The "ridiculous" Group C Jaguar that roared briefly but loudly

Martin Brundle wasn’t blessed with the best System 1 equipment for his 159 world championship begins. The Benetton B192, which supplied 5 of his 9 grand prix podiums, was in all probability the perfect however it doesn’t take the accolade of his favorite race automobile.

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Ross Brawn’s Jaguar XJR-14 moved the goalposts in world sportscar racing in 1991 and Brundle was Tom Walkinshaw’s part-timer early within the season, in between his Brabham F1 commitments.

The three.5-litre naturally aspirated XJR-14 took pole by 2.5 seconds on the Suzuka opener, solely to be let down within the race by starter motor failure. However Jaguar bounced again at Monza. This time the hole to the remaining was 4s and Brundle completed each first and second, sharing the successful automobile with Derek Warwick and the runner-up with Teo Fabi.

“The automobile was so quick,” says Brundle. “It was an unbelievable automobile, much like F1 speeds. And sizzling inside.

“The entire automobile was a venturi from behind the driving force and it wasn’t overpowered with the Ford HB engine. You may simply do ridiculous issues with it. I bear in mind at Monza on a saturated moist monitor being on slicks, watching the rooster tail out the again, and the automobile was simply caught to the street. A unprecedented automobile.”

Brundle charges his Silverstone efficiency within the BRDC Empire Trophy as his best. A damaged throttle cable price him simply over 9 minutes, or six laps. He then drove the #3 XJR-14 solo, smashing the lap document on the reconfigured circuit.

Brundle seems spent as he stands alone on the podium in third after a Herculean effort aboard the XJR-14

Photograph by: Andre Vor / Sutton Photographs

Throughout his cost, Brundle set a quickest lap of 1m29.372s, 0.7s faster than anybody else and – maybe much more remarkably – 1.6s sooner than he would handle in his Brabham BT60Y throughout the British GP two months later. Certainly, it took till lap 5 of that GP for runaway winner Nigel Mansell’s Williams FW14 to surpass Brundle’s mark on the new-for-1991 format. “That exhibits how good that automobile was,” says Brundle.

Brundle completed third, 4 laps down on the successful sister automobile of Warwick/Fabi and three laps behind the second-paced Mercedes of Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher, having repeatedly overtaken the sector.

“Sportscars appeared to swimsuit my driving type,” says Brundle, who places his 1992 Benetton drive all the way down to his Silverstone effort. “I all the time felt invincible in them, whereas I didn’t in a system automobile, for some purpose.

“I don’t suppose I’ve ever skilled a automobile, aside from the 1991 Jaguar, that mentioned, ‘Come on, let’s go, throw the whole lot at me as a result of I can deal with it’” Martin Brundle

“I feel they tended to have a contact extra understeer and you actually needed to boss them. I all the time had confidence in them. Whenever you really feel assured in a automobile that’s bought numerous downforce you will get some unbelievable pace going.”

Away from his personal racing profession, Brundle has now pushed many machines via his tv work. Dan Gurney’s Eagle-Weslake, the ex-Ayrton Senna Lotus 98T and Lewis Hamilton’s 2018 Mercedes W09 – “simply so superbly sorted” – however they don’t fairly get Brundle’s last vote.

“I’ve pushed 70 F1 vehicles now and the one which stands out is the 2008 McLaren, Lewis’s automobile,” says the 65-year-old of the MP4-23. “It’s a large aerodynamic system. I don’t suppose I’ve ever skilled a automobile, aside from the 1991 Jaguar, that mentioned, ‘Come on, let’s go, throw the whole lot at me as a result of I can deal with it’.

Brawn devised the XJR-14 during which Fabi (left) gained the 1991 title and Brundle starred when F1 commitments allowed

Photograph by: Andre Vor / Sutton Photographs

“Take a look at supervisor Indy Lall mentioned, ‘Pit now’ – I used to be on fairly previous Bridgestones and we had been doing a TV piece – and I didn’t need to. I’ve by no means recognized a automobile that invitations you to go flat-out like that automobile did.

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“Of the vehicles I raced, it’s bought to be the Jaguar and of the vehicles I’ve pushed it’s the 2008 McLaren.”

So, is there something left on the want record? “The Williams FW14B, the one which thrashed us in 1992, spoiled our 12 months as a result of it was so dominant,” Brundle instantly shoots again. “That’s high of my record.”