Between 1992 and 1994, the Jaguar XJ220 was produced by Jaguar in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing as Jaguar Sport and is a mid-engined sports vehicle. Until the McLaren F1 arrived in 1994, the XJ220 held the record for the highest top speed of a production vehicle of 217 mph.
'The Saturday Club' was a very informal group made up of certain Jaguar employees in the early days of the company, and they would meet after-ours and also on weekends to focus on unofficial pet-projects. Jaguar's chief-engineer Jim Randle during the 1980's, joined this group and began work on what he considered to be competition for cars similar to the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. His fantasy was basically a revised XJ13 that came as a lightweight two-seater with a powerful mid-mounted V12 engine. Randle went further with his ideas by choosing all-wheel drive for increased traction and more improved handling and an integral safety-cage so that the vehicle could be raced at extremely high speeds but in a safe nature. The future of this vehicle was to be able to exceed 200 mph.
Jaguar executives saw the concept and were impressed with it. They chose to formally commit company resources to produce it and introduce it at the 1988 British Motor Show. Tom Walkinshaw Racing was hired to create a 6.2 L version of Jaguar's legendary V12 engine with four valves per cylinder, a target output of 500hp and quad camshafts. FF Developments was responsible for producing the all-wheel drive system as they had extensive experience with similar systems dating back to the 1960's and the Jensen FF. Keith Helfet was in charge of the styling of the vehicle and he incorporated scissor-style doors that was similar to the ones used by Lamborghini. The designation XJ220 was used as a reference to the targeted top-speed goal of 220 mph.
When compared to other Jaguar racers, like the XJR-9, the prototype XJ220 was much heavier and weighed around 3,439 lbs. The main purpose of the car was to be a roadcar, and when comparing it against the XJS, though it was 30-inches longer, and 10-inches wider, the XJ220 was still 375 lbs lighter.
In 1989 the Jaguar XJ220 was officially unveiled and came with a hefty pricetag of $580,000 and purchasers had to deposit of $80,000 to be put on the waiting list for delivery. Jaguar had promised to limit initial production to only 200 units with total production wouldn't exceed 350 units. And because of this, many who put deposits on the vehicles were speculators that intended to sell the vehicle at a quick profit.
In October of 1991 the production version of the XJ220 was unveiled to the public after it had undergone some major changes. The drive-train was completely replaced with a different one, and the scissor doors were totally deleted. TWR set some rules and regulations for producing the vehicle and some of those rules were that the car would be rear wheel drive, rather than all-wheel drive, and the turbocharged V6 over the big V12. The V6 engine of the XJ220 is visible through the rear window, and it was the first V6 engine in Jaguar's history and was the first to use forced induction. Keeping it the lightest weight possible, the XJ220 could achieve 0-60mph in just 3.8 seconds, had a performance goal of over 200 mph.
In 1992 the XJ220 entered into production in a purpose built factory at Bloxham near Banbury and the original cars were delivered to customers in July. Elton John and the Sultan of Brunei were original customers of the Jaguar XJ220. The Sultan of Brunei and his brother Prince Jefri bought hundreds of sports vehicle and had them custom appointed by various companies. One of these models was a custom Jaguar XJ220 that had been redone completely by Pininfarina. Some of the modifications included a redesigned double-vane rear wing, and fixed headlights that replaced the pop-up versions that had been originally installed. By 1997 a total of 281 units were produced and few remained on sale. Today the XJ220 is quite a sought-after collectible sports car.
A racing variant of the XJ220 was also produced, called the XJ220C. It was driven by Win Percy and won its first race, a round of the BRDC National Sports GT Challenge at Silverstone. At the 1993 Le Mans 24 Hour race, three works XJ220C's were entered in the newly created Grand Touring Class. Though the two other cars were retired, one was driven by David Brabham, John Nielson and David Coulthard and made a first class win, which unfortunately was revoked just two weeks later when the XJ220C was disqualified for a technical infringement.
Though it had no factory support, an XJ220 was used in the Italian GT Championships in the early 1990s.
by Jessican Donaldson