bruce Allardice - v12 5.3 litre .not 6.0 lt.....

Jaguars 274 klm on conrod. Volvo turbo 260 klm/h and the Mustang and Commodores were around the 250 klm/h mark. In the race the Starions had to lower the boost and not anywhere near the TWR Jags. Interesting for 1986 , the jags had been developed to run 500hp ( using Cosworth high lift valves ) and the deal fell through to run them with sponsors and race organisers. To be honest none of the Aussie wanted them there for the double.

@@BruceLee-sw4ms The race car was 6.0 Lt, the road cars of the time were 5.3Lt. The later road cars 94 on were 6.0 L but different to the race motor.

5344 cc was the only engine homologated to race in Group A. Every race record and group A documents show V12 5344cc. The only way to race , or qualify to race was the road car had to be built as the base in 5000 cars and evolution numbers of 500 - including the engine capacity.

@@BruceLee-sw4ms I stand corrected, you are right I was getting confused with Lister Jaguars.

Holden308 I think there are many people that lament the passing of Group A and the diversity of racing it brought with it. 1985 was the first full year of International Group A and the Australian teams were very much playing catch up after running Group C for so long, whereas the teams running European cars had the benefit of the all of the development done in the last few years overseas. It was always going to be tough to start with for the teams running local cars. We all had a laugh at the 'bird bath' VL Group A, but the truth is the aerodynamic modifications to raise the boot lid height on it had been well proven on cars like the E30 M3s. The Australian teams were learning and the entire class (and fans) benefitted as a result. In the end the quantum leap forward in performance from the R32 Nissans was the death-knell of Group A, even though Fred Gibson said in a recent article that they were very unreliable cars to start with. More was done to develop the Group A R32 here in Australia than anywhere else and they were a much more Australian race car than most realise. It is sad we never got to see how the class developed past that point.

+Contributor Can't argue with any of that.

For me the other benefit of Group A is that they seemed to be far closer to the road cars than current supercars. Either make it a real silhouette series like DTM/Super GT or have slightly modified road cars like Group A

Plus Godzilla which we love moved the goal posts for ever

'Pack of Arseholes' as Jim Richards rightly called them. As a Brit I was absolutely disgusted by the appalling way the so-called 'fans' treated the 1992 winner. What made it worse was the fact that the Ford driver Dick Johnson had wound the crowd up when he stood on the podium to receive his 2nd place. Jim had just been told of the tragic death of his good friend Denny Hulme moments before he took to the podium to receive his winners' trophy. His words go down in motorsport history: "I'm just really stunned for words, I can't believe the reception. I thought Australian race fans had a lot more to go than this, this is bloody disgraceful. I'll keep racing but I tell you what, this is going to remain with me for a long time. You're a pack of arseholes."

ye, but last gear could be longer, he overheated engine by reving on it

The 5.3L V12 Jaguar was a very strong motor. IIRC Walkinshaw said in 1984 at Bathurst that they can run for a very long time on low oil pressure before they go bang. Say what you want about Tom, but no one got those Jags going quicker than he did. If he'd had them to play with instead of the Rovers he might well have won the ETCC in 1985 and 1986.

Well said mate she seems to steer like a boat, however he drops the revs by 1000 revs per gear on up shifts once he identifies the oil pressure issue. Well that's what I heard anyway, cheers

Nuncal this was typical of the local TV coverage of the Bathurst 1000. And the commentators new when to shut up and let viewers enjoy the sounds.

The in car camera tech was basically born at this race some years before and it's only evolved from there worldwide. Channel 7 Australia.

LaurieWilliams5066 Not a lot we can do about it, embedded in the soundtrack, this was a camera test tape never published. It took a lot of work to get the noise out as much as we could. Sorry about that.

+Levis KinTyre Farming pesticides got them (yes, them too)

Junkers 5.3 litres in Group A racing form. If you want the full specs the best thing is to read Allan Scott's excellent book "TWR and Jaguar's XJS", as there is too much detail to get into here. The V12 was producing around 500hp at 7000 rpm by 1985. Allan Scott was the engineer who oversaw much of the development work of these cars.

5.3 litre

Paul David Cross the XJS was simply superseded... even by the time of this clip, they’d been more or less mothballed in favour of the Rover Vitesses. In the day, there were two homologation dates per calendar year: Holden had managed to get a smaller capacity V8 (so they could run in a lighter weight division) through in the August update, along with a five-speed gearbox, but missed out on their full “Group A homologation package... that would come in the New Year, and dominate at Bathurst in 1986. The Ford Mustang received some engine upgrades at the August update, and it was briefly in contention on this day, save for a broken oil cooler and loose wheel. By the time the new season rolled around, it had been left behind again. Development was swift and constant, and until the Ford Sierra RS500, no single marque and model would enjoy more than a single season at the top. Then Godzilla arrived, and everybody else lost interest...

5 speed dog leg Getrag box, 1st is down and to the left

+Felix Ryder Think it's a dogleg 5 speed

Everyone used Getrag 5 speed back then . Until Holinger had the 6 speed a few years later . Ford and Getrag have 3 factories together.

The reason a lot of daft americans swopped V12 Jag engines for them chev v8s was because they never bothered with proper mechanics who were charging higher dollar.Just put a cheap v8 from chrvrolet so all the cheap mechanic know how to look after them.That Jag V12 in the vid had proper mechanics that why he floored it all the time and never any breakdown and that Jag would piss on any chev v8.

Same answer I owned one for 13 years change oil every 8000 miles, they last forever! Change water hoses every five years otherwise the power of the engine just blows them apart! Regular servicing keeps them going

Sees them off no prob.This is one fast Jag.

Ford did not have an evolution of the Mustang - so the car raced was a base model GT - Because they were preparing the Cosworth Sierra which wasn’t a world beater until the evolution 500 came out . Like a group A commodore VK . Only 500 made.