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Image credits: Jaguar
| | View more photos Coupe Chassis Num: SAJJEAEX8AX220701 |
One of the goals was to create a car that could challenge Ferrari's F40. The result was a 542 horsepower monster matted to a five-speed transaxle and sitting atop an aluminum-honeycomb chassis. An gorgeous aluminum and composite bodywork finished off the design. The engine used was a V6 with help from twin-turbochargers. Zero-to-sixty for the 3500 pounds vehicle took just over four seconds while speeds of 220 mph was obtainable.
With help from TWR, the Jaguar XJ220 won the 1993 Le Mans GT class. This had been the vehicles first attempt at winning this glorious honor.
The silver example shown was offered for sale at the 2006 RM Auctions held in Monterey, California where it was expected to sell between $200,000-$250,000. It was offered without reserve. It is one of only a few XJ220's that has been granted EPA and DOT certification by the state of California. It has been garage kept most of its life and has seen very little road time. At the conclusion of the auction the lot had been sold for $214,500.
There are very few production cars that can claim to be have been born out of a spare-time project, but the Jaguar XJ220 is the most famous of all. Jaguars chief engineer, Jim Randle, dreamt up the idea of creating the ultimate supercar on Christmas and fired up enough enthusiasm with colleagues to start a 'Saturday club' to work on the project.
At first not even the Jaguar board knew about the secret tinkering going at its Engineering Department at Whitley in the West Midlands of Britain. When it did find out, the enthusiasm bubbled over, and the new XJ220 was wheeled out at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Sow as an official Jaguar concept car. The prototype XJ220 was an immense beast, mainly because it had to be accomodated around TWR racing components and Jaguars massive V-Twelve engine mounted in a central position. Still, Keith Helfets aluminium bodywork design was a sublime piece of sculpture.
The response at the 1988 show was rapturous, and the affluence of the times persuaded Jaguar to embark on a production run. Because of production practicalities the design was substantially modified. It was decided that the V-twelve engine was too bulky and so a race-derived 3.5 liter V-six engine was installed instead. Its state-of-the-art specifications included four camsafts, twin injectors, twin turbochargers, four valves per cylinder and dry sump lubrication, and it was capable of pumping out 500bhp.
The smaller engine meant that overal length could be trimmed down by a sizeable 10in, but there was no escaping the massive girth of this sportscar: at 6ft 6in wide, this was the broadest British car ever made.
The specification sheet of the XJ220 read like a sportscar-drivers dream. Its bodywork was an aerospace-type bonded-aluminium honeycomb with Group C racing inspired aerodynamics, The five speed transaxle was mated to a racing AP clutch, ther were centre-lock alloy wheels, massive brakes with four-piston calipers and racing-derived wishbone/inboard suspension. Jaguars performance claims were equally exciting. Its top speed of 220 mph and 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds made it easily the fastest road car on earth at the time. In-gear acceleration was absolutely brutal. To match that explosive power, the racing suspension made the XJ220 probably the best handling supercar ever.
A joint Jaguar-TWR venture called JaguarSport set up a brand new production facility in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, to make a stricly limited run of 350 cars, each priced at $678,000. At first, the order book was over-subscribed by speculators but, when it became odvious that the market for supercars had collapsed, legal proceeding ensued as buyers tried to pull out- an ignominious end to an amazing story.
(Only 350 were built)
At first not even the Jaguar board knew about the secret tinkering going at its Engineering Department at Whitley in the West Midlands of Britain. When it did find out, the enthusiasm bubbled over, and the new XJ220 was wheeled out at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Sow as an official Jaguar concept car. The prototype XJ220 was an immense beast, mainly because it had to be accomodated around TWR racing components and Jaguars massive V-Twelve engine mounted in a central position. Still, Keith Helfets aluminium bodywork design was a sublime piece of sculpture.
The response at the 1988 show was rapturous, and the affluence of the times persuaded Jaguar to embark on a production run. Because of production practicalities the design was substantially modified. It was decided that the V-twelve engine was too bulky and so a race-derived 3.5 liter V-six engine was installed instead. Its state-of-the-art specifications included four camsafts, twin injectors, twin turbochargers, four valves per cylinder and dry sump lubrication, and it was capable of pumping out 500bhp.
The smaller engine meant that overal length could be trimmed down by a sizeable 10in, but there was no escaping the massive girth of this sportscar: at 6ft 6in wide, this was the broadest British car ever made.
The specification sheet of the XJ220 read like a sportscar-drivers dream. Its bodywork was an aerospace-type bonded-aluminium honeycomb with Group C racing inspired aerodynamics, The five speed transaxle was mated to a racing AP clutch, ther were centre-lock alloy wheels, massive brakes with four-piston calipers and racing-derived wishbone/inboard suspension. Jaguars performance claims were equally exciting. Its top speed of 220 mph and 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds made it easily the fastest road car on earth at the time. In-gear acceleration was absolutely brutal. To match that explosive power, the racing suspension made the XJ220 probably the best handling supercar ever.
A joint Jaguar-TWR venture called JaguarSport set up a brand new production facility in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, to make a stricly limited run of 350 cars, each priced at $678,000. At first, the order book was over-subscribed by speculators but, when it became odvious that the market for supercars had collapsed, legal proceeding ensued as buyers tried to pull out- an ignominious end to an amazing story.
(Only 350 were built)
| Photos grouped by event | ||
|
18th Annual Burn Prevention Foundation Concours d'Elegance of the Eastern United States |
Monterey Sports & Classic Car Auction |
2006 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Car Show |
| Jaguar: 1991-2000 |
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speed
Replies: 4 Thursday, May 31, 2007 |
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General Comments
Replies: 69 Monday, January 01, 2001 |
| 1993 Jaguar models |
| Jaguar 220 S Twin Turbo 680 CV |
| Jaguar XJ-S |
| Other Model Years |
| 2001 XJ220C |
| 1994 XJ220 |
| 1988 XJ220 |
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