Page 34 - On the Prowl: The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

ON THE PROWL
1992-2023: Second Lives for TWR Jaguars
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In 1993, Don was actually present with TWR when they raced at Daytona, giving him a chance to get to know
one car in particular that would become very familiar to him later. He was also present with TWR at Le Mans
in 1993 and 1995 when they ran the XJ220s. The Jaguar supercar would go on to form the core of the Laws’
business, with DLR now established as the world’s most-respected XJ220 specialist.
Law acquired a number of cars from TWR directly. Two came from the USA, XJR-10 #389 and XJR-16 #191.
The -16 was soon sold on to a client, but the company retained #389, and Justin raced it extensively in historic
events with great success, including wins at tracks such as Brands Hatch, Spa and Monza.
Walkinshaw’s efforts to raise money for F1 in the mid-nineties meant that the unusual 1993 XJR-12 that ran
just once, at Daytona, was put up for sale. Although it was mechanically sound, it was filthy and not in a sellable
shape, so TWR asked DLR to prep it for the market. It later ended up in the hands of the US-based collector Nick
Rini, who initially failed to get the car to the finish of any races. He eventually turned to the Laws to prep and run
it and was immediately much more successful.
Over time, a large stash of spare parts was built up, which came in handy when the Laws acquired XJR-12
chassis #190 directly from Walkinshaw.
“It was mounted to the wall of Tom’s office and it had to be craned out,” explains Justin. “Because it had
been on the wall, a lot of the heavy bits had been removed and were missing. Luckily, we had most of the
required parts in our inventory so we could get it running again. We went through and found things like a dry
sump that fitted and an exhaust that kind of looked right.”
“When Nick Rini crashed #193, he wanted to keep racing, so we sold him #190. In fact, we took molds off #190
to fabricate replacement parts for the repair of #193.”
The Laws have worked on a number of the other cars. They were briefly custodians of chassis #291 when it
was in XJR-17 specification. “We ran it for a few races, but it was too slow,” says Justin.
√ Don Law pictured in 1998 with
Win Percy and the 1988 Le Mans-
winning XJR-9, chassis #488. Percy
was a frequent collaborator with
Law, both testing and racing various
cars that DLR was involved with,
such as in a demonstration run at
Le Mans that year. (Justin Law)
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