Three XJ220s were set aside for a Le Mans programme with Jaguar’s racing partner Tom Walkinshaw – although one was never completed, as the original factory prototype was subsequently procured for competition. That ‘unfinished’ car is now in Don Law Racing’s workshop, being fettled for its original purpose under the guidance of Jeff Wilson – chief mechanic on TWR’s XJ220 programme in 1993.

Two of TWR’s three entries retired with engine problems, but the David Brabham/David Coulthard/John Nielsen car recovered from a lengthy stop to finish a class-winning 10th overall… initially, at least.

“It was all about catalytic converters and whether we should run them or not,” Wilson says. “I felt we shouldn’t – it wasn’t a performance problem, but a cat could have fallen apart and caused an interior blockage, just one more potential problem to avoid. We felt we didn’t have to use them. We’d done an IMSA race at Elkhart Lake beforehand without the cat and officials in the States were happy, so to our minds that was fine. We decided to race in that spec and felt confident we’d be able to win our case if there were any post-race arguments.”