Old men in XJ220s...on an oval...

[Jim Prower]

This is just....wow. even includes a multi-car accident. This is ridiculous.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

What a waste of those Jags....

 

[boiltheocean]

 

[ExigeEvan]

It's rare supercars actually racing in anger. What could be any less awesome than that?

 

[wfooshee]

I remember when they did that. The original concept (I think) was to tour as a support series for other events but that never worked out. They ended up dumping the whole thing into a few weeks at that 5/8 oval. They even made a right turn by putting a dogleg chicane in place of turn one, and had the audacity to call the the "road" course!

What a waste the whole thing was.

 

[opladener]

If they have enough money to race a supercar, chances are good they have enough money to repair them. Think about it, there are people racing Enzos, FXXs or one-off prototype cars from the 60s and 70s.

 

[Cano]

what the HECK? This would be really cool if it was an actual track.. how about Castle Combe?

But at a small, middle.-of-nowhere oval... bleh. It really hurts to see the Jags crashed like that.

 

[Jim Prower]

I was wondering myself, why this wasn't held in the UK as a support series to something like BTCC. Indianapolis Raceway Park doesn't seem like a great place to be running Jaguar XJ220s...and why the U.S in the first place?

 

[Tornado]

But at a small, middle.-of-nowhere oval... bleh.

I wouldn't call IRP a middle-of-nowhere oval.

If they have enough money to race a supercar, chances are good they have enough money to repair them. Think about it, there are people racing Enzos, FXXs or one-off prototype cars from the 60s and 70s.

A few of these drivers are a bunch of dudes that were retired from NASCAR and Indy at the time. I doubt they owned any of these cars.



Still, this is just... weird. A bunch of old NASCAR and Indy guys driving $600,000+ Jag road cars in a race around a 2/3 mile oval seems like something that someone didn't think through all the way. Its pretty cool for the reasons ExigeEvan mentioned, but still seriously weird. Like an IROC race with cars completely unsuited to using in an IROC race.

 

[astrosdude91]

One guy I think was from the NHRA! This seems like one of those reality shows with "celebrities" in it. It's just a bunch of nobodies and retirees.

What a bizarre racing series. No wonder it didn't catch on. And who ever owned those Jags must have been having hard attacks watching those XJ220's wreck!

 

[Keef]

Oh my, I've never even heard of such a thing. I've seen numerous IROC races but this is just crazy. I've always wanted to see how supercars performed on an oval...but I guess it's already been done lol.

 

[Ardius]

Personally I'd rather see some examples of supercars driven like this rather than locked up in garages or mueseums. It basically never happens so I think we should appreciate the rarity. Whats the point in designing high performance when its never going to use it? At least it was used here.

It amuses me when people say "what a waste" - compared to what? Sitting about in a rich persons garage? Driving to the shops? Acting as a status symbol? Sitting in a mueseum? I would call those things a waste, not racing them.

 

[Glubags]

I thought this was a damned fine piece of television.

 

[Pupik]

David Hobbs was one of the participants, as I recall. Fetch, Roval!

Obviously, a little different than the XJR15 races held in Europe in 1991, called the Jaguar Sport Intercontinental Challenge. The number of laps in the race was a complete mystery until the white flag came out.