Historic Group C

The 12th and final car of our 12 days of Christmas (yes, we will stop talking about Christmas now...) is our Toyota 88C. This car is currently undergoing a full rebuild and it is getting excitingly close to completion!

For the second to last day of our Christmas campaign we've got the 1987 championship winning Jaguar XJR8/9. This car features the revised and possibly most iconic iteration of the Silk Cut colours.

In the 1987 season 287 achieved 6 podiums from the 9 races entered, including wins at Jerez, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and the Nurburgring. This dominant performance resulted in Jaguar's first ever World Sportscar Championship win.

Photo by Rob Overy

Continuing the Jaguar theme, for the 10th day we have the XJR6-LM (385). The XJR6-LM features a number of visual and mechanical differences compared to the 1985 cars. These included an upgraded 6.5 litre V12 engine from the original 6.2 and the bespoke aerodynamic long tail body was unique for Le Mans. This car is the sole surviving LM and Le Mans was its only race.

This actual XJR6-LM was also the first Jaguar to freshly wear the iconic Silk Cut colours, which of course went on to become one of the most celebrated and recognisable racing sponsorships ever!

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

The 9th day sees XJR6-285, the sister car to 185 posted yesterday. This car achieved a podium on its debut at Mosport making it clear that Jaguar could compete at the highest level against the dominant Porsche and Lancia works teams.

The following three years saw this platform develop into a Le Mans win in 1988, the first win for Jaguar since the D-type over 30 years prior!

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

Happy new year! For the 8th day of Christmas we’re heading into 2024 with the first of the Jaguars from the collection. XJR6-185 was the first TWR Jaguar Group C car and the start of an extremely successful platform which went on to see numerous race wins including two overall Le Mans wins and two World Championship titles.

This car and its sister car uniquely raced in British racing green before the iconic Silk Cut sponsorship came into place the following year.

Photo by RWC PHOTO

For the 7th day of Christmas and the last day of 2023 we have 962-007. This car was the first of the three famous Shell Dunlop Works cars for 1988 Le Mans. It has since been restored to 1987 spec with Rothmans colours and sprint body as raced by Bob Wollek and Jochen Mass.

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

The 6th day of Christmas is back to Rothmans, 956-008 is the oldest Group C car in the collection. It was built new for the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours and raced by the German pairing of Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof. After qualifying in 3rd, just 2/10ths behind the second place Works Lanica and then leading the race for the first few hours it started to experience issues which ultimately led to retirement. It still came away from the race with the second fastest lap and second highest speed.

Just a few weeks after Le Mans, Stefan Bellof entered the prestigious Norisring ‘Money Race’. This was a very important race for the home team and Beloff achieved a clinical pole position and overall win in 008.

In its slightly later life 008 was also used as one of the factory camera cars, capturing what is to this day some of the most incredible racing footage ever recorded!

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

For the 5th day of Christmas we have the Skoal Bandit 956-114, this car was bought new and raced three seasons for John Fitzpatrick’s hugely successful privateer team. This car proved to be extremely competitive with the Work teams, it raced at Le Mans three times earning a 3rd place and two 4th place finishes.

This car also secured Derek Bell his 1986 World Drivers Title which was decided by a tie breaker based on the race result at the Norisring.

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

For the 4th day of Christmas we have another of our Works Rothmans cars. This is 962-008 and was the final 962 built to race in Rothmans colours, it was also one of few 962s to race with a PDK transmission.

This car achieved a podium in every race it finished during the 1987 season at the hands of Derek Bell and Hans Stuck. The one race it unfortunately didn’t finish was Le Mans where it achieved pole position but was forced to retire after just 16 laps due to a burnt piston from suspected poor fuel.

The car returned to Le Mans in 1988, this time dressed in Shell Dunlop colours and with an all Andretti driver lineup, to achieve a 6th place finish.

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

For the third day of Christmas we have our iconic Shell Dunlop car (962-010).

This car looked set for the win at the 1988 Le Mans 24 hours but amazingly ran out of fuel during the race. After crawling back to the pits on just the starter motor the team managed to close the gap to the leading Jag and finish a close 2nd on the lead lap.

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

For the second day of Christmas we have one of the Work Rothmans cars (962-004), seen here before it was converted back to Le Mans configuration.

This car has an amazing history spanning across 4 seasons of World Sportscar racing. It was also incredibly raced by eight Le Mans winning drivers in period!

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

Happy Christmas everybody, to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas we’ll be posting a different car from the collection every day for the next 12 days.

We’re kicking things off with the Richard Lloyd Cabin car (962-200), this car was raced by Derek Bell, Tiff Needel and James Weaver throughout the 1988 and 89 seasons and also formerly owned by Nick Mason!

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

24 is a number synonymous with the Historic Group C collection. As we come to the end of 2023 we'd like to recap on the last 24 months. We've kept the collection cars extremely busy with the anniversary celebrations for 100 years of Le Mans, 75 years of Porsche and 40 years of Group C all falling within the last 2 years. Here's an overview of some of the major events that we've attended throughout 2022 and 2023.

Photo 1 - We started 2022 off with a bang with the Porsche Group C demo at the Goodwood Members Meeting. It was incredible to get 20 of these special cars together including seven from the collection.

Photo 2 - Next up was the Donington Historic Festival where we ran the Cabin and managed to achieve a first in class finish in wet conditions and amongst a strong field of Group C cars.

Photo 3 - The Cabin car (and drivers) continued to impress and at Spa they scored a class podium within an extremely competitive Group C grid.

Photo 4 - The 2022 Festival of Speed celebrated the 40th anniversary of Group C with a 15 car strong display. 962-007 (Rothmans) and 956-114 (Skoal Bandit) took part in demo runs up the hill and XJR6-185 was also on static display.

Photo 5 - At Le Mans Classic Our 1987 world championship winning Jaguar XJR8/9 ran in the Group C race amongst a jaw-dropping field of over 40 Group C cars!

Photo 6 - Next up was the Group C 40th anniversary celebration at Silverstone Classic 2022. We joined in the celebrations with 12 collection cars which really made it a weekend to remember.

Photo 7 - 2023 saw Le Mans centenary celebrations take centre stage at Major events across the world. The first of these that we attended was Heveningham Concours with our Shell Dunlop 962-010.

Photo 8 - The 2023 Festival of Speed celebrated both the 75th anniversary of Porsche and the Le Mans centenary. We took part in the demo runs with 962-004 and 956-114 driven by Anthony Reid. 962-010 also came along for static display.

Photo 9 - Salon Prive saw the introduction of some of the GT cars from the collection. Beside 962-004 and 962-200 we had our Le Mans 'winning' Jaguar XJ220C, 993 GT2R and multi championship winning Works Ferrari 458 GTE.

Photo 10 - The Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court celebrated Le Mans cars through the eras. We showed the iconic Shell Dunlop 962-010, appropriately seen here next to a Silk Cut XJR9 LM...

This rounds off our busy 24 months of motorsport and concours events. These cars are built to be driven and seen so we try our best to share these experiences as often as possible, let's see what 2024 brings!

Photo credits:

Gun Hill Studios - Photos 1, 2, 8 and 9
Rob Overy - Photos 3,4 and 5
MPA Creative - Photo 6
Jason Cheung - Photo 7
Paolo Gibelli - Photo 10

There’s no better way to get into the festive spirit than with a Rothmans 962!

It was great to show 962-008 at the Porsche Club GB ‘A Porsche Christmas’ event. Not only were there an incredible selection of cars on display, we were also joined by some of the original drivers!

Richard Atwood, John Fitzpatrick, Mike Wilds and John Watson were all in attendance to take part in interviews and book signings.

Photography by Gun Hill Studios

We are delighted that you are enjoying the long journey with our ex Le Mans Works Toyota 88C rebuild, so here are a few detail shots to show the latest progress.

The exhaust and intercooler piping is now a lot more complete, the maze of turbo intake and outlet pipes really is a work of art!

You'll also notice that the chassis mounted rear wing support has been fitted at the rear along with air jack. More updates to follow soon…

Next Saturday we’ll be attending the inaugural Porter Press International Motoring Literary and Art Festival at Silverstone (2nd -3rd Dec). The event celebrates motoring books, magazines, art and automobilia and will bring together many of the worlds top motoring writers, artists and publishers.

With an impressive list of personalities from the motoring world there is a busy schedule of panel discussions and interviews. For the Group C fans “The all conquering 956s and 962s” will be a fascinating discussion about the golden era of Porsche endurance racing with John Watson, John Fitzpatrick, Serge Vanbockryck and Sean Roberts.

Although the focus is on the motoring literature and art, there will of course be some special cars on display as well!

The series of Ultimate Works 962/956 books will be available at the event under an exclusive offer and with the opportunity for copies to be signed live by the Group C legends in attendance.

If you can’t attend the event but would still like to get your hands on one of the books, don’t worry! There are copies available online from the following link and the exclusive offers still apply for a limited number of copies.

https://www.historicgroupc.com/38/historic-group-c-books

We're excited to announce that we'll be attending the Porsche Club GB 'A Porsche Christmas' event at Warwickshire events centre next Sunday (3rd Dec).

We’ll be displaying Porsche 962-008, the final Works Rothmans car. We’ll dive deeper into the fascinating history of this car in an upcoming post. The event promises an incredible display of Porsche race and road cars from throughout the brand's rich history as well as special guests. Tickets can be bought via the Porsche Club GB website.

The special guest talks include John Watson, John Fitzpatrick, Richard Atwood and Mike Wilds. As well as an onstage interview with Dickie Meaden and Henry Pearman discussing the 000 Magazine feature of the collection.

The series of Ultimate Works 962/956 books will be available at the event under an exclusive offer and with the opportunity for copies signed live by Group C legends.

If you can’t attend the event but would still like to get your hands on one of the books, don’t worry! There are copies available online with the exclusive offers still applying for a limited number of copies. Find out more here:

https://www.historicgroupc.com/38/historic-group-c-books

Photo by Gun Hill Studios

Toyota 88C rebuild update:

It's been a while since we last updated you on the progress of our Toyota 88C. The car is really starting to take shape and after extensive testing the engine and gearbox are now fitted to the car along with suspension and cooling components.

Although it's amazing to see the car 'naked', shortly it will be reunited with the iconic taka-Q bodywork.

With extensive period history including Le Mans, Daytona and Fuji. We can't wait to see this legend return to the track!

Legendary motoring journalist Dickie Meaden got behind the wheel of our Works Rothmans 962 (007) as part of an extensive 34 page Group C write up in the recent issue of 000 Magazine.

We had a great chat with him about what inspired his love for Group C Porsche and the experience of driving one for the first time. Accompanied by Mark Sumpter of Paragon Porsche and Henry Pearman.

Watch the chat below!

In Conversation with Dickie Meaden - Driving a Porsche 962 for the recent issue of 000 magazine Legendary motoring journalist, Dickie Meaden, got behind the wheel of our Works Rothmans 962 (007) as part of an extensive 34 page Group C write up in the re...

It was a pleasure to be a part of the 75 years of Porsche celebrations at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed.

We brought along three of our Group C cars for the occasion and took to the hill with our Works Rothmans 962 and Skoal Bandit 956!

Touring and Sports Car racing legend Anthony Reid did an excellent job of piloting the Skoal Bandit 956 throughout the weekend. This video gives an exclusive insight into what Porsche, specifically the 962, means to him.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2023 - Porsche 75th anniversary celebrations It was a pleasure to be a part of the 75 years of Porsche celebrations at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed. We brought along three of our Group C cars f...

We're still buzzing from the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend! It was amazing to take our Works 962-004 up the hill for some high speed demo runs.

Big thanks also to Anthony Reid who took over driving duties for the Skoal Bandit 956 and did a wonderful job!

We'll soon have some on board footage of the runs to show you.

Thanks to Gun Hill Studios for the great snaps

We're greatly looking forward to returning to Heveningham Concours this weekend. Heveningham Concours is a unique concours event whereby a selection of the worlds greatest classic and competition cars are displayed and judged in the tiered gardens of the hall. There are also high speed runs up the 'Horsepower Hill' for modern supercars and classics.

This will be the third occasion that we have displayed at the event. We were honoured to win the trophy for best post war car when we showed 962-007 in 2018. In 2019 we returned to show the super rare Toyota 88C. This year we will be showing our Shell Dunlop 962 (010), the car to finish second overall at Le Mans in 1988 with an incredible story.

We can't wait to see some of you there!

Toyota photo by Stephen Boroughs

Not long until we’ll be back on the Goodwood Hillclimb for Festival of Speed!

We’ll have our Skoal Bandit 956 for high speed demo runs as well as a few other cars…

Will we see you there?

Photography by Rob Overy for Moto Historics Ltd

Derek Bell is reunited with his 1989 World Championship Porsche 962 to recreate the iconic ‘In car 956’ video at Silverstone.

Derek talks us through some fast laps in the Richard Lloyd Racing 962 during his high speed demo laps at Silverstone Classic.

Although the circuit layout has changed significantly since the first ‘in car’ video 40 years ago, Derek still shows some major pace!

In car 962 with Derek Bell Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic ‘In Car 956’ video by Duke, we reunited Derek Bell with his 1989 championship car to talk us through some fast...