RE: Jaguar XJ220 - the inside story

[Jazoli]

AER said:

I remember hearing stories that the XJ220 power train was developed in the back of a Tranny van which was sometimes seen going unseemly quick along the M40. Now that would be a real collectors piece!

Justin Law has a transit with XJ220 running gear, having spoken to people who have been passengers in it I believe it is rather nippy!

[annodomini2]

Jazoli said:

AER said:

I remember hearing stories that the XJ220 power train was developed in the back of a Tranny van which was sometimes seen going unseemly quick along the M40. Now that would be a real collectors piece!

Justin Law has a transit with XJ220 running gear, having spoken to people who have been passengers in it I believe it is rather nippy!

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=3...

One of the previous discussions about it.

[300bhp/ton]

AER said:

I remember hearing stories that the XJ220 power train was developed in the back of a Tranny van which was sometimes seen going unseemly quick along the M40. Now that would be a real collectors piece!

You've not seen Top Gear then?

[MyCC]

A good place to stick your cash if you are lucky enough to have the £150-200k needed. Values will almost certainly rise significantly in the next 10 years.

To me the best looking supercar of recent memory.

Regards,

My CC.

[Funpotato]

Gorbyrev said:

Welcome first poster - great username too!

Cheers!

[lambo_xx]

BelfastBoy said:

Buy one for, oh, £100k or so(?), then take it to these guys and upgrade away:

http://www.donlawracing.com/220_Index.htm

Good luck finding one for £100K now adays. They've shot up in the past few years

[lambo_xx]

BelfastBoy said:

I had an idea they could be bought for £100k, but can't remember where that came from because it's clearly wrong! Here's some currently on sale in the UK:

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...

I know you'd have to be pretty brave and individual to take a punt on an XJ220 over something more modern, but if I had everything else I ever wanted and still had £159k spare, I think I could be persuaded to go for that blue one!

Off-topic time: Oakfields have some pretty unusual and rare machinery on sale, so their site is worth a browse:

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01x.asp?offs...

I bought my XJ220 last year and absolutely love it. I looked at one that Oakfields were selling and let me just put it this way, Pistonheads "naming and shaming" policy prohibits me from expressing my feelings and experience with Oakfields! Needless to say I didn't buy from them and certainly wouldn’t in the future!

[Verde]

That was a wonderful and informative story. I had no idea of the backstory at all. I've always had a love/hate view of that car. Stunning in a bit-bloated type of way. Could never tell it if was a road car or a race car. And I'm a believer in a turbo V6 - being a Porsche lover. So I could never understand what everyone was whining about.
Sure would love to have one in my garage. What a beauty.
V

[richardaucock]

lambo_xx said:

I bought my XJ220 last year and absolutely love it.

Deep respect! How do you find it, compared to the more modern cars in your fleet?

[RufMD]

What a timely story ! I just acquired one of the 5 XJ220 "S" models, #220779, Orange with black wheels, came of the transporter last night. As most of your know, Jaguar Sport was a collaboration between Tom Walkinshaw's TWR and Jaguar, and led to many racing success in the 80's and 90's as well as production of the XJ220 at Bloxham. When Jaguar decided to race the XJ220 at LeMans in the GT category, TWR built 3 race versions, the XJ220 "C". One of these won the GT category at LeMans in 1994 with coulthard at the wheel....only to be disqualified on a technicality that was proven incorrect but upheld due to a "nontimely appeal". In order to homologate this race car, TWR built 5 (or six if you count a Tom Walkinshaw special) "S" versions.

The only panels an "S" version shares with the original car are the doors, the rest is replaced with lightweight CF panels. The heavy seats were removed and replaced with leather clad racing buckets. Finally the engine was massaged to 680hp, up from the original 542hp. All in all, almost 700lbs were shaved off the original weight and the "S" version weighs in at 2376lbs. Add 680hp to that weight and the performance quotes of 3.3 secs to 60mph and a top end of 228mph seem plausible

1. 220779 has 2900kms on the clock, has had its fuel cell and clutch replaced and recent gasket service. Going through it quite carefully at the moment but a full driving review will follow. Ive been trying to land one for yonks so to finally acquire one is really exciting.

Edited by RufMD on Thursday 9th August 08:00

Edited by RufMD on Thursday 9th August 08:11

[CBR JGWRR]

Wow... ^

[ZesPak]

That looks absolutely stunning.

What an amazing garage btw.

[gary71]

annodomini2 said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=3...

One of the previous discussions about it.

I used to work at TWR and this van was parked up on the Kidlington site for several years after the XJ220 development was finished. At the time it still had a standard Transit front suspension and wheels, which must have made it quite interesting...

[c_seven]

annodomini2 said:

Jazoli said:

AER said:

I remember hearing stories that the XJ220 power train was developed in the back of a Tranny van which was sometimes seen going unseemly quick along the M40. Now that would be a real collectors piece!

Justin Law has a transit with XJ220 running gear, having spoken to people who have been passengers in it I believe it is rather nippy!

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=3...

One of the previous discussions about it.

Not sure if the Don Law tranny and the development mule are one and the same (assume they are) but I am reasonably reliably informed by one of our engineers that the reason the Transit was used as a mule for XJ220 was because the footprints are pretty much identical (only a few inches in it), so the running gear more or less drops straight in.

[RufMD]

ZesPak said:

That looks absolutely stunning.

What an amazing garage btw.

Thanks mate

[SteveO220]

RufMD said:

1. 220779 has 2900kms on the clock, has had its fuel cell and clutch replaced and recent gasket service. Going through it quite carefully at the moment but a full driving review will follow. Ive been trying to land one for yonks so to finally acquire one is really exciting.

What a fantastic addition to a fantastic collection! Very much looking forward to the road review. The 1993 Le Mans XJ220 story BTW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP6EWxcKux0.

The XJ220 was the absolute dream car from my youth and I find it incredible that I now own one. It looks to my eyes a complete bargain, thanks to all that nonsense about 'should have had a V12 engine'...a car built by TWR, which won the GT class at Le Mans and is basically a racing car with leather seats...

[Justices]

BelfastBoy said:

I had an idea they could be bought for £100k, but can't remember where that came from because it's clearly wrong! Here's some currently on sale in the UK:

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...

I know you'd have to be pretty brave and individual to take a punt on an XJ220 over something more modern, but if I had everything else I ever wanted and still had £159k spare, I think I could be persuaded to go for that blue one!

Off-topic time: Oakfields have some pretty unusual and rare machinery on sale, so their site is worth a browse:

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01x.asp?offs...

They were quite a bit cheaper but have been creeping upwards over the past 12 months. Not sure why, terrible looking thing, certainly not something you'd want to be seen driving*












*say whatever it takes to keep the prices from inflating so I can get one of the most incredible pieces of British motoring history into the garage

[richardaucock]

RufMD said:

What a timely story ! I just acquired one of the 5 XJ220 "S" models, #220779, Orange with black wheels, came of the transporter last night.

Stunning! Thanks for sharing - it's a beauty, alright: absolutely gorgeous.

[Justices]

RufMD said:

That is just fantastic. Waiting for it to reverse off the transporter.. would kill me.

[Daniel1]

Funpotato said:

I remember getting a 1:24 scale model in silver as a very small child. Was my favourite car in the world until I discovered the E-Type. Played with it until its wheels snapped off. Still kept all the parts though. Chuffing marvelous car.

Like this one on my desk? IIRC a garage was doing a promotion where you get tickets per spend at the pumps, send them off for various models. The 1:24 XJ220 was in the shop, the 1:18s had to be sent off for.