1986 SILVERSTONE 1000km 9

JAGUAR XJR-6 STARTED 3rd | RESULT 1st

As a former president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, Warwick has a special affinity with Silverstone and played his part in one of the circuit’s milestone moments. Outqualified by a turbo Lancia and a turbo Porsche, Warwick’s normally aspirated V12 Jaguar looked strong in race trim and chased leader Alessandro Nannini in the early stages of Silverstone’s round of the 1986 world sportscar championship.

The Lancia was rapid, pulling away at a second per lap as Warwick and Tom Walkinshaw Racing team-mate Jean-louis Schlesser quickly dropped the Porsches. Warwick upped his pace and caught Nannini before the end of the opening stint, Eddie Cheever taking over the XJR-6 and continuing the pursuit, with Andrea de Cesaris now in the

LC2. The American caught the Italian, took the lead, and built a 15s cushion before stuttering with low fuel on his in-lap. That, combined with a slower pitstop, put the Lancia back ahead.

Warwick soon snatched the lead, Nannini retook it, and then the Jaguar went back ahead at Copse in an enthralling dice. Warwick then broke off from the fight to pit with a suspected puncture, which turned out to be a loose wheel spat fouling the tyre.

That put the Jaguar out of sync with the Lancia. Cheever inherited the lead when de Cesaris stopped, and thereafter the Lancia slowed with flagging fuel pressure. That left Cheever and Warwick to cruise home, two laps clear of the Derek Bell/hans Stuck 962 after nearly five hours of racing. It was Jaguar’s first major victory since the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours.

“Jaguar coming back and winning at Silverstone was emotional for everyone, including Tom Walkinshaw,” says Warwick.

“The car was great in race trim, we had a bit of a drama at a driver change – Eddie and I had this love-hate relationship and of course we blamed each other, really with tongue in cheek; it really annoyed Tom and we got a lot of fun out of it.”

The success also came at an important time for Warwick before he made his way back to F1: “In 1986 I was in a pretty bad place, with the loss of the Lotus drive at the end of 1985 because of Senna. I just got in and just drove it as fast as I could, with an eye over the shoulder finding a way to get back into F1.”