Whenever you go to a race meeting it's always worth a nose around the paddock. Not
necessarily to see the race cars but to see what else is parked up around the back. A race
meeting at Brands Hatch boasted this huge XJ220 parked up behind some vans near the gents'
toilets! You rarely see these huge beasts on the road, so to stumble across one when on a
toilet break can come as a bit of a surprise.
The story behind the XJ220 is an inspiring one yet a sad one too. Professor Jim
Randall (head of engineering) started the ball rolling by sketching out some ideas whilst
on a Christmas holiday back in 1980s. It was the stuff of fantasies - V12, 4WD, slippery
body with ground effects. Together with colleagues in the 'Saturday Club' at Jaguar they
toyed with the idea on an unofficial basis until Jaguar started getting excited by the
idea properly and official plans were put in place to build what was to be the fastest
ever road car.
The Birmingham Motor Show in 1988 saw the unveiling of the V12 powered concept with
the first V6 production cars hitting the road three years later in 1991 (the same year
Jaguar recorded one of its greatest Le Mans results with three V12 engined XJR-12's
finishing second, third and fourth).
The original idea was to use a TWR developed V12 inspired by Jaguar's racing successes
but financial constraints forced the team to use a V6 unit and to drop the four wheel
drive. It was no ordinary V6 though - with twin turbos and huge intercoolers the 3.5 litre
unit was good for 540bhp! Sadly at low revs the V6 sounds positively awful, not singing
until much higher in the rev range when the turbos kick in.
The use of the V6 allowed the chassis to be shortened, although the proportions of
this car are still truly monstrous. The engine sits behind the two seat cabin, with a tiny
boot available behind that. The styling is heavily influenced by the need to cool the
highly tuned engine and also to provide sufficient downforce to keep the car steady at the
217mph top speed. It briefly held the top speed record for a production car until the
awesomely engineered McLaren F1 stole the title.
The cars were built at a new site at Bloxham near Oxford. Three hundred and fifty were
to be built at a cost of £400,000 each. There was trouble ahead. The market for exotic
cars crashed and many speculators had taken punts on the new Jaguar becoming an instant
classic. Buyers refused to proceed with their orders and many a legal wrangle ensued with
cars being sold below list price as a result and only two hundred and eighty-one making it
out of the factory gates.
So where are they now? A very rare sight on the roads in the UK, you're more likely to
see one on a race track. Many were made in left hand drive, and incredibly there are some
still to be found with delivery mileages only, in specialist car dealers around the UK. So
sad that such a milestone in Jaguar's history is so rarely seen. XJ220 owners - whip off
your dust covers and share those beauties with the rest of us!
Top Speed
217 mph
0-60 (mph)
Claimed figures vary between 3.6 seconds and 3.9 seconds
