Can two decades really have passed since Jaguar stunned the motoring world with its XJ220 supercar?
Clocked at 213 mph at Nardo in Italy it was for a time the world’s fastest production car capable of hitting 60 mph from rest in 3.6 secs in first gear thanks to the 542 bhp and 475 lb.-ft of torque produced by its four-cam, 24-valve 3.5-liter V-6.
In the watery sunshine at Gaydon’s Heritage center its elegant, swooping lines still draw breath from those who have never seen one in the flesh before. The other thing that causes an intake of breath is its sheer size: 197 inches from tip to toe and nearly 87 inches wide this is a car that impresses through its proportions, yet at 3209 lbs. it’s some 330 lbs. lighter than its peers such as the Bugatti EB110GT, Lamborghini Diablo or Ferrari 512TR.
That size translates into a luxuriously large cabin; I had forgotten how easy it was to thread my 74-inch frame into the cockpit and how much elbow room there is – former Jaguar racer and XJ220 development driver, Andy Wallace seemed miles away from me in the leather lined cabin.
The interior layout looks a little forced and dated these days and the absence of power steering is underlined by the steering wheel’s girth.
Don Law, who runs and maintains this car, tells me it’s chassis #004, one of 10 pre-production cars that clocked up 100,000 testing miles for Jaguar and the first to hit 200 mph with Andy at the wheel. After a career in GT racing, “Where it was never damaged,” Don pointedly tells me as I get comfortable behind the steering wheel, it was converted back to road specification.
The V-6 engine doesn’t sound very sophisticated at idle but smoothes out as the revs rise. Likewise the rose-jointed front suspension transmits every grain and pebble on the road back to the steering, the big tires tramlining tugging the steering so a firm grip is needed to stop the car weaving. But once speed is gained things settle down, although the brakes need a firm prod to bring them into service.
Its performance is still breathtaking: 180 mph comes up in a flash, but it’s the wave of torque that accompanies the raw horsepower that provides awesome in-gear acceleration.
Don tells me that as the leading XJ220 service agent and restorer he has something like 200 on his books and regularly sees cars with 30,- 40,000 miles on the clock.
It seemed fitting to have a brief reunion with this car in the year that Jaguar is readying to rock its rivals with a production version of the C-X75 supercar.
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