Legendary racing driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Andy Wallace relived his 1988 victory by taking to the Silverstone circuit to drive the Jaguar XJ-R9 LM during day and night back-to-back with the new 550PS, 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 Jaguar XJR.
Driving at night on the Silverstone circuit gave Wallace the opportunity to test the new LED headlights on the new XJ, which are a first for Jaguar. “Driving at Le Mans back in 1988, it was so hard to see at night,” said Wallace. “We were travelling at around 240mph and it was too fast to see the road ahead. We used the lights more to catch glimpses of landmarks as they whizzed past, so we knew where we were.
The 2016 XJ has had a thorough exterior design refresh and the full LED headlights with unique double ‘J-Blade signature’ daytime running lights are one of the key additions. They are unique in the Jaguar range.
The LED headlights provide a colour temperature closer to that of daylight than the Bi-Xenon lamps they replace, improving visibility and driver comfort and also delivering a significant improvement in energy efficiency.
The most advanced lights ever seen on a Jaguar or Land Rover product, they also accentuate the ‘quad lamp’ design feature that Jaguar sporting sedans have made their own – a feature that also appeared on the XJ-R9 LM.
Main photo credit: Anthony Cullen
