Bob Tullius, a reasonably successful American racer in the SCCA, created with two friends in 1965 the Group 44 Racing. His ultimate aim was to race, but he realized that in order to get to a higher level, he had to construct his own cars. To finance this all he sold race-items and offered marketing for racing teams. He knew that his cars would always have a white livery with green stripes, thanks to his largest sponsor Quaker State. Group 44 got involved in NASCAR, created a Jaguar GTP for the Transam and even entered a MGB in the 24h Daytona.
The BMC group (Jaguar, Triumph and MG) had a decline in his USA car-selling market. They were about to stop all activity when Jaguar Cars USA vice-president Michael Dale, a amateur racer himself, thought that the only way to continue was getting involved in racing. When Bob Tullius went to Coventry in 1981 to meet Jaguar boss John Egan, he got green light.
One option was to race a Jaguar XJS; the other option was to construct a new GTP car, the Jaguar XJR5. Engineer Lee Dykstra had already realized the Porsche 935 from John Paul Racing for Al Holbert and the fast CAC-CanAm, also for Holbert. His jaguar-mission was to design a car suitable for the American race tracks, but also for Le Mans.
The conventional honeycomb aluminium tub was constructed by Fabcar. Below it was a full ground effect car. The engine was a 5343 cm3 12 cylinder 60 degree in V, Weber carburettors from the JXS, with only 440 bhp. Later all would be upgraded to comply with Group C regulations.
The car was ready in august 1982 and made his debut at Road America. Bob Tullius and Canadian Bill Adam finished third. But the other two races they participated in were a disaster.
The 1983 season started with an accident in the 24h Daytona after realising the seventh fastest time in qualifying. Engine problem at Sebring and an accident at Riverside. After a second place in Charlotte, the XJR5 won the rainy race at Road Atlanta. They won again later in the season in Lime Rock, Mosport and Pocono, always races of a shorter duration.
1983 Miami
Bob Tullius constructed six new chassis for the 1984 season: 2 for IMSA, 2 for Le Mans and 2 spare chassis. He named them XJR5B because he had changed the accessibility to the engine compartment and an extra air-intake behind the cockpit. The engine also got an upgrade to 6l and 540 bhp. In came Brian Redman ( officially retired in 1981) and Harry ‘Doc’ Bundy.
First race was the 24h Daytona. Qualification: a third place for Hobbs-Tullius-Bundy and a sixth place for Redman-Adam-Bedard. Because the Porsche 962 of Mario Andretti suffered from turbo problems, Tullius took the lead of the race for 108 laps. Then both cars got alternator troubles. Tullius in the #44 finished third, while Reman in the #04 was 24th after a long repair due to a blown tyre and an off-road.
A revenge came in Miami. Despite the hot weather conditions and the fierce opposition from the March 83G driven by Emerson Fittipaldi, both Jaguars crossed the line as a winner and as second. More podiums came at road Atlanta and Charlotte.
These good results made that Jaguar send two cars to the 24h of LeMans. The downside was that by doing this, they missed 4 IMSA races and any change on winning the championship. And you rarely win Le Mans at your first attempt. But they were well prepared and all team members had white helmets with 2 green striping!
The best placed car was the #44, driven by Redman-Tullius- Bundy, qualified P14, 18 seconds slower than the Bob Wollek Lancia on pole-position. They started with little fuel, did an early pitstop and were leading the race after hour 1. Thanks to their high speed on the straight and their adequate fuel consumption, they drove around sixth place. But then engine and gearbox problems came up. That made the #44 retire at midnight. The #40, driven by John Watson-Tony Adamowicz and Claude Ballot-Lena retired at 6 am when they were in eight position. Adawowicz had gone off track at Tertre Rouge with a tyre problem. Back in the pits, they retired because engine problems became too complicated to repair.
John Egan was also there and he stated that in his opinion, group 44 would not be able to win at LeMans. Later it became clear that he already started talking to Tom Walkinshaw, racing with Jaguar in the European Tourism championship.
For the rest of the season, the XJR 5 raced in IMSA with some good results. They ended third in the championship behind March and Porsche. Brian Redman ended P6 in the standings, Bundy P7 and Tullius P8.
The 1985 season started bad at Daytona. In the 12h Sebring there was a fourth place for Chip Robinson and Tullius. Then Redman and Haywood won the race at Road Atlanta and this was followed by more podium finishes.
The Group 44 jaguar was on the race-poster for the 24h of Le Mans. With an outside tub looking exactly as the previous year, there was a new rear suspension, more ground-effect tunnels in the chassis and an engine improvement. Against the Porsche, the Tullius-Reman-Ballot Lena car qualified 16th and Redman-Haywood-Adams 17th. The team made an error in the quality of the fuel which led to injection and cylinder problems. Redman retired halway in the race, transmission problems. The car of the boss ran fifth in the 23th hour when the engine stopped. The mechanics repaired it and they finished P13, 50 laps down but winning the GTP category, a first win for Jaguar since 1963.
In IMSA they raced against the Porsches. It would be the next big thing to a 962 Porsche. They won one race, had some second places (Portland, Pocono, Daytona final) and a P3 at Watkins Glen. Haywood ended third in the championship and Robinson fifth.
1985: Road Atlanta
The white and green Jags did not raced again at Le Mans. A new model, the XJS7 was constructed for the 1986 IMSA championship. The car looked like the XJR 5, but if you look closely you find new rear sides and a rear wing being placed more to the rear. That resulted in a better performance on the road. Again the engine got an improvement; but cooling troubles persisted all during the season. They were no match for the Porcches and won only the last race of the season.
Only one car was entered in 1987. They finished in 7 of the 8 races and won twice. The last race for Bob Tullius as a driver and the Group 44 Jaguar was the 24 hours of Daytona in 1988. It was the end of the contract. Group 44 would be replaced by TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing).
