern version that had gone into production

[@Jb33124]

Took 8 minutes to make a Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag joke. I commend your mental strength to withhold for so long

[@davemurphy9468]

My understanding is they made a mistake with the homologation paperwork and included a exhaust system with a catalytic converter.

[@MurphysLawNZ]

With you love the 220 you should do a video on the fast masters

[@AmericasChoice]

I am a huge Tom Walkinshaw fan, he should have been Knighted for what he did for British Motorsports. An amazing man, and hugely successful in motor racing. (I even own a TWR XJS with a TWR racing development 6.0 V12.) But the real reason the XJ 220 was disqualified was because Tom had pissed off so many of the French Le Mans officials over the years. He had a very intense Scots personality, and the stories of his temper are legendary. In typical French fashion, they got even in the end. In my mind, the XJ 220 won that race.

[@victorbitter583]

I drove a roadgoing one in 99. Just around a few backstreets and through the underpass at Chatswood Railway station in Sydney and then back to work. A few k's. It must of had a valet setting or something as I found it totally underwhelming for what I was expecting.

[@MScotty90]

The kind of guy who spends the entire dinner flirting outrageously with the waitress, but it’s alright because he’s got a Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag

[@Busch22Fan]

"I'm terribly sorry, but I ran over your dog." "What?!" "In my Jaaaaaaaaaag." "Oh, that's quite alright, then!"

[@madaro504]

Great video, one of your best.

[@colbypupgaming1962]

Waaaitaminute, there was a Mikoyan-Gurevich race car? Please do a video on this.

[@jonnyspa27]

I wonder if Brabs or DC spoke about it on a Motor Sport Mag podcast or hard copy interview? They usually are a great resource for the obscure in racing history.

[@Shift2Movies]

Jaguar XJ220 has to be one of the sexiest cars ever!

[@jimcurt99]

one of my favorite cars too- looks amazing- got a bum rap because (in my opinion- it didn't have a v12 when it finally arrived) - but still AMAZING!!!

[@heliumtrophy]

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Walkinshaw had pissed off many people in the paddock - the guy had form for that

[@areasquirrel]

Win Percy. What a name. Rival of Lose Thomas.

[@mrterp04]

Were these the XJ220s that wound up in the bizarre Fast Masters series?

[@signorpippistrello]

With an interest (heavy one) in cars and planes ever since I’m surprised I never heard or read of a racecar by MiG! Looked it up, it looks like a shrunk Lambo on cortisone! And it reportedly didn’t only look crappy…..

[@Scoobydcs]

the 911 gt1 is my favourite looking racecar ever, i bought a tamiya rc car with that shell and i still wish i had it haha

[@victorbitter583]

I had a Tamiya Frog. Still regret selling that to this day. The spider gears in the diff were a royal pain in the arse.

[@tumslucks9781]

4:00 This stupid contraption with a half ass v6 and no 4WD won at Silverstone? It rivals must have been hopeless!

[@ByronGooner]

Love your content ! Well researched and narrated ,great video as always . Any chance you could do some south african style content be that f1 racing sheckter or mororsport in general...maybe start a national series?

[@marksimpson2689]

TWR being loose with thier interpretation of the rules and Tom passing someone off, so hard to believe lol

[@superxDification]

I'd love to hear your take on alleged drunk LM win in 1953.

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

I think he's already done a video on this. Donut has too

[@superxDification]

@@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname He mentions it in the Silverstone 1950 video, but when I looked for either "1953" or "drunk" there are no results. Also, since Rolt always denied it, I like to look for different takes to see what findings others come with when they look at it. Like a meta survey.

[@Sebastianraikkonen_actualname]

@@superxDification maybe I'm miss remembering because I know Donut did it or perhaps it's a video that was deleted back when copyright bit... 🤔

[@davidblet7601]

they should've enter the Jaguar Transit Van

[@julianlockwood3040]

IMO the car and crew that win on the day is what really matters, because those are the folks who experience the emotions, and share the podium in front of the adoring masses. I doubt any of the riders handed Tour de France wins years later when Armstrong was stripped of his titles cared all that much 🙂

[@karlosh9286]

I'm with you , Jaaaags (you know the way to say it !) will always be awesome to me 🙂

[@VonBlade]

Larbre competition 1, 2 in class. Not unlikely that the ACO fiddled about. Then again TWR constantly broke the rules, so not a surprise either. It could be a little column a, a little column b.

[@VonBlade]

(Oh and if anyone wants to see the car up close, there are some great HD images around because it recently went under the hammer at Sotherbys)

[@freshmanprince12]

Are these available as audio only??

[@jagh1410]

Audi in scca, Viper on nurburgring, all got penalized cus "we dont like it so we hit it", well done competitive car racing. Ill leave it here.

[@DjDolHaus86]

If you're going to apply rules after the fact then those rules have to be applied to everyone

[@eamonahern7495]

Did Larry Mullen, drummer for U2, own a road going version of that JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGG?

[@scrubsrc4084]

Monte carlo 1966 the top five cars were disqualified for lighting infractions to get a french winner

[@justinsetchell6935]

Where those Jags running the V12 the production cars were originally supposed to have, or were they running the V6 that ultimately ended up in the production xj220?

[@AidanMillward]

Turbo V6

[@justinsetchell6935]

I seem to recall some xj220 race car that did get the v12, but not sure where it ran. Or am I just completely mis remembering that?@@AidanMillward

[@marks7197]

​@@justinsetchell6935Don Law Racing converted an XJ220 roadcar to a V12 but from a racing standpoint you might be thinking of the XJR15 which had it's own race series. They were V12's as standard.

[@justinsetchell6935]

@@marks7197 Maybe I am thinking of the xjr15, but wasn't there also a single make racing series for the xj220?

[@marks7197]

@@justinsetchell6935 Yes the Fast Masters series was for XJ220's but they were stock.

[@RubyRoks]

The XJ220 is definitely the prettiest car to look vaguely like a catfish ever made

[@tobihaifisch7558]

8:27 🤣

[@horsepower288]

BS on-the-fly regulation changes like that used to be frequent up until the 90s and the 2000s. Just look at what happened to the Zakspeed Dodge Viper that obliterated the competition in Europe and particularly on the Ring.

[@santiagonunez194]

It's a JAAAAGGH

[@Woodie-xq1ew]

I just think that Porsche had better friends at the FIA than Tom walkinshaw. If they thought the car was a bit dodgy then they should prove it

[@halofreak1990]

Not sure if it had anything to do with the FIA as the ACO changes the rules on a whim even to this day. It's one of the things that would keep me from entering the series if I were a team owner. Any organization that does such things has zero credibility and should be treated as the joke they are.

[@jonathanohagan1349]

Your 'JAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG' needs more, hold on (dons driving gloves) 'JJJJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGG', (then proceeds to nick everything not bolted down).

[@qasimkurashi1599]

Why le men's becoming heavy every decade does this mean in future there are SUV le men's SUV-LM and why I think more than 999 kg le men's is dead and become GT. GT1 also known as GTLMP1 is also not more than 999kg because it is also a type of le men's car.

[@CaymanIslandsCatWalks]

If u wanna buy a car buy a jag, there’s enough room in the back for a snag, Bring your biscuit tin with ya condoms in, if you wanna buy a car buy a jag

[@paulalexander8874]

"Liberal interpretation of the rules"? Lord Walkinshaw? Never! ❤😂

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

TWR doing dodgy stuff. Why doesn't that surprise me.

[@MartinBennett12]

Who still use’s flicker

[@JohnSmithShields]

A lot of people

[@andrewdillon7837]

"It's a Jaaaaaagg" ,,, Nod to Clarkson , et al ..

[@AidanMillward]

If I didn’t, people would wonder why I didn’t. 😅

[@tobihaifisch7558]

3:25 Walter "Rohl"?? C'mon, Aidan. Can't you just copy/paste his name??!! Walter RÖHRL, mein Lieber.

[@Tacko14]

Ah, Mini all over again eh? Well, we always remember who actually won. It does bug me how that one Jag was so much faster than the others, though. French, English. Cheat is such an ugly word

[@scottl.1568]

Whut

[@gwcrispi]

You are too young to remember the Fastmasters series Aidan. If you like the XJ220, then watching older racing drivers trash them on an oval was a hoot. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5y5iqmFZrxmZs0

[@Powerslide15]

Jag front ends are trash, change my mind. No seriously, I'm open to suggestions.

[@The_ROKCER]

5:07 Toyota having Batterie problems oh yes hybrid systems.... wait a minute ! the other kind of car mountet battery this is 1990s its funny how your brain can play tricks on you like this becuase we never hear about the other electics anymore

[@AidanMillward]

My father in law has a hybrid and we couldn’t use it to jump start my old Vauxhall Corsa because it doesn’t have a battery in the traditional sense. Just has a 12v starter to get the engine turned over.

[@The_ROKCER]

@@AidanMillward wow thats news for me i was under the impression that every hybrid car has a big batterie pack for driving and the classic lead acid for... car things radio/starter/fag Lighter that sort of stuff after thinking about that for a moment my guess is the only reason for including the old lead acid is engineering cost and that they whould have to start up new supply lines for the new stuff

[@Boss-Possum]

Car was green wasn't it? You'd think the frogs would love it.