Jaguar XJ220. Happy 20th Birthday

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‘The Saturday Club’ was unaware in the late 1980s just how much impact their sketches would have. Though it may sound like a cartoon marathon aimed at the under 8-year-olds, this small team of Jaguar’s finest engineers – established to design an XJ13 for the nineties – were the creative team behind the venerable Jaguar XJ220, which celebrates its 20th birthday this week. Incredibly, this was a British engineering success story that almost never was.

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On its first public appearance at the 1988 British Motorshow, the concept-only the Jaguar XJ220 caused such a furor that by year-end Jaguar had already commissioned a production run. To make sure the performance matched the looks, legendary British motorsport outfit TWR was quickly brought onboard.

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Hand built in Oxfordshire, the first example rolled off the belts in 1990. Not since the iconic 1950s Jaguar E-Type had a Jaguar proved so desirable, and those who had already champed through the bit in the two-year interim could now buy their very own. At just shy of 3,000,000 AED however, potential customers would often need a good sit down before signing on the dotted line.

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This didn’t stop the Jaguar XJ220’s rise to prominence. Though financial instability following the recession meant 1500 pre-orders could not be filled, over 275 cars were built before the conveyor belts were switched off in 1994, almost all of which now reside with private collectors. Style played a huge role, with a subtly moulded rear wing, artfully positioned air intakes, and a beguilingly low racing roofline among the headlines. That, plus the car’s explosive power.

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Weighing little more than a folded napkin and housing a 3.5l twin turbo V6 under the bonnet allowed the Jaguar XJ220 to reach 300kmh before its nearest rivals had even laced their boots. A 350kmh run in 1992 made it the fastest production car in the world, a record which remained unbeaten until the arrival of McLaren’s F1. Only in 2000 did another production car beat the Jaguar XJ220’s Nurburgring lap record too.

Such biblical speed made the car’s track debut a foregone conclusion. After taking on and beating the best in the British GT Championship, the race spec Jaguar XJ220C made history in 1993 by winning its class at the legendary Le Mans 24Hrs.

The record books state that Porsche’s 911 Carrera RSR claimed GT honours, but history will forever remember the Jaguar XJ220C’s dominant two-lap victory margin over the Porsche, and its subsequent disqualification.

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Jaguar’s time in the limelight with the Jaguar XJ220 was brief. In production for only two years, history and petrolheads should have forgotten about it by now. After all, alongside Jaguar’s well-established reputation for dignity and propriety, this car’s speed and competitive aggression was, in truth, vulgar.

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But then that was just the point, and why today theJaguar XJ220 remains one of the world’s greatest ever sportscars: Britain’s most sensible manufacturer took a chance, and showed that it too had a quirky side. Happy birthday old boy. Crankandpiston salutes you >>>

Source – interactivejaguar.me

Categories: Road

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