Start with what the Jaguar XJR-8 is: a 2-door Coupé with 7.0 L 60 degree Jaguar V12, built from 1987, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Tony Southgate for TWR.
The story
The XJR-8 was a race car built by Jaguar for campaigning in the World Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of Group C. It was used during the 1987 season.
What is underneath
The engine is 7.0 L 60 degree Jaguar V12. On the scales it comes to 900 kg. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2780 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Jaguar line-up the Jaguar XJR-8 has a clear place: it replaced the Jaguar XJR-6; it handed the line to the Jaguar XJR-9; the factory was Kidlington, Oxfordshire. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ferrari F40, the BMW 5 Series, the Jeep Wrangler. Nearby in the Jaguar catalogue sit the F-Type and the Vanden Plas.
Owning one today
EPA combined economy is 21 mpg, about $4,450 a year in fuel at the EPA's assumptions. Condition, mileage and specification move any single car a long way from a headline figure.