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Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: Rare Jaguar XJ220S Supercar
Poor timing and other issues hampered Jaguar's race-bred exotic, one of which sold at an Arizona collector-car auction.
The exotic shape of Jaguar's XJ220 supercar was penned by the automaker's chief designer, Geoff Lawson. (Photo: RM Auctions)
With the help of TWR, Jaguar had once again become a prominent force in international sports car racing during the second half of the 1980s. The various TWR developed XJR racers added two Le Mans victories and several world championships to Jaguar's already well-filled prize cabinet.
To celebrate the success, Jaguar introduced the road-going XJ220 supercar, which incorporated some of the technology that brought so much success on the track. TWR had also been involved with the road-car development and later turned the XJ220 into racer as well. For homologation purposes they also built six examples of the XJ220S.
Like the competition car, it also featured a carbon-fiber body and large rear wing. The reworked V6 engine produced around 670 horsepower.
One of these very potent machines, chassis 784, was offered at RM Auctions’ recent Arizona sale, where it sold for $230,000.
Jaguar began exploring the possibility of a production based racing car in the mid-1980s after the British automaker’s competition flame was rekindled by the factory-supported privateer efforts from Group 44 in North America and TWR in Europe.
Built to Group B specification, this supercar would be able to take on the might of Ferrari (288 GTO and the subsequent F40) and Porsche (959 / 961) on the road and track. When the Group B class was binned, Jaguar's engineers quietly worked on with the spectacular XJ220 show car launched at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show as the final result.
By this time, the racing plans were all but forgotten and Jaguar's first supercar served to celebrate the recent successes in the World Sports Car Championship and at Le Mans with the V12-powered XJR-9 Jaguars. Accordingly, the XJ220 Prototype featured a 12-cylinder engine derived from the XJR unit.
In fact, the 6.2-liter V12 was more sophisticated with a twin-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder head. This configuration was also tried on the racing cars but deemed too heavy. In XJ220 guise, it produced around 500 horsepower, which was on par with the performance of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. Like the latter, the XJ220 Prototype sported all-wheel drive with a front/rear torque split of 31/69.
Unlike the all-carbon-composite XJRs, the XJ220 featured a bonded aluminum chassis. Suspension was also competition-inspired with double wishbones and push-rod-actuated dampers.
The potent package was clothed in an aluminum body penned by Jaguar's chief designer Geoff Lawson. His design was very slippery with curvaceous lines, pop-up headlights and a Kamm tail. Like the contemporary sports racers, the XJ220 featured underbody aerodynamics, developing considerable amount of downforce. In good Jaguar tradition, the 220 in the name referred to the potential top speed in miles per hour.
When the XJ220 was launched in Birmingham, Jaguar stressed that it was just a show car and that there were no firm production plans. Interested parties were told that if the supercar became available, it would be priced at around 250,000 British pounds. Well over a year after the launch, in December 1989, Jaguar finally revealed that the XJ220 would be built in a limited run of 220 examples with the possibility to go up to 350 if there was enough demand.
Assigned to further develop and construct the XJ220 was JaguarSport, the joint venture of Jaguar Cars and Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) that also ran the competition program.
To celebrate the success, Jaguar introduced the road-going XJ220 supercar, which incorporated some of the technology that brought so much success on the track. TWR had also been involved with the road-car development and later turned the XJ220 into racer as well. For homologation purposes they also built six examples of the XJ220S.
Like the competition car, it also featured a carbon-fiber body and large rear wing. The reworked V6 engine produced around 670 horsepower.
One of these very potent machines, chassis 784, was offered at RM Auctions’ recent Arizona sale, where it sold for $230,000.
Jaguar began exploring the possibility of a production based racing car in the mid-1980s after the British automaker’s competition flame was rekindled by the factory-supported privateer efforts from Group 44 in North America and TWR in Europe.
Built to Group B specification, this supercar would be able to take on the might of Ferrari (288 GTO and the subsequent F40) and Porsche (959 / 961) on the road and track. When the Group B class was binned, Jaguar's engineers quietly worked on with the spectacular XJ220 show car launched at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show as the final result.
By this time, the racing plans were all but forgotten and Jaguar's first supercar served to celebrate the recent successes in the World Sports Car Championship and at Le Mans with the V12-powered XJR-9 Jaguars. Accordingly, the XJ220 Prototype featured a 12-cylinder engine derived from the XJR unit.
In fact, the 6.2-liter V12 was more sophisticated with a twin-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder head. This configuration was also tried on the racing cars but deemed too heavy. In XJ220 guise, it produced around 500 horsepower, which was on par with the performance of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. Like the latter, the XJ220 Prototype sported all-wheel drive with a front/rear torque split of 31/69.
Unlike the all-carbon-composite XJRs, the XJ220 featured a bonded aluminum chassis. Suspension was also competition-inspired with double wishbones and push-rod-actuated dampers.
The potent package was clothed in an aluminum body penned by Jaguar's chief designer Geoff Lawson. His design was very slippery with curvaceous lines, pop-up headlights and a Kamm tail. Like the contemporary sports racers, the XJ220 featured underbody aerodynamics, developing considerable amount of downforce. In good Jaguar tradition, the 220 in the name referred to the potential top speed in miles per hour.
When the XJ220 was launched in Birmingham, Jaguar stressed that it was just a show car and that there were no firm production plans. Interested parties were told that if the supercar became available, it would be priced at around 250,000 British pounds. Well over a year after the launch, in December 1989, Jaguar finally revealed that the XJ220 would be built in a limited run of 220 examples with the possibility to go up to 350 if there was enough demand.
Assigned to further develop and construct the XJ220 was JaguarSport, the joint venture of Jaguar Cars and Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) that also ran the competition program.
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