| The
XJ220 was the brainchild of Jaguar's chief engineer Jim Randle who originally
planned to make a super fast road car, which would feel at home both on the
road and the racetrack. The original concept car was made by a small team of
Jaguar designers and engineers in their own time and purely on a voluntary basis,
and became known as the 'Saturday Club' car. It was unveiled by John Egan at
the Motor Show at the NEC on 18 October 1988.
The XJ220 concept car
had a chassis, engine and drive train that was based on the then Group C racing
Jaguars, but with the addition of a prototype four wheel drive system. At
the same time it offered all of the traditional Jaguar qualities with a beautifully
shaped all aluminum body, styled by Keith Helfet as a modern interpretation
of the classic Jaguar designs, and a superb leather interior.
XJ220 was never intended
to be produced; it was purely a demonstration, like so many concept cars,
of the outstanding abilities of Jaguar's design and engineering team. However,
demand for the car was so great that a feasibility study was carried out by
Jaguar and in late 1989 the project was approved for production. The production
version of the XJ220 was developed and built by Tom Walkinshaw's Jaguar Sport
company at Bloxham near Banbury. The eventual production car used a TWR V6
twin-turbo engine of 500bhp and only had rear wheel drive.
The XJ220 still holds
the title as the fastest ever Jaguar road car, with a top speed of 213mph
(343 km/h) measured in an independent road test. In 1993 an XJ220C, driven
by John Nielsen, David Brabham and David Coulthard took a class win at Le
Mans, but sadly was disqualified two weeks later for a technical infringement.
This car is one of the
original TWR factory cars, chassis number 4 of 4. It was used as the practice
or spare car during the 1993 season, the cars featured at Le Mans and in the
BRDC GT Championship. This particular car has mostly been dismantled and requires
a full rebuild before being race ready.
We also have a full set
of original body moulds for these cars which are available to buy.
£ P.O.A. |