The stories they can tell….some of which may have to wait a few more years to be told. But with 15 years having elapsed since Andy’s debut win at Le Mans, we can now close the book on that one. And it largely revolves around 2003 partner Jan Lammers….

“Jan is a very clever chap. I’m always praising James for his technical skill (although he hasn't hit an apex in six months!), and Jan’s the same kind of analytical, vastly experienced sportscar driver. And he really needed all that skill during the last hour in 1988…..”

Older readers will remember that the #2 Jaguar was the only one to go through ‘trouble-free’ for 24 hours. Jan Lammers had started the race, and the Lammers / Wallace / Dumfries XJR-9LM was going so well in the early laps, the Dutchman took the fight straight to the three Shell / Dunlop factory Porsches, and led the race outright. Two of the Porsches met problems, the Stuck / Bell / Ludwig car famously ran short of fuel and chugged round to the pits – and the Jaguar guys led virtually throughout. The windscreen was changed at dawn, and although the gap was close all race long, with a few hours left, it was a kind of stalemate. If the Jaguar could just keep going….

“With about 45 minutes to go, it turned out that the layshaft in the gearbox broke….Jan was at the wheel and he sensed something was wrong with the gearbox. It was fortunate that we’d reached that stage of the race where everyone was slowing down. The Porsche was about 90 seconds behind us, they’d tried to close he gap and every time Jan responded. So when Jan was seen to be easing up, the Porsche lot assumed it was because we had a safe enough lead and they didn’t put the pressure on. If only they’d known. Jan was too clever to say anything over the radio (in case it was picked up by the opposition) other than ‘I’ve got a surprise for you at the end of the race’.

“He had to make a pit stop too, in the last 45 minutes. He simply left it in fourth, and the torque of that big old V12 allowed him to pull away.

“When they took the gearbox apart the following week, the innards fell out! It was only the cogs holding it all together, and if Jan had taken it out of fourth….”

With the three surviving Jaguars lining up for a formation finish, the deception was complete. With the marshals on the track and waving their flags for the last two or three laps, the Porsche dropped to nearly three minutes behind.

15 years later, and the ’88 winners are back together again. With '88 partner Johnny Dumfries expected to be driving in the 71st edition of the great race too.

“He’s the ideal man to have on your team, and I was very impressed with John Bosch at the Test Day. I seemed to settle in to the Dome straight away: my first flying lap was a 3:45, and that included passing the pits with a puncture – and then spending 25 minutes crawling round the whole lap back to the garage.

“It just didn’t work out for Jan at the end of Sunday: we had the red flag, then all the traffic, then he broke a driveshaft going for a quick one at the end. But it didn’t matter, we know what pace we can do next month.”

More tales from Wallace and Weaver in due course (including the Mexican toilet story). Plus their predictions for the Le Mans winners this year…..