GROUP C RACING (1982-1992) - Part II

Decline and fall: The three last years (1990-1992)

199O: THE WSPC FOR MERCEDES BUT LE MANS FOR JAGUAR
In 1990 the WSPC is organised for the last year. Indeed the megalomania of FIA president Jean-Marie Ballestre goes so far that he announces - without serious negotiations with the manufacturers - that up from next year the championship will be contested exclusively by the greatest automobile manufacturers using F1 engines. Up from this year their is no longer any distinction between C1 and C2 cars what is a pure discrimination of the small manufacturers having not the slightest chance to beat the former C1 cars. This year the championship will go again over nine rounds of 480-kms. Monza comes back and Jarama, despite its high public attendance disappears from the list. Silverstone comes back and Brands Hatch is out, despite the fact that there are always more spectators at Brands Hatch than on Silverstone. The dangerous circuit of Mexico City has been kept on the list and we go a second time to the American continent as Montreal has been added to the list. In order to achieve the small former C2 completely Ballestre and his royal court decide to abolish the fuel restrictions which had kept the balance between the teams so long.
Early March I receive from Austria's Simon Wiesenthal, living in Paris, full evidence that Ballestre was absolutely no resistance leader during the last World War, as he always claimed with proud, but fully a member of the German Nazi party. I receive even a perfect copy of his membership's card. At a press conference in the Paris George V Hotel, where journalists from all over the world show, I present all received documents to the world press and I announce my withdrawal from Formula One. Although Ballestre menaced me that never more in my life I should set a foot on a F1 circuit, it was the beginning of his end. Some months later he was replaced by Max Mosley as head of the FIA.

In 1990 we loose two works teams at the WSPC. As Jaguar and Aston Martin have been bought by Ford, the general direction decides that it makes no sense to have the two makes competing against each other. So the Jaguar competition team is maintained and Aston's is dissolved. Mazda is only concentrated upon the IMSA Camel Light Competition and the Le Mans 24 hours, and doesn't come back.
At Mercedes rumours go that they'll not return to Le Mans - no round of the WSPC - this year, but that they'll concentrate all their efforts to continue their title of world champion. During the winter months Peter Sauber developed a new car. Since "C10" is difficult to pronounce in German, the new car is labelled as the Sauber C11 Mercedes. The aluminium monocoque is replaced by a more modern and rigid carbon fibre one. Much of the running gear, including the 5-litre M119 twin KKK turbocharged engine, is carried over from the C9.
At Jaguar they wish to forget the previous disastrous season as soon as possible. No special efforts will be done for the IMSA Camel GTP Championship, where the two Jaguars XJR-10 of last year will be maintained. For the new WSPC the 3.5-litre twin turbocharged XJR-11 of last year - certainly not loved by the Jaguar enthusiasts - is improved on small details in order to increase the reliability. Biggest aim, however, is to win a seventh Le Mans. So, in view of Le Mans a new XJR-12LM is built. It uses a monocoque kevlar and carbon fibre compositions chassis and a flat underbody with two venturi tunnels for maximum ground effect. Body is of carbon fibre composites. Engine remains the water cooled 7-litre V12 with two valves per cylinder, using a TWR/Zytek ignition system. During the first five months of the season much more work is done on the new XJR-12 then on the XJR-11 for the championship.
At Nissan - receiving many respect after having won three consecutive times the IMSA Camel GTP Championship - they are busy preparing their new  R90CK. The car is intended to be used at the WSPC and JSPC as well, be it with a different down force for the European and Japanese circuits. Chassis was of Lola Cars International, but unlike the R89C and the GTP ZX-T rest of the car was built in their own shop. Motor was the twin-turbo V8 3.5-litre Nissan VRH35Z earlier used in the R89C. "The R90CK would appear as an evolution of the R89C's design, borrowing many stylistic elements which had been used before. The front end of the car was low, with two deep channels on either side of a slanted nose leading to radiator inlets on the sides of the cockpit. Small slated inlets would also be placed on the leading edge of the car, partially feeding brake cooling ducts. The cockpit would feature a longer raked windshield then the R89C, yet the areas around the cockpit would remain nearly identical, including the sides of the car. At the rear, the rear wing would be mounted high on exposed struts for better downforce." The covered rear wheel arches, used last year, disappeared as they seemed not to contribute to better aerodynamically performances.
At Porsche rumour goes that they will return to Le Mans - in co-operation with Joest Racing - with works cars. The aging 962C, however, is not radically changed. Next to the classic client teams such as Joest, Kremer, Brun Motorsport and Richard Lloyd Racing, Konrad Motorsport joins the WSPC (with two cars, one being shared with Dauer Racing). Of the smaller teams that of the Alméras Bros has disappeared, but Team Davey, the Swiss Team Salamin and Obermaier Racing (at some rounds even with two cars) are still there. Next to Richard Lloyd the Kremer Bros went farther than other teams in the development of the 962C.
At Tm's Toyota they are busy to develop the Toyota 90C-V for the shorter Japanese circuits, whilst their car needs a complete other set-up for the much faster European tracks. Towards the end of the season Peugeot Talbot shows with a fabulous car, some two generations of sports cars ahead over the rest of the field: "Their 3.5 litre car pointed the way to the future and mighty expensive it looked. The car, which looked two generations ahead of the current cars, sported a tiny cockpit, which drivers could barely climb in and out of via removal Plexiglas roof panels masquerading as doors and an all new V10 engine. It proved fragile in the races it took part in, but was clearly fast." That new Peugeot 905 has still all kinds of child diseases when it appears at the two last rounds (Montreal and Mexico City), but nobody doubts that it is a future winner.
Nearly always forgotten by motoring historians is the Spice SE90C using the naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V8 Cosworth DFRS engine, having replaced the former 3.3 Cosworth DFL. Although Britain's Gordon Spice had certainly not the financial means of the big automobile manufacturers, and although he was alone to race naturally aspirated motors, he was, especially towards the end of the season - when at TWR they were more busy with their future Le Mans car than with the rest of the WSPC season - one of the most dangerous opponents of the Saubers C11 Mercedes.

At the two first rounds, Suzuka and Monza, the new Mercedes C11, twice with Schlesser/Ferté at the wheel, realises the double. At Monza, where the Jaguars finish third and fourth, they even realise the double at the qualifications. In Japan (with only 25,000 spectators!) the New Nissan R90CK and new Toyota 90R-V finish as third and fourth. We have to wait round #3, the Silverstone 480-kms (only 15,000 spectators) to see the Jaguars XJR-11 realising the double, with only the new Spice of Velez/Giacomelli in the same lap. For Martin Brundle/Alain Ferté it's there first win of the new season.
This year the Spa 480-kms are organised ten days prior to Le Mans. Mercedes realises its fourth pole position of the year. Mass/Wendlinger and their C11 win a half minute ahead over Lammers/Wallace and their Jaguar. Now the Nissan R90CK is the only car to finish in the lead lap. It's their second podium this season. The Spice SE90C is fourth atone lap.
Mid June - as expected - Mercedes is absent at the Le Mans 24 hours where the Joest Porsches are supposed to have received works support. The four Jaguars XJR-12LM have to fear the five Nissans R90CK. One of them is shared by the new stats of the IMSA Camel GTP Championship: by Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson. Another, shared by Julian Bailey and Mark Blundell realises the pole, ahead over the Brun Porsche of Oscar Laurrari/Jesus Pareja/Walti Brun. Places 3-4-5 go all to the new Nissans. The fastest Jaguars are only seventh and eighth. No less than nineteen Porsches 962C make their appearance at La Sarthe. Of them the cars coming from IMSA are remarkably slower than those coming from the WSPC or the JSPC. The Hunaudières straight is no longer what it always was: an invitation for unbelievable high speeds. ACO placed two chicanes making it less dangerous. Immediately after the start the Nissans pull away, followed by the #1 Jaguar XJR-12LM of Brundle/A. Ferté/Leslie. The struggle seemed indecisive when it already dawned. But then the fastest Nissans and #1 Jaguar all broke, and two Jaguars were found leading the last third of the race. Their most dangerous opponent was the Brun Porsche 962C, having started from the first row. Drama with less than 15 minutes to go when the motor of the P-962C breaks. So Nielsen/Cobb/Brundle and their #3 Jaguar XJR-LM win. With the Brun Porsche out Wallace/Brundle/Konrad can take the second place in the #4 sister car. The seventh Le Mans win for Jaguar is now a fact.
Only one week after Le Mans we go to Dijon for the fifth round of the WSPC, where hardly 15,000 visitors show. Mercedes realises its fifth pole, but Jaguar has - just as Mercedes - one car on the two first rounds. At the finish Mercedes scores once more the double with Schlesser/Baldi winning for the third time. The Nissan R90CK scores its third podium place ahead over the two Jaguars and a works Spice SE90C Cosworth. Four weeks later we are at the Nürburgring where Mercedes scores a new double, with Schlesser/Baldi winning for the fourth time this year. The two Jaguars are third and fourth, followed by the Nissan R90CK being once more before all Porsches.
It's early September when we go to Donington for the last European round of the 1990 WSPC. It's now obvious that at TWR they are already preparing the Jaguar XJR-14 for next year, more than working on the actual cars. Mercedes scores its seventh pole on seven and its fifth double, with Schlesser/Baldi winning already for the fifth time this time. The two Jaguars, having been split by the Tim Harvey/Cor Euser Spice, finished as third and fifth, but will be disqualified for overfuelling, so that the Spice wins its second podium. The other works Spice of Eric van de Poele and Bruno Giacomelli is sandwiched between the two Nissans R90CK finishing as fourth and sixth. First Porsche - a Joest - is only seventh.
Only 16,300 spectators show for the one but last round at Montreal where the Nissan R90CK of Blundell/Bailey finishes at only six seconds from the winning Sauber C11 Mercedes of Schlesser/Baldi. The two Jaguars are eliminated by a broken drive shaft. Porsche scores with the Richard Lloyd 962C GTi only now their second podium of the year, proving that the car aged very fast this year. At the last round in Mexico Peter Sauber gives the young Michael Schumacher a seat in his second car. Schlesser/Baldi pass the chequered flag as first, eleven seconds ahead over Mass/Schumacher in the other Mercedes, but they'll be disqualified for overfuelling, so that young Schumacher wins his first race. The Jaguar XJR-12 is sandwiched between two Nissans finishing second and fourth. Of course Mercedes wins its second WSPC with Schlesser/Baldi winning the drivers championship.

From top to bottom: the twin turbocharged 5-litre Sauber C11 Mercedes having won in 1990 its second WSPC; the 7.0 2v 60°V12 Jaguar XJR-12M having won the 1990 Le Mans 24 hours; the 3.5 twin turbo V6 Jaguar XJR-11 having won the Silverstone 480-kms; a twin-turbo V8 Nissan R90C. Such car conquered the pole at Le Mans, coloured the race until the early morning, and won several podium places at the 1990 WSPC. Last picture is of the fantastic Spice SE90C Cosworth DFSR, having won two podiums in 1990, that's as much as all Porsches together. And that with a normally aspired car consuming half fuel of all the works cars. Always forgotten by motoring historians the Spice has always been a very competitive car, able to fight with the fastest works cars on a track.

In America - where IMSA GTP racing was dominated the three last years by Nissan - Toyota does great efforts to win the market from Nissan. At AAR (Dan Gurney's All American Racers) they have replaced the #98 Toyota 88R by the a second copy of the #99 Eagle HF89 Toyota. Nissan is thus obliged to sharp its weapons if they wish to win for the fourth time. When Castrol Jaguar realises the double at the Daytona 24 hours with the new "all-European" XJR-12, they feel that the threat comes at least from two sides, not only from the AAR Eagle Toyota. Initially they try to counter there direct opponents by entering a third Nissan GTP ZX-T, driven by John Paul jr and Kevin Kegan, racing for a privateers team. But meanwhile they work secretly as hard as they can to bring out already in the course of this season a complete new car, the 3.0t Nissan NPT-90, using the engine of the GTP ZX-T, but now in a more powerful four valves per cylinder version (instead of two). The original Lola-based GTP ZX-Turbo chassis will be abandoned. The new car will not conserve the angular look of the previous car, with the cockpit being rounded and narrower. The large intakes at the nose of the car will also be replaced with smaller duct work, while large vertical snorkels for the turbocharger will be placed on the sides of the car. When the new car is eventually ready to race, early May at the Topeka 300-kms, four other rounds have been contested since Jaguar's double at the Daytona 24 hours. All four, including the Sebring 12 hours, have been won by the old Nissan GTP ZX-T: two by Geoff Brabham/Derek Daly, one by Geoff Brabham/Chip Robinson and one by Derek Daly/Bob Earle. Moreover, the dangerous and fully reliable Jaguars XJR-12 are after Sebring already back to Europe, and Castrol Jaguar has to do the rest of the season with the much more unreliable XJR-10 of last year.
The maiden race at Topeka, where only one new NPT-90 is entered together with two old GTP ZX-Ts, is not directly a success as the new car finishes only as eighth, whilst the Eagle Toyota of Juan-Manuel Fangio II wins its first round. At Lime Rock the new NPT-90 is left home. Now John Nielsen and Price Cobb win with the Jaguar XJR-10, ahead over two Spices and the first GTP ZX-T. The two following rounds are won both by the new Nissan NPT-90: Mid-Ohio by Brabham/Daly, Watkins Glen by Robinson/Earl. The following round at Sears Point is finished by a second win for Fangio II and his AAR Eagle Toyota, letting the NPT-90s of Brabham and of Robinson the two other places on the podium. At the Portland 300-kms the Jaguar XJR-10 of Davy Jones wins for the second time (Jaguar's third win this year at the IMSA Camel GTP), with the AAR Eagle of Drake Olson as second.
We have now four rounds left, the first to come being Road America 500, with Daytona and Sebring one of the three major rounds of the IMSA GTP Series. After a long and close combat Geoff Brabham in the new Nissan NPT-90 can beat Davy James by 23 seconds. Fangio's Eagle Toyota is third, John Paul's old GTP ZX-T fifth.  As Chip Robinson is only ninth with the other NPT-90, it looks as if Geoff Brabham will win once more the drivers championship.
Of the three last rounds two are won by the AAR Eagle Toyota, twice with Fangio II at the wheel, and one by the Porsche 962C (Dyson Racing) of James Weaver. Eventually Nissan won seven out of fifteen rounds, four with their old GTP ZX-T, three with their new NPT-90; the new Eagle won four times (all four with Juan-Manuel Fangio at the wheel); Jaguar won three times, once with their new XJR-12, twice with their old XJR-10; Porsche, bearing the wage of its age, won only once. Of course Nissan won again the IMSA Camel GTP Championship, with Geoff Brabham winning the drivers championship with 196 points against 175 for his team mate Chip Robinson and 132 for Jaguar's Davy Jones. Among the Light racers the three first places go all to Spice racers with Mexico's Tomas Lopez beating the Italians Ruggero Melgrati and Martino Finotto (having done some rounds behind the wheel of an Alba).

Let's also have a look on the All-Japan Sport Prototype Championship (JSPC). Is the dominance of the Porsches eventually over in Japan? Indeed, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda built all three new and more competitive cars. Especially for the championship Nissan developed a new car with low downforce, the R90CP. "The front of the car would feature a higher nose, with the narrow channels eliminated and replaced with large ducts on the inside of the fender. The fenders themselves were also redesigned, with headlights placed vertically instead of the horizontal design on the R89C and R90CK. The cockpit of the R90CK was identical to its R90CP sibling, yet the sides of the bodywork would be changed. Most notably, the rear-view mirrors were integrated into the bodywork on the fender, instead of small exposed mirrors on the side of the windshield. The rear fender would also be different in that the turbo inlet would be placed on the front edge of the fender, instead of on top of the engine cover on the R90CK. For the rear wing, it would be placed much lower on the car, with the rear wheel fender bodywork extending to connect with the rear wing endplates, similar to a style used on the GTP ZX-T in North America."
On their 787 Mazda conserved 2616cc naturally aspired rotary Wankel motor, having proved its reliability in the paste, but the body was redesigned, using carbon fibre panels. The chassis, a monocoque design, was made from carbon and kevlar. The intake system for the rotaries was seriously modified, using to periscopes instead of the roof intake on the 767. Toyota, at least, applied the improvements on the 90C-V as made by AAR on the Eagle Toyota in the States. Of course all those improvements and innovations changed thoroughly the 1990 JSPC where Porsche at once won no more rounds. The new Toyota 90C-V won two rounds, Mazda one round and the Nissan R90CP the three others and the championship. The Porsches were three times runner-up and once third. Nissan won the championship, just as at the IMSA Camel GTP Championship. Masahiro Hasemi and Anders Olofsson (Nissan) won the drivers championship ahead over Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki (Nissan).

From top to bottom: the new 3.0t Nissan NPT-90 having won three rounds at the IMSA Camel GTP Championship (the car had still the GTP ZX-Turbo inscription on the rear wing, despite the fact that it was entirely new); the old 3.0t Nissan GTP ZX-T having won four rounds at the IMSA GTP Championship; and the astonishing AAR Eagle Toyota, having won four rounds at the IMSA Camel GTP Championship.

1991: JAGUAR WINS FROM PEUGEOT, MERCEDES & MAZDA
In 1991 - as was already announced by the end of 1989 - the rules changed completely. There can be no doubt that there has been serious pressure from ACO (the organisers of the Le Mans 24 hours) to ban all types of turbo boosted cars from the track. Under the new rules only normally aspired motors can be used with a maximum capacity of 3.5-litre. In a transition period of one year the old engines can still be admitted, but only with serious weight penalties for cars with turbocharged engines (such as the Porsches 962C). Indeed, minimum weight for the 3.5-litre cars is reduced to 750 kg, whilst the old turbocharged cars must respect a minimum weight of 900 kg! At Le Mans ACO goes still a step further, requiring a minimum weight of 1,000 kg for the turbocharged cars and stipulating that they cannot qualify in the top-10. The small teams, using the normally aspired 3.3 and 3.5-litre Cosworth engine, were convinced to accept the new rules, as they seemed to have at once a chance against the 3.5 litre engines of the big teams. Of course that was no serious argument: all what the users of the Spice SE89C and SE90C could hope was that they could qualify now higher on the grid.
There were now two types of cars being allowed: the new ones forming the "category 1" and the old ones forming the "category 2". The rules modification were a discrimination of the small teams. Why? Because the major automobile manufacturers, having much larger means, could afford to use expensive 3.5-litre F1 engines in their cars, the smaller teams could not.
The rule change was also inspired by the wish to make sports car racing more professional. It gave the impression that at ACO and the CSI they had enough of all those Porsches 962 with their turbocharged engine hanging overall around, for now already ten years. What a lack of respect for such formidable car! The new rules were not welcomed by the large crowds protesting against them at several occasions, even with large banners. The better initiated motoring enthusiasts, however, didn't complain about the new rules as they brought several fantastic cars to the tracks allowing spectacular races among top teams. Main question was how the extremely expensive new formula could survive? Despite continuous promises that the races should receive full TV coverage, nothing of that could be made true. If major teams had to make high costs to use F1 equipment, why they should stay with sports car racing rather than making directly the switch to F1 racing receiving worldwide coverage in the press?
In 1989 a complete season of F1 with my Onyx team cost me $ 16,000,000 for a dozen of races. When in 1991 I spoke in May, at the Silverstone 430-kms, with the guys of Peugeot, Mercedes and Jaguar I heard year budgets oscillating from $ 10,000,000 to $ 15,000,000, and this for only eight rounds (one third less than in F1). So, after only three rounds, my conclusion was that it were fantastic cars, better than what ever before was seen in Group C sports car racing, but that it was fully predictable that the new formula could hardly survive during two or three years. 
The name of the series was no longer WSPC but SWC (Sportscar World Championship). A new logo was developed, banners, flyers, programme books, etc. showed all a professional lay-out, even better than in F1 racing. There are eight rounds on the calendar, seven sprint races over 430-kms instead of 480-kms, and the Le Mans 24 hours as one of the eight rounds. That return on the FIA calendar was certainly not spontaneous, but was provoked by Jean Todt of Peugeot, who in 1990 declared that Peugeot should come back in competition if Le Mans should be again one of the rounds for the world championship. Spa and Montreal were struck off. Dijon was replaced by Magny-Cours. Still no return of Brands Hatch. New was the final round at Autopolis in Japan. Of last year's rounds only Suzuka, Monza, Silverstone, the Nürburgring and Mexico City were conserved.
Of the major works teams Nissan and Toyota refuse to enter the new championship, returning to the IMSA Camel GTP and the JSPC. So we have only four works teams at the start: Peugeot, Jaguar, Mercedes and Mazda (using its very special rotary Wankel engine).
Of them, Peugeot is alone having already tested their car in competition, as last year they showed with the 905 at the two last rounds of the WSPC season. On their 905 Peugeot, with Jean Todt and André de Courtanze as directors, they use a completely new light alloy 80° V10 engine with four valves per cylinder, developing 670 bhp at 12500rpm. The monocoque chassis in carbon fibre is in pure F1 style, manufactured by aerospace engineers from Dassault. The F1 type chassis with room for a narrow cockpit was covered by a composite body, sharing some design cues with the road going Peugeots of the day. Among the works racers we find ex-F1 world champion Keke Rosberg, a pure sprinter having nearly no experience in endurance racing (except for the Spa 24 hours of 1989 where I let him race with Stefan Johansson one of my Group A Ferrari Mondials, having been very poorly prepared at an excessive price).
At Jaguar they already had a 3.5 V6 engine from their XJR-10 and XJR-11, but without turbos it cannot be used for racing. As they belong now to the Ford Group they decide to use the 3.5-litre Cosworth Ford HB V8 Formula One powerplant. Most notably used by the Benetton F1 team, but now badged as a Jaguar, the Ford HB is detuned to about 11,500 rpm (compared to about 13,000 rpm) and aimed to produce slightly less power (about 650 bhp (485 kW) vs. around 700 bhp) with aims at enhanced reliability. Under the direction of Ross Brawn - and no longer of Tony Southgate - John Piper designs the new Jaguar XJR-14 following a new F1 aerodynamic design philosophy. Once ready the new car realised on testing better times than scored by several F1 cars.
Unlike Jaguar’s XJR-14 who has the readily available and proven Ford HB V8 engine from the Benetton B190B F1 car, Mercedes-Benz - racing this year fully under their own name - has to design an all-new purpose-built racing engine: the M291 3.5L flat-12. The engine produces about 650 brake horsepower compared to about 730 brake horsepower produced by 5.0 litre V8 twin turbo found in the Sauber C11. Unlike the Jaguar XJR-14 and the Peugeot 905 the C291 resembles previous sports-prototype, despite the fact that the redesign of the Le Mans Circuit implies that cars with a low drag design, top-end power, straight-line acceleration and top-speed characteristics are no longer required. Unlike the Jaguar (and latterly the Peugeot 905 Evo Bis 1) the Mercedes still features a full width low-drag single-tier rear wing and no front wing. This results in a car having a higher top speed than the Jaguar XJR-14 (and only slightly less than Group C cars) but being slower in the corners than its opponents and showing not the same accelerations. Starting the season Mercedes has only one C291 ready and until half of the season last year's C11 will be used as other car.
At Mazda they continued under the direction of Kenishi Yamamoto the development of their Wankel rotary motor, using seriously less fuel than their competitors and having proved in the past its great reliability. Motor is a four 641cc chamber one, using four Wankel rotors, thus no cylinders and no pistons, enjoying an electronic fuel injection and using three spark plugs per rotor. Compared to last year's 787 the new 787B has a 2.5 cm longer wheel base, a 1.5 cm narrower front track and an improved suspension. Development of the car is in hands of Hugues de Chaunac's Oreca team in France. Winning is certainly not the highest goal of Oreca, rather than proving the crowds how reliable the cars completely different engine is. The car will be raced in category 2, together with the turbocharged Group C cars, entering their real last season.

At the first round at Suzuka, the new 3.5-litre engines are still unreliable. The absolutely superior Jaguar XJR-14 with its impressive rear wing - some roofed F1 - realises in hands of Derek Warwick the pole ahead over Rosberg's Peugeot 905 and Schumacher's Mercedes-Benz C291. Already after four laps the other XJR-14 is abandoned on electric problems. The C291 is in fire after only 21 laps and is abandoned. Rosberg's Peugeot will last until mid-race, when the V10 is gone. Eventually Mauro Baldi (last year's world champion at Mercedes, together with Jean-Louis Schlesser) and Philippe Alliot win with their Peugeot 905 rather lucky the first round. Eleven cars of the fifteen having started reach the finish where nine will be classified.
The absolute superiority of Ross Brawn's Jaguar XJR-14 is fully proven at Monza, where hardly 10,000 spectators show. The XJR-14 qualifies at the first row (a full four seconds faster than the Peugeots) and realises the double with Martin Brundle and Derek Warwick as winners. The Rosberg/Dalmas Peugeot 905 is withdrawn after 64 of 75 laps with a blown engine. The surviving 905 of Baldi/Alliot is only eighth at six laps. Third place goes to the Mercedes C11, after Schumacher had to abandon the new C291 with a blown engine. The all-Dutch Spice SE90C of Cor Euser and Charles Zwolsman finishes at an unexpected fourth place.

From top to bottom: Ross Brawn's fantastic Jaguar XJR-14 having won three rounds and the 1991 world championship; the Peugeot 905 having won rather lucky the first round; the completely new Peugeot 905 EVO 1 Bis having won two rounds, enough to let Peugeot Talbot finishing as runner-up at the world championship; the new Mercedes C291 driven during the whole championship by young Michael Schumacher.

The Silverstone 430-kms give full evidence that Ross Brawn's Jaguar XJR-14 is dominating the (small) field of Cat. 1 cars, although Mercedes makes serious progress as Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger finish as second to the winning Jaguar of Teo Fabi/Derek Warwick and ahead over the other XJR-14 of Martin Brundle. For Peugeot things are not going like they wish: for the third consecutive time Rosberg's Peugeot is abandoned, whilst the other 905 finishes sixth at five laps. However, at Vélizy a complete new 905 is under construction in view of the Le Mans 24 hours. "Apart from the monocoque chassis, no part of the heavily revised 905 Evolution 1 Bis was left untouched. The most notable difference was the completely revised bodywork that had far fewer road going design cues. For high-downforce tracks a separate wing could be bolted onto the nose and the massive rear wing could just as well been taken off a World War I double-decker airplane. The engine was also revised and this SA35-A2 was good for an additional 20 bhp." Unfortunately the new car will be not ready for the Le Mans 24 hours.
At Le Mans Jaguar and Mercedes show with their Cat. 1 cars, res. their XJR-14 and C291, but, despite the high weight penalties, both decide to start with their old Cat. 2 cars, res. XJR-12 and C11, judging that the F1 engines have little chance to survive a 24 hour race. Both have three works cars on the grid and Jaguar has even a fourth privateer XJR-12 at the start. Composition of the grid seems to be a joke with the two Peugeots at the front row, followed by seven Spices and even an ALD.  The reason? Cat 2 cars can only start from rank 11. So we find the #1 Mercedes-Benz C11 having realised the best time on the sixth row, together with the #31 sister car, having realised the third best time. The Jaguar XJR-14 having realised the second best time doesn't start as its drivers switch to the old XJR-12LM. In fact the Peugeots on the front row realised only the fourth and the ninth best time. Of the fourteen Porsches 962C only the two seriously modified Kremers qualify among the top-10. Of the 51 cars having seen in practice only 38 will start, reaching rock bottom.
Immediately after the start the two Mercedes-Benz C11s pull away, followed by the three Jaguars XJR-12. Initially the Peugeots try to follow but after only 22 laps the #5 is abandoned with a blown engine, followed two hours later by the #6 of Keke Rosberg. Although Jean Todt gave all his drivers instructions how to bring their car back to the pits on technical problems, Keke Rosberg walks away from his car, without even taking a look under the motor bonnet. Jean Todt is furious and will fire him for next year. But Keke is a sprinter, not an endurance racer. In 1989, at the Spa 24 hours, we had problems with the light alloy wheels on our by the Dubois Bros poorly Ferrari Mondials. Becoming hot by the brakes the rims became oval, snatching off time after time the inner brakes. Shortly after midnight we were out of spare wheels, and the team chef told Keke that it could take four to six hours to repair his car. So what did Keke? He asked me where he could find in Liège the red light district, coming back at seven in the morning to do his next stint, just as if nothing had happened. O no, Keke was absolutely not an endurance racer. [Keke learnt me how to go full speed at the Radillon; in 1989 I applied his instructions, realising behind the wheel of my 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO the fifth best time, despite the presence of more than 30 new Ferraris F40 at Spa-Francorchamps.]
At 8.30pm there are thus no mare French Peugeots in the race and Mercedes looks like flying away to a new Le Mans victory. I cannot believe my eyes to see Bertrand Gachot at the wheel of the #55 Mazda 787 in second position, the same Gachot who two years earlier ruined no less than seven chassis of my Onyx F1 cars, so many that I fired him from the team at the Spanish GP, to replace him by J-J Lehto. On TV his car was more found with its four wheels in the air, than being raced. I should have put sponsoring publicity on the underside of his car to become rich! Alas, I forgot. And now he made not the smallest mistake, he was heading the XJR-12 Jaguar of Davy Jones, Raul Boesel and Michel Ferté, third two laps further.  With less than four hours to go the impossible happens. The leading Mercedes of the reigning world champion Jean-Louis Schlesser comes into the pits, stopping in a cloud of steam. "It left the Mazda, hotly pursued by the best-placed Jaguar, to finish the race and make history by becoming the first car powered by an unconventional engine, and the first Japanese car ever, to win at Le Mans, two feats that have never been repeated since, in spite of Toyota's gallant efforts." The three works Jaguars finish as 2-3-4, heading the Wendlinger/Schumacher/Kreuzpointner Mercedes-Benz C11 and two other Mazdas 878B behind res. as fifth, sixth and eighth. Three Porsches 962C finish in the top-10 as seventh, ninth and tenth.
At the next round, the Nürburgring 430-kms, before 29,000 spectators (a record since 1982) Peugeot shows with its new 905 Evo 1 Bis. With its large front spoiler and a massive rear spoiler copied from the Jaguar XJR-14 the two new Peugeots are at once more competitive. At the German Eifel where the two Mercedes-Benz C291 run in technical problems during the first hour, the two Peugeots 905 Evo 1 Bis follow the two Jaguars XJR-14 until midrace, when they are betrayed by their engine. So David Brabham/Derek Warwick win the race by four seconds on the other XJR-14 in hands of Teo Fabi and ... David Brabham (racing both cars). The Porsches 962C on ranks 3 and 4 and the Mazda 787 following them finish at no less than six complete laps, proving once more the superiority of the Ross Brawn machinery.
At Magny-Cours for the sixth round of the SWC the new Peugeots are for the first time real challengers for the Jaguars. Keke Rosberg realises the pole ahead over Philippe Alliot in the other 905. Michael Schumacher realises the third best time with the Mercedes-Benz C291, followed by the two Jaguars. Peugeot realises at the finish the double with Rosberg/Dalmas as winners. The Jaguar XJR-14 of Fabi/Brabham is third at two laps, the astonishing Dutch Spice fourth.
It's already October when we go to the bumpy track of Mexico City for the seventh round. This time Philippe Alliot (Peugeot) realises the pole ahead over Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes-Benz C291 and Keke Rosberg in the other 905. The Peugeots dominate realising the double with Rosberg/Alliot as winners. The two Mercedes-Benz C291 are betrayed by engine problems and are abandoned. The Jaguar XJR-14 of Teo Fabi cannot start, having blown up its engine during practice. The Team Salamin Primagaz Porsches 962C finish as third and fifth, sandwiching the all-Dutch Spice SE90C of Cor Euser and Charles Zwolsman, realising their third fourth place of the season.
It's end October when we go to Japan for the 430-kms of Autopolis. Here Teo Fabi (Jaguar), leading the drivers ranking, qualifies as first over Keke Rosberg (Peugeot) and Mauro Baldi (Peugeot). But the race is essentially a gruelling combat between Mercedes and Jaguar. Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger (Mercedes-Benz C291) will take the chequered flag, a half minute earlier than Derek Warwick in the #3 Jaguar XJR-14. Fabi/Brabham follow one minute later with the other Jaguar XJR-14, followed by the Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis of Baldi/Alliot and the other Mercedes C291 of Schlesser/Mass. A works Toyota TS010 will finish as sixth.
Jaguar wins its third World Championship with three victories and 108 points. Peugeot is second, also with three victories, and 79 points. Having won only once this season Mercedes-Benz, the former world champion, is third with 70 points. The drivers ranking is won by Jaguars Teo Fabi. Although he won only once he collected most points with two second places and three third places. Derek Warwick who won twice came seven points short. Mauro Baldi and Philippe Alliot, having won once are third and fourth. 

Top: the famous Mazda 787B having won the 1991 Le Mans 24 hours ahead over three Jaguars XJR-12 and a Mercedes C11. Bottom: the unconventional Wankel engine with four rotors in 641 cc chambers.

At the IMSA Camel GTP Championship the rules have not bee, changed and the famous Porsches 962C are still welcome. That their role is not completely finished is proven at the Daytona 24 hours where a Joest Racing Porsche 962C beats the Nissan R90CK of the reigning champion Geoff Brabham, after another At the Sebring 12 hours Bernd Schneider will qualify at the front row and the Joest Porsches will finish as third and fourth. Joest Racing Porsche qualified as first. At round #10, the Watkins Glen 500-kms, a Joest Porsche, in hands of Bernd Schneider, will again qualify as first. At Laguna Seca, round #11, the fastest Joest Porsche will miss the podium for a couple of seconds. For an aging car, in its tenth year of competition, such results are far from bad.
Eagle Toyota, Nissan and Jaguar are still there with factory cars, but Mazdaspeed is no longer here to power the Argos, so no more Argos in Light this year.
Jaguar has changed from sponsor and is now with the Bud Light Team instead of the Castrol Team. America's Davy Jones receives up from round #4 a twin turbocharged 3.0 litre V6 Jaguar XJR-16 with a complete new glass fibre body and the same gigantic double winged rear spoiler as on the European XJR-14. As second car for Raul Boesel an XJR-10 or XJR-12 with a normally aspired 6.5-litre - car which will be changed for the new XJR-16 towards the end of the season.  This year not Nissan, but Jaguar is the winningest team. With the XJR-10 Davy Jones wins West Palm Beach (round #2) and Raul Boesel the Miami 2 hours. Davey Jones wins four other rounds, all with the XJR-16: Road Atlanta (round #5) ahead over the Nissan NPT-91 of Chip Robinson and the XJR-10 of Raul Boesel; round #8 at Mid-Ohio ahead over the two new Intrepids RM-1 Chevrolet having started from the first row (cf. picture at the bottom of this text); round #11 at Laguna Seca, beating Geoff Brabham and the works Spice of Perry McCarthy; and Road America (round #14) with Chip Robinson as second and the Intrepid of Wayne Taylor as third. So Jaguar wins six rounds out of fourteen, but not enough to win the championship. Three times the XJR-16 of Davy Jones started from the pole.
The championship is once more won by Nissan, using their R90CK at the first round(s), their new 3.0 twin turbocharged NPT-91. And although the defending champion Geoff Brabham won only once at the Sebring 12 hours, he will win thanks to a series of second and third places again the drivers championship with 175 points against 170 for his team mate Chip Robinson and 158 for Jaguar's Davy Jones. Chip Robinson will win two rounds: Topeka ahead over Davy Jones and Wayne Taylor; and Lime Rock ahead over Juan-Manuel Fangio II. At both occasions Robinson started from the pole, just as Geoff Brabham did on winning his round at Sebring. With only three victories and three poles the Nissan scored only half as well in victory lane than Jaguar.
Brand new is the 6-litre normally aspired Intrepid RM-1 Chevrolet, entered by MTI Racing up from round #2 at West Palm Beach for South-Africa's Wayne Taylor. At the second half of the season another Intrepid was entered for Tommy Kendall. At round #10 however, going down the long straight of Watkins Glen, leading into turn five, the right rear hub of Kendall's Intrepid disintegrated, causing the car to veer sharply off to the right. He'll make hard contact with the wall and has both his legs broken. One year later, at a Nascar race on the Glen, J-D McDuffie will be involved in a fatal accident at exactly the same place. Those two accidents prompted the track owners to add an inner loop in 1992. The new Intrepid was the fastest car of the 1991 IMSA Camel GTP Championship, realising five pole position. Already at its maiden race at West Palm Beach (round #2) the car finishes as runner up to the Jaguar XJR-10 of Davy Jones. At New Orleans (round #9) the car will win its first race. During the season it will score another second place, again behind Davy Jones, at Mid-Ohio (round #8). Three other podium places are won with a third place at Topeka, Mid-Ohio and Road America. Nobody doubts at the end of the season that this will be the car to beat in the coming years.
And what happened with AAR's two Eagles, still so promising last year? Dan Gurney starts the season with two Eagles HP90 with a 2.1 twin turbocharged Toyota engine. Later Juan-Manuel Fangio II will receive the new Eagle MkIII Toyota. He'll win three rounds with it: Watkins Glen (round #10), Portland (round #12) ahead over the Nissan of Geoff Brabham and the Eagle HF90 Toyota of team mate Rocky Moran and the final round at Del Mar, heading the Spice SE90P of John Paul jr and the Nissan NPT-91 of Geoff Brabham. Although the Eagle realised no pole positions - against five for Intrepid, three for Jaguar, three for Nissan, two for Joest Racing Porsche and one for the works Spice of Perry McCarthy -  the car is tipped at the end of the season to be Intrepid's greatest challenger to win the 1992 edition of the IMSA Camel GTP Championship of next year.

The Camel Light Championship of this year is dominated by the Comptech Racing Spice SE90P Acura of Parker Johnstone, winning eight of the fourteen rounds: Daytona, West Palm Beach, Miami, Road Atlanta, Topeka, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen and Del Mar. Johnstone is the Lights driver champion with 256 points. Second with 149 points is Canada's David Tennyson having won twice with his Spice SE90P Ferrari: Lime Rock and New Orleans. He finished three times as runner-up: at Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca and Del Mar. But the season's revelation was undoubtedly the Kudzu DG-1 Buick of Essex Racing, having won the Sebring 12 hours and Road America; and having finished, always with America's Jim Pace at the wheel, four times as runner-up: at West Palm Beach, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio and New Orleans. Jim Pace will finish third in the drivers championship with 128 points (the same amount of Ken Knott, who, at most rounds, was the team mate of David Tennyson). The two remaining were won by Italy's Ruggero Melgrati at the wheel of a Spice SE90P Ferrari: Laguna Seca and Portland. He finishes fifth at the drivers ranking with 100 points.

From top to bottom: the 3.0tt Nissan NPT-91 having won only three rounds in 1991, but enough to win once more the IMSA Camel GTP Championship; the 3.0tt V6 Jaguar XJR-16 having won in hands of Davy Jones four rounds - two other rounds were also won by Jaguar, but with the 6.5 XJR-10; the astonishing 6.0 Intrepid RM-1 Chevrolet, having realised five pole positions and one victory.

At the All-Japan Sport Prototype Championship (JSPC) they didn't change the 1991 rules either. Number of rounds was increased by one, seven instead of the traditional six. Nevertheless the JSPC seemed on its retour as the number of entries came seriously down, now that only two Porsches 962C entered all rounds. The 1991 championship is essentially a combat among three factory teams: Nissan, Toyota and Mazda. The Nissan R91CP (similar to the car having won this year's IMSA Camel GTP Championship) wins three rounds: the Fuji 500-kms (round #1) with Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki; the Fuji 1000-kms (round #2) with the same pairing; and the Interchallenge Fuji 1000-kms round #6), always with the same team. But Toyota wins also three rounds, all three with the Toyota 91C-V: the Fuji 500 miles (round #3) with Tom's duo Hitoshi Ogawa and Masanori Sekiya; the Suzuka 1000-kms (round #4) with SARD's  pairing Pierre-Henri Raphanel (F) and Roland Ratzenberger (A); and Iris Ohyama Sugo 500-kms (round #5) with Tom's duo Eje Elgh (S)/Geoff Lees (GB). A private Jaguar XJR-11 was entered by TWR Suntec Jaguar (the same privateers seen at Le Mans) up from round #2, but finishing only at the three last rounds and never higher than sixth. Mazda realised only one podium and two fourth places. The last round, the Sugo 800-kms was won by the Jaguar XJR-14, sold to TWR Suntec, and driven by world champion Teo Fabi and David Brabham. Nissan won from Toyota with 117 points against 114 and Hoshino/Suzuki (Nissan) won the drivers championship by only two points from Sekiya/Ogawa (Toyota). Most alarming, however, was that the number of entrants was much lower than any year earlier, with at some rounds (#3, #5 and #6) less than ten finishers.

For the die-hard autosport freak the 1991 season was, certainly for what concerned the world champion-ship, the most exciting year since the start of Group C racing. Sure, we had no longer seven major automobile manufacturers involved as in the success year 1989, but from a technical viewpoint the Jaguar XJR-14, Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis and the Mercedes C291 were superior cars, able to fight with most of the F1 cars of the same year. Never before sports cars were able to realise such performances. However, it was sure, that without financial help, the formula could never survive. Towards the end of the year there were secret negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone, having monopolised all TV incomes of his F1 circus. If the FIA wished to maintain sports car racing with F1 engines, a part of that F1 TV rights should come back to the sports car teams. It was fully predictable that Ecclestone should never give a dime back from what he earned after the back of all F1 teams. Saying however that Ecclestone killed Group C racing, as he was jealous about its success, is not one bridge too far, it's pure nonsense. Ecclestone made F1 great, and the public response on F1 racing was some thousand times greater than the public response on sports car racing. Via TV an average F1 race reached more than one billion spectators, whilst FIA sports car racing came nearly nowhere on TV and reached not even a half million spectators, that's 2,000 times less than F1. I entered in 1989 F1 racing with only one concrete goal, making my econometric stock exchange model Moneytron well-known among a broad public. Instead of reaching that goal, the only thing which was at once worldwide well known was the long haired non-conventional person I was and I always am. Mid-1989 I had so enough of the several ten thousand syrup lickers hanging around me, that I asked my pilot to fly me over to Kathmandu in Nepal for a couple of weeks. I was convinced that absolutely nobody should recognise me over there. But hardly I put one foot on the tarmac and was surrounded by all kind of strange persons asking me for an autograph and for money. F1 is a world apart, a world having nothing to fear from other autosport. If someone killed Group C racing, it was the FIA, having changed the rules without serious study of the situation. Should they have waited one or two years longer to launch the formula, fast and much cheaper Judd V10 motors should have been available for the smaller teams. What killed Group C racing was FIA's own megalomania. Not Ecclestone. Please, be realistic in your judgement!

1992: PEUGEOT WINS FROM TOYOTA ON AN EMPTY FIELD
FIA's biggest fear at the end of the 1991 season is that one of the master teams - Jaguar or Mercedes - will withdraw from competition at the upcoming SWC season. Because if one of them should retire, the other will automatically follow: "Both are not keen to spend lots of money to loose out to 'down market' makes such as Toyota and Peugeot."  The fact that TWR builds in the States the new Jaguar XJR-17 as a successor of the XJR-16 - also built in the States - gives the FIA officials hope that the Britons will stay in competition. The car is ready by the end of 1991, existing in a 3-litre twin turbocharged version for IMSA racing in the States and in a 3.5 litre naturally aspirated version for the SWC. But after the Sugo 800-kms in Japan Tom Walkingshaw sells - except for the motor and the gear box - the two entered Jaguars XJR-14 to a direct concurrent, to Mazda, using them top be equipped with a new Judd V10 motor to let them being raced as the 3.5 Mazda MXR-01 Judd in 1992. For the specialised press that is a clear hint that the Jaguar XJR-17 will never be raced in Europe, and that Jaguar will withdraw from SWC racing.
At Mercedes they understand already at the mid of the 1991 season that the C291 is a wrong concept as compared to the very aerodynamic Jaguar XJR-14 of Ross Brawn. Moreover the engine developed not enough power and was unreliable. In the second half of the year the 3.5-litre engine is seriously improved. When new blocks are used for the 180° V12, the power increases from 580 bhp to 680 bhp at 12500 rpm (with a maximum of 13500 rpm). The new engine is mounted in the C291 for the final round of the SWC 1991 - round which is easily won by Mercedes at the end of a terrible season. For 1992 a complete new body is developed, highly inspired by the Jaguar XJR-14, including the double rear wing, where the lower wing serves as an extension of the rear diffuser. The large engine is inclined. With higher mounted driveshafts and lower rear wishbones the tunnel is completely cleaned and the airflow - still disastrous on the C291 - is seriously improved. Name of the new car is the 3.5 Mercedes-Benz C292. The car seems reason for the new season when Jaguar announces officially its retirement from the SWC.  At Mercedes they are at once no longer interested to compete with Peugeot and the Japanese, being not their direct opponents on the automobile market. So Mercedes and Sauber decide to switch to F1 being hardly more expensive than actual sports car racing, using somewhat all F1 technique with prices spiralling up. 
So the season has still to start when Peugeot is at once without opponents. The giants Mercedes and Jaguar will be replaced by two very special teams, one owned by a pure criminal, the other by a pure lunatic. Can one fall any deeper?  One new entrant is Euro Racing, a firm created by Holland's Charles Zwolsman. He's well-known by the Dutch police as a drugs dealer and was earlier arrested for whitewashing of drugs money via a purchasing system of exotic cars. After going bankrupt in 1984 with his flower business he becomes leader of a gang counting some sixty persons. He was arrested in 1988 and condemned to two years of prison. Once free he entered in 1991 SWC racing with a Spice SE90C which he drove together with his country mate Cor Euser. Zwolsman knows that at Lola Cars they are in big financial problems now that Nissan decided to build its own CNP-91 at the IMSA Camel GTP Series and to race no longer the Lola built GTP Z-T. Orders from the side of Chevrolet have also been stopped. Zwolsman buys from Lola Cars two of their three new 3.5 Lolas T92/10 equipped with the new 3.5-lire Judd CV 10 engine which is specially built for the 1992 sports cars entering the SWC. The motors are manufactured by Engine Developments Ltd. in Rugby, Warwickshire, a firm created in 1971 by John Judd and former F1 world champion Jack Brabham. The same engines are also sold to Mazdaspeed now that they can no longer use their own rotary motor, so successful at last year's Le Mans. Zwolsman will enter his two Lolas T92/10 at all rounds of the 1992 SWC. 
[At the end of the season Euro Racing goes bankrupt and the two Lolas are sold by the Dutch government. In 1995 Zwolsman will be condemned to five years of prison and a penalty of 28 million euro, coming free in 1997. In 2001 he'll be condemned to six years of prison. Again free in 2005 he'll be arrested once more in 2006 after he tried to override his own judge who is jogging at that moment. When he is arrested the police finds more than 2,000 kg hasj in his farm and several hundred thousands of euros. Actually Zwolsman is still in jail.]
Another newcomer is John Mangoletsi, more dreamer than entrepreneur. He's a man with a mission, fortunately not so dangerous as that other man with a mission, George W. Bush. But at least as crazy. His ambition is to resurrect the legendary BRM (British Racing Motors) of the late Alfred Owen. After the BRM company had ceased to exist the family retained the naming rights and Mangoletsi obtains from them that he can use the name for a new Group C prototype which he'll let make by engineer Paul Brown (ex-Zakspeed). Our lunatic has no money, but by using the name BRM, he finds sponsoring money to start the project. He is so unrealistic that he asks Brown to develop a complete new engine. Of course there is no money for such project and Brown opted for an old 3.0 V12 Weslake which he modernises to a 3.5-litre with a target output of 600 bhp at 12500 rpm. Brown produces a conventional carbon composite chassis and the rest of the car is assembled by Courtaulds Engineering, and finished in the typical BRM British racing green with the orange nose. The car is not ready for the first rounds and will be raced only once, covering in total only 22 laps at Le Mans. After Le Mans Mangoletsi will send his car, the 3.5 BRM P351-Weslake, to the IMSA Camel GTP Championship where it doesn't fit the rules. Back in Europe no more money is found to race it at Donington.
Apart from the criminal and the lunatic, Peugeot will find on its way two serious Japanese constructors, Toyota with their new TS010 and Mazda with the earlier mentioned MRX-01 ex-Jaguar. Toyota will build its own new 3.5-litre motor, the RV10 developing 630bhp. Initially they try to install the new engine in their 91C-V, but the car is not handling well. So they contact Tony Southgate (ex-Jaguar, having been replaced by Ross Brawn) to develop a complete new car, the 3.5 Toyota TS010. By the end of 1991 four units are ready and one of them is entered at the last round of the SWC where it finishes sixth. Then follow a long series of serious testing as Toyota wish absolutely to win the Le Mans 24 hours as did their direct concurrent Mazda last year with noticeable effect on the market. So starting the 1992 season there are no more works cars than the Peugeots, the Mazda MRX-01 (only one of them will be used at the SWC, the other only at Le Mans), the Toyotas TS010, the BRM P351 and the two Lolas T92/10 of Zwolsman. This meagre total of only eight cars will be completed with one Spices SE89C and two Spices SE90C.   

The 1992 SWC is the 40th world championship for sports cars in history. It will be the last one. With the fantastic Porsches 962C all banned and only eleven cars intended to enter it will be the poorest of all editions. Number of track owners still interested in such championship with nearly no starters is extremely low. Eventually FIA will find six circuits still interested in the new formula. At one of them, Le Mans, the old Group C cars such as the Porsches 962C and the Cougars CG26 will be allowed together with some handicraft open prototypes. Eventually there are six rounds, no longer restricted to 430-kms. Monza, Silverstone, Donington and Magny-Cours go over 500-kms, Suzuka over 1000-kms and Le Mans (of course) over 24 hours. The Nürburgring and Autopolis are no longer on the program. 

First round is the wet soaked Monza 500-kms where only 8000 spectators show. There are eleven starters as G.S.R. GmbH enters its 3.5 Gebhardt C91 Ford, last year also seen at a round of the IMSA Cham-pionship. The Peugeots 905 race without their front spoiler and are labelled by the specialised press as 905B although it are, except for the front spoiler, the 905 Evo 1 Bis cars of last year. During the inter-season Jean Todt tested seriously the reliability of the V10 engine in view of Le Mans. At Monza Derek Warwick (Peugeot) is fasted qualifier, sharing the front line with the Toyota TS010 of Geoff Lees and Hitoshi Ogawa. The new Mazda MXR-01 is here with the by Nigel Stroud redesigned Jaguar XJR-14 body and with a Judd CV10 engine having been seriously reworked at Mazdaspeed. In the race Toyota and Peugeot have both one car abandoned, but Yannick Dalmas is leading until two laps before the finish. Then he enters the Variante Ascari from the wrong angle and finishes on his roof in front of the TV cameras. So the Toyota of Lees/Ogawa can pass, winning the race. Although the Peugeot of Dalmas didn't pass the finish line, the car will be classified as second. Of the eleven cars having started, only three take the chequered flag, to of them - the Chamberlain Spice SE89C and the Gebhardt C91 - will be not classified for insufficient distance.
At the Silverstone 500-kms we have again only eleven starters, among them the Gebhardt. The new  BRM P351 is here, but will not be raced. Before 20,000 spectators the Peugeot 905B of Warwick/Dalmas wins after having realised its second pole position. As the other Peugeot and the two Toyotas are retired, the white Mazda MRX-01 Judd finishes as second. Only five cars reach the finish line, one of them, the Lola T92/10 Judd of Stefan Johansson and Jésus Pareja, having finished as third, will be disqualified for use of illegal fuel.
Next round is the Le Mans 24 hours. The eleven regular competitors of the SWC are present (with the BRM P351 in place of the Gebhardt). Peugeot and Toyota bring both a third car in line. The three Toyotas TS010 are backed up by two 3.6 litre V8 turbocharged Toyotas 92C-V, racing in an apart class, and having been strongly weight penalised, just as the seven Porsches 962C and the three Cougars C28S. Drivers of those cars could have not the slightest illusion that they had any chance to win as the weight penalties were disastrous. The rest of the field is completed by three handicraft open prototypes, an old Tiga, an old ALC C289. Eventually only 28 cars will start, the lowest number since a half century. Peugeot and Toyota prepared this race very seriously, having done both at least six tests over 5,000-kms or more. Tests were necessary to improve the reliability of the 3.5-litre F1 engines, having never been made for 24 hour races. Toyota and Peugeot decide after those tests to drive their cars more than 1000 rpm under the maximum capacity of their engines. After the qualifications the first row goes integrally to Peugeot, the second completely to Toyota, whilst we find the third Toyota and the third Peugeot on row three. On row four we find the Mazda MRX-01 Judd (the one in the same colour schema as last year's winner) and a Kremer Porsche 962CK6, res. 14 and 16 full seconds per lap slower than the car in pole position. The last qualified car, an Orion LM Peugeot, is even 1 minute and 45 seconds per lap slower than the fastest, what implies that it will be lapped every two laps! Did we speak about moving chicanes? We did.

Philippe Alliot signs a pole position in 3'21"209, that's a full 14 seconds faster than Peugeot's best time of last year. That proves how hard Jean Todt & Cie worked on their 905 Evo 1 Bis cars. Of course they are driven without the front wing, having not the smallest utility at a Le Mans track where the Hunaudières straight has been intersected by two chicanes. When the French flag comes down the track is misty and wet and weather forecasts claim that this situation will not change during the first half of the race. Up from the start the Toyotas have problems to follow the pace set by the Peugeots. On their Goodyear tyres they miss a correct adherence, despite the fact that they turn laps of more than four minutes. Causing a general stir Volker Weidler - racing on Michelin tyres, just as Peugeot - passes the two Toyotas in front and later also the two Peugeots, to go out at the lead with his #5 Mazda RMX-01 Judd. Everybody believes that he plays only the role of the hare, that he'll slow down after the first hour, but only later Jean Todt realises that this is the Mazda's normal speed on a wet track. Among the 176,000 spectators especially the Britons support the Mazda: it's Tony Southgate's car using a Jaguar body and a Jaguar chassis. They consider the car as one of themselves.  First car to retire, after only 20 laps, is the BRM P351 of Wayne Taylor, catching fire. Thirty laps after the withdrawal of the lunatic's car one of the criminal's cars is abandoned: the #3 Lola T92/10 Judd with the criminal himself behind the wheel: a broken Lola gearbox.
In front the one of the the #5 Mazda MRX-01 suffers from vapour on the windshield, butt can maintain its place in the top-3. The other Mazda, using another type of double wing, higher and deeper, suffers from a deficient road holding. Involved in an accident the car will be retired shortly after midnight. Around mid-race Peugeot and Toyota loose each one car when the delayed #7 Toyota TS010 is hurt by the #31 Peugeot. Until then the surviving Mazda follows always the front-runners without being outdistanced. The track is now dry and the gap between the two leading Peugeot and the first Toyota is shortened. It's six in the morning when the surprising Mazda, until then always in the top-3, looses valuable time in the pits with a broken gearbox suspension and with the loosing bottom plate of the body. More than forty minutes (some twelve laps) are lost in the garage. It's eight in the morning when the two surviving Toyotas follow always the two surviving Peugeots. But then the #8 Toyota comes in the pits where the complete rear suspension is to be replaced. The reparation costs more than an hour and the car drops in the standings from rank 3 to rank 10. The other Toyota (#33) continues, but has lost too many laps on the wet (five laps) to be a real threat for the two Peugeots. 

From top to bottom: the 3.5 Jaguar XJR-17 which will not been raced at the 1992 SWC (a turbocharged version was not entered at the IMSA Camel GTP Championship of the same year); the splendid Mercedes-Benz C291 with the new 680 bhp engine which also will be not raced; the Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis without its front wing (called also 905B) will win in 1992 five of the six rounds of the SWC and if Yannick Dalmas should not had committed a driving error at Monza, it should have been six on six; the Toyota TS010 at Le Mans; the Mazda MRX-01 Judd using the Jaguar XJR-14 body and chassis and a Judd V10 engine transformed by ex-Jaguar Tony Southgate for Mazda (the car on the picture is the Le Mans version); the other Mazda MRX-01 Judd as raced at all other rounds of the 1992 and with the number 6 at the Le Mans 24 hours

Peugeot seems on the way to score the double with their #1 and #2 when, in the early morning, on a nearly dry track, Philippe Alliot finishes with the #2 already the third time in the sandbox. Twenty minutes are lost to free the car and the #33 Toyota TS010 of Raphanel/Acheson/Sekiya passes the Peugeot, conquering the second place. Trying to make a come back with the #8 Toyota, having been delayed by its rear suspension, Jan Lammers realises the fastest lap in 3'32"295. The #1 of Dalmas/Warwick/Blundell has six laps in hand over the blue and white Toyota in second position. Except for the change of the battery and an electronic box the car has an uneventful race, winning Le Mans in front of the #33 Toyota, the #1 sister car and the valiant Mazda MXR-01. Jan Lammers, in the #8 Toyota TS010 finishes on rank 8, headed by a Toyota 92C-V, a Courage C28S and a Kremer Porsche 962CK6. Only one day after the race ACO announces that next year they will withdraw from the FIA Championship and organise the race under their proper rules, allowing again GT cars at the start.
End July we go to Donington for the 500-kms race. With no British car on the track - the BRM P351 doesn't come back - there are only 5,000 spectators to see seven of the ten started cars crossing the finish line. Peugeot scores the double with Baldi/Alliot as winners. Third place is for the #7 Toyota TS010, finishing in the same lap as the two Peugeots. The #4 Lola T92/10 Judd finishes as fourth.
At round #5, the Suzuka 1000-kms, we have again only eleven cars at the start. The Spices SE90C of Bernard de Dryver (#21) and the Italians (#29) didn't make the long trip to Japan, but Chamberlain Engineering shows with a second Spice SE89C, Nissan with the From A Racing Nissan R91CK having seen at the JSPC. A strange British Barn90R Cosworth, also a regular at the JSPC, makes it eleven entries. There are 36,000 spectators all supporting the two Toyotas TS010. However, the race is once more dominated by the Peugeots 905.  Warwick/Dalmas win, one lap ahead over the Toyota of Lees/Lammers/David Brabham. Having been delayed by eight laps, the other Peugeot 905 is third, a couple of seconds in front over the yellow Nissan R91CK of From A Racing.
At the Magny-Cours 500-kms the two Lolas T92/10 Judd of Euro Racing fail scrutineering and are not allowed to start. Shortly after the race the cars will confiscated by the Dutch government to be sold off to private hands for storage in collections. Despite the fact that Peugeot enters a third car - and shows its new 905 Evo 2, the "supercopter" to the press, only eight cars are found at the start. The red Spice of Bernard de Dryver doesn't show. Before 20,000 spectators Peugeot gives its best show, qualifying their three cars on the three first places, and realising the double with Baldi/Alliot as winners and Christophe Bouchut/Eric Hélary as second. The two Toyotas finish as third and fourth. At Magny-Cours Mazda declares that it retires definitively from the SWC next year.
With the two Lolas T92/10 confiscated, and with Mazda retiring; only six cars are left for the 1993 SWC. The FIA still tries to put a 1993 edition on the rails, but with no other manufacturers than Peugeot and Toyota being interested, and with not the smallest interest from most track owners, the SWC will be cancelled. After 40 years there is no longer a world championship for sports cars. Hope that the Peugeot versus Toyota combat can be prolonged at the JSPC is vain. There too Group C racing is stopped by the end of 1992. There too the grids are quasi empty, with only nine cars competing at the five first rounds and six at the last round. Nissan wins four rounds with its R92CP, Toyota two with its TS010.
In the States the IMSA Camel GTP Championship number of entries per round drops under twenty, except for the Daytona 24 hours and the Sebring 12 hours. Number of rounds have been reduced by one. Jaguar has only one car on the grids, not the XJR-16 as last year, but the XJR-14 for Davy Jones. The car realises four times the pole, but scores only two victories (Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio) and two second places. Nissan - no longer co-operating with Lola - wins twice, once with the all-Japanese R91CP of Hasemi/ Hoshino/Suzuki at the Daytona 24 hours, and once with Geoff Brabham and his NPT-91A at Miami. The nine other rounds are all won by the Eagle MkIII Toyota, seven times by Juan-Manuel Fangio II and twice by P-J Jones. Fangio wins the drivers championship with 215 points against 169 for Davy Jones , 132 for Geoff Brabham and 131 for P-J Jones. The Intrepids disappoint with a 2-3 as best result at Mid-Ohio. In 1993 the Eagle MkIII Toyota will win ten of the eleven rounds but Road Atlanta will go to the Joest Porsche 962C. Its the last great show of Group C cars. In Europe the 1993 Le Mans 24 hours will be won once more by the Peugeot 905, realising a 1-2-3. In 1994 a transformed Porsche 962C of Dauer Racing, disguised as a GT1 car will win Le Mans. The 1996 and 1997 Le Mans 24 hours will be won by a Joest Porsche WSC95, using a TWR Jaguar chassis. In 2003 TWR will go bankrupt: a bitter end for Tom Walkingshaw, one of the greatest builders of sports cars in history. [JPVR]

Top: a 3.5 Lola T92/10 Judd of the Dutch gang leader Charles Zwolsman. He bought two copies at Lola Cars. At the end of the season Zwolsman will be arrested as drugs dealer, being unable to contest himself the two last rounds of the SWC. At the end of the season his two cars will be confiscated by the Dutch justice, being sold to collectors. Bottom: the 3.5 BRM P351 Weslake which showed at Silverstone, however without being raced. Qualified as 23rd on 28 at the Le Mans 24 hours, the car will be the first to withdraw after only 20 laps, and will no more seen in SWC competition.