Almost Famous (Jaguar XJR-5)

To my eye and ear, the Jaguar XJR-5 was the best-looking and sounding IMSA GTP/FIA Group C car of the 1980's.  Alas for Jaguar, Porsche's venturi tunnels and wing were a better aero solution, and its turbo 6 was more powerful than Jag's normally aspirated 12.  The XJR-5 was slightly bigger and heavier than the Porsche 962.

In 1983, Bob Tullius, a longtime SCCA racer of MGB's, Triumphs, and XK-E's, persuaded Jaguar to supply V-12 engines and some financing for IMSA pro racing in the States.  He race-prepped the engines in his own shop.  He hired Lee Dykstra to design the XJ-5.  Dykstra is still engineering for open-wheel teams today; he got his start as a junior engineer in Ford's GT-40 project.  By the mid- 1970's, he was the "D" in Dekon Engineering, which designed and built the Chevy Monza tube-frame IMSA silhouette racer.  (The "k" in Dekon was Horst Kwech; Dekon signified Design and Construction.)

The XJ-5 was competitive in IMSA, but the front-rank Porsche 962 teams had to falter for it to win. Tullius took it to LeMans in 1984.  But, when Jaguar decided to get serious about Group C racing in Europe in 1985, they hired Tom Walkinshaw Racing to do a series of cars (the XJR-6 through 14), the most successful of which were V-6 turbos.  These were the then-famous purple/orange/white "Silk Cut Jags."  They were more competitive (and won LeMans), but not as classy-looking as the XJR-5.

Actually Famous: a later series Silk Cut Jag V-6 turbo at LeMans.

This is the best video with sound I could find of the XJR-5; the low-r.p.m. crackle is fine, but I wish it better-captured the high-rev scream of the V-12:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwHdWReaq8s

Group 44 took two cars to LeMans in 1984.  This car was DNF early with a blown engine.  The #44 car ran as high as
5th, but was never in contention for the win.  Before the transmission failed, it completed enough laps to come 13th.
But the LeMans regulations required that you cross the finish line under power at the end of 24 hours, so it was not
classified as a finisher.  The XJR-5's color scheme (white with narrow two-tone green accent stripes) went back to Bob
Tullius's days as an SCCA amateur: all his race cars looked more or less like this.  That is, sharp.