“We shook the car down at Donington last week and as I was going down through the Craner Curves for the first time I thought, ‘Flippin’ ‘eck this car’s quick!'”
You wouldn’t think that a racing driver with a history of top-flight competition over many years could still get excited about driving a new car, but former Peugeot factory racer Nic Minassian spent the entire Silverstone Classic in a state of perpetual enthusiasm as he got to play with the sole-surviving Jaguar XJR-14.
“You really feel like a racing driver in this car,” said the UK-based Frenchman. “You have to work to exploit the car’s potential, but it’s stunning how good it is, especially considering it’s now 22 years old.
“This is the kind of car I used to watch at Le Mans as a kid, so I’m really grateful to Bob and Gareth for letting me drive it.”
Bob (Berridge) and Gareth (Evans) own the car and it was they who invited Nic to race the car at Silverstone, despite the fact that this would be in direct competition with their own Mercedes C11; “This is the first time the car’s run since 1991,” said Berridge. “It’s been completely rebuilt by the boys at Chamberlain Synergy and they’ve done a fabulous job. It really is something special.”
After the five-lap shakedown at the Leicester circuit, Minassian’s next chance to get behind the wheel came across the border in Northamptonshire on Friday evening, where he made full use of the 35-minute qualifying session to secure pole – from the hitherto dominant C11 – by more than five seconds.
“I’ve not had so much fun since I tested Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams FW19 in 1997, and I have to say that the Jaguar is already my favourite car after that one. The faster you go, the more the downforce comes into effect; and the more the downforce works, the faster the car goes. It’s not built for comfort, it’s built for speed – and it’s harder to drive than the modern cars as there’s no power-steering and it has an H-pattern shift.
“I did 15 laps last night and just went for it. Bob kept telling me to push it and at one point asked me if I could do a 1:46, which I did without any trouble. And that lap was on old rubber – with new tyres I reckon that car could easily do a 1:43.”
In other words, it’s potentially on the pace of the 2013-spec Audi R18 e-tron quattro and Toyota TS030-hybrid. But these 3.5ltr cars were notorious for being essentially two-seater Formula One cars, so does the XJR-14 feel like a single-seater or a sports car? “I’d say it handles more like a single-seater, and that’s how you have to drive it – with that mindset.”
Minassian also got to drive a contemporary of the Jaguar at last year’s Classic, the Peugeot 905 Evo 1b, although clutch problems prevented it from taking part in the race; so how did the two compare? “It’s difficult to do a direct comparison as the Peugeot had the Le Mans bodywork, so wasn’t fully suited to this circuit; but while both cars are fantastic to drive, I prefer the Jaguar.”
Despite the first of the weekend’s two races not being scheduled to start until 20:30, Minassian had been at the circuit since 09:00 on race day, such was his enthusiasm. “I’m hoping it stays dry as I won’t be able to push as much in the wet. Bob and Gareth are happy for me to go as quickly as I want as long as I don’t put it on its roof!” Alas, the mother of all downpours arrived at just the wrong time and the organisers had little choice but to cancel the twilight race, which was a huge disappointment. However, they managed to tack an extra 12 minutes onto Sunday’s race, which would now run to 42 minutes.
As you can see from the race report (here), the Invitation-class Jaguar went on to dominate the race, as expected, leaving Quick Nic smiling even more than usual afterwards.
“So much pleasure, so much fun; every car should be like this,” he beamed. “It’s a monster of a car – loads of grip, does what you want it to do, really fast, and has superb handling. It’s simple and efficient. I just hope that some of the other top guys out there get the chance to try out something like this one day.
“This has made my year!”
MH
(All Images Jakob Ebrey Photography)
