Page 25 - On the Prowl: The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

ON THE PROWL
1990: The Americans Take on Le Mans
« 351 »
the WSPC, they could never be ignored at Le Mans. The Stuttgart-based
marque had come within a lap of beating Jaguar in 1988, and a factory-
supported effort the following year had finished ahead of all of the TWR
cars.
The victory at Dijon in 1989 had renewed interest in Group C for
Porsche’s senior leadership, and their quasi-factory WSPC entry through
Joest continued for Le Mans. The two factory cars, #7 and #8, contained
a who’s who of sports car stars: Derek Bell, Hans Stuck, Frank Jelinski,
Bob Wollek, Jonathan Palmer and another F1 veteran, Philippe Alliot.
Reinhold Joest was also operating two additional Porsche 962s,
VThis stack of race tires for the #1 car were the softer compound that
wouldn’t be capable of lasting for two stints. The IMSA team arranged for
its favored harder compound to use on #3, but eventually the Kidlington-
based crew realized what was going on and Dowe was forced to share his
supply with the other cars. (Martin Lee)
ostensibly privateer entries, one funded by Frenchman Jean-Louis Ricci,
the other by the pseudonymous “John Winter.”
Beyond Joest, there were a whopping fifteen other 962s entered, of
various types and configurations. Some were standard cars, basically
as delivered from the factory. Others contained “clone” monocoques
constructed from materials Porsche itself had yet to embrace such as
carbon fiber. Some were set up for high downforce (bigger wings), while
some opted for a more traditional long-tail Le Mans package. The Porsche
contingent wasn’t limited to European teams either — a number had
come from the Japanese championship, unknown quantities to most of
those in the paddock.
As the cars rolled out of the crumbling and aging pit lane, its final
appearance before being replaced in 1991, two evenings of practice and
qualifying lay ahead. For a select few teams, there would be a split focus:
getting ready for the race, but also trying to secure the newsworthy
achievement of pole position. The Silk Cut Jaguar team were most
definitely not part of that cohort and they instead worked diligently on
vIt was all Nissan ahead of the
1990 race, as evidenced by the
program cover and all the other
promotional materials used by the
ACO. (MRP Covers)
◊ Schuppan Porsche mechanics
prepare two of the nineteen
Porsche 962s entered in the race.
The car in the foreground was the
first of Schuppan’s to use his own
carbon fiber monocoque, but was
crashed in a JSPC race at Suzuka
later in the year and rebuilt using
a new tub. (Martin Lee)
024 David Bull Pub
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
©2024 David Bull Publishing
024 David Bull Publish