Jaguar XJ220: История создания и эволюция легенды

Mid engine sports car manufactured by Jaguar
the computer game of the same name

The XJ220 was developed from a V12 engined 4 wheel drive concept car designed by an informal group of Jaguar employees working in their spare time. The initial XJ220 concept car was unveiled to the public at the 1988 British International Motor Show, held in Birmingham, England. Its positive reception prompted Jaguar to put the car into production. Approximately 1,500 deposits of £50,000 each were taken and deliveries were planned for 1992. Jaguar had started to provide factory support to racing team Group 44 Racing, who were using the Jaguar engined XJR 5 in the IMSA GT Championship, supplying V12 engines from 1983 onwards and supporting a Le Mans entry in 1984. Tom Walkinshaw and Jaguar agreed to enter the FIA Group C World Sportscar Championship and developed the XJR 6, which was powered by the same Jaguar V12 engine used by Group 44 Racing. The car was launched during the 1985 season. Jaguar and their Director of Engineering, Jim Randle, felt these racing cars were too far removed from the product available to the general public, especially with the rule changes that mandated the replacement of the Jaguar V12 engine in the forthcoming XJR 10 and XJR 11 racing cars. Therefore, a project was initiated to design and build a car capable of winning Le Mans "in house", just as the C Type and D Type had done. The groundwork for the project was undertaken by Randle over Christmas 1987, when he produced a 1:4 scale cardboard model of a potential Group B racing car. TWR had manufactured a number of these racing V12 engines during the 1980s and they had been raced competitively, with a 7 litre version of this engine featuring in the Le Mans winning XJR 9. Five of these engines still existed, all of which were fitted with dry sump lubrication. One of five of these engines was chosen and considered to be especially useful as the dry sump would lower the vehicle's centre of gravity. The displacement of the V12 was set at 6.2 litres (6,222 cc) for the XJ220. The engine fitted to the XJ220 concept had titanium connecting rods. Tony Rolt also had a long involvement with Jaguar, winning the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans with the factory works team driving the C Type.

Jaguar were unable to develop the XJ220 in house as the available engineering resources were committed to working on the XJ and XJS models. Jaguar and TWR had an existing joint venture, JaguarSport Ltd. formed in 1987 to produce racing cars. Jaguar's board made the decision that subject to contractual agreement, TWR and JaguarSport would be responsible for the XJ220. JaguarSport formed a new company, Project XJ220 Ltd., specifically to develop and build the XJ220. The Porsche's specifications were closer to the Jaguar's, with all wheel drive and a luxurious interior. By comparison, the rear wheel drive Ferrari had a very basic interior, with no carpets, door handles or a stereo. The decision to change the engine was based on engine weight and dimensions, as well as environmental emission considerations. Use of the shorter V6 engine design allowed the wheelbase of the XJ220 to be shortened and its weight to be reduced; the V12 engine was definitively ruled out when it was determined it would have difficulty at simultaneously meeting emissions legislations. As the V64V was originally naturally aspirated, it was necessary to redesign all parts of the engine to accommodate forced induction. A few of the changes included increasing the displacement to 3.5 litres, strengthening the internals and adding two Garrett TO3 turbochargers. The JV6 engine would first be used in the JaguarSport XJR 10 and XJR 11 racing cars; its compact dimensions and low weight made it an ideal candidate for the XJ220. The V64V engine chosen had a short but successful career as a purpose designed racing car engine. The XJ220's exhaust system consists of two catalytic converters, which reduce the power output of the engine. During testing at the Nardò Ring in Italy, one XJ220 had its catalytic converters removed and its rev limit increased to 7,900 rpm; these modifications increased the car's power output by and the car was then driven by 1990 Le Mans Winner Martin Brundle to a top speed of Owing to the circular nature of the track, some (including the British car magazines Top Gear and Autocar) say a speed of is equivalent to on a straight, level road. However, on other tracks it performed differently; when top speed was tested on a straight level road by Road & Track it only amounted to , it was slower than the Bugatti EB 110 at the same event and the Ruf CTR tested there in 1987. The V64V engine had the additional benefit of being very economical for such a powerful petrol engine, according to Jaguar it was capable of achieving In contrast, the Jaguar saloon having the smallest engine of the time, the XJ6 3.2 could only achieve around
AP Racing provided an diameter clutch.

The production model utilised the same Alcan bonded honeycomb aluminium structure vehicle technology (ASVT) as the concept car for the chassis. The chassis design featured two box section rails which acted as the suspension mounting points and would provide an energy absorbing structure in the event of a frontal impact; these were successfully tested at speeds up to An integral roll cage formed part of the chassis and monocoque, providing additional structural rigidity for the car and allowing the XJ220 to easily pass stringent crash testing. The JV6 engines used in the Jaguar racing cars were produced by Swiss engineer Max Heidegger, but delivering the number of engines required for the XJ220 program was considered beyond his capacity. TWR formed a division, TWR Road Engines, to manage the design, development, construction and testing of the engines for the production cars. The JV6 engine used in the XJ220 featured little commonality with the engines Heidegger built for use in the XJR racing cars, being specifically engineered to meet performance and in particular, the European emissions requirements, which the race engines didn't have to meet. FF Developments, in addition to the design work undertaken on the gearbox and rear axle assembly, was given responsibility for the manufacture of these components. The aluminium chassis components and body panels were manufactured and assembled at the Abbey Panels factory in Coventry, before the body in white was delivered to the assembly plant at Bloxham. The car, including chassis and body components, consists of approximately 3,000 unique parts. The first customer delivery occurred in June 1992 and production rates averaged one car per day.

Jaguar had performed high speed testing of the pre production XJ220 with chassis number 004 at Fort Stockton, Texas in 1991 and recorded a maximum speed of , which was faster than any production car at the time.

Press coverage of the XJ220 concept in 1988 was overwhelmingly positive and contributed to the decision in 1989 to put the XJ220 into limited production. The production version of the car was first shown to the public in October 1991, at the Tokyo Motor Show. The first car was launched for press review in Autumn 1991. Performance Car reviewer John Barker was also impressed with the performance as well as the ride and stability of the car, writing "The V6 has a rumbly, loping note which, in league with a remarkably supple ride, belies the speed we are travelling at. I glance to the speedo and have trouble believing that it is indicating 170 mph." Barker was also impressed with the engineering, saying "this car is catalysed, fully homologated and has passed the same tests that a Volvo needs before going on sale", going on to discuss how the vehicle looked at home on the racetrack thanks to the design. Autocars verdict was "Right now, the XJ220 gives us a standard by which all other fast cars can be compared. For the few who will actually own and, hopefully, use their XJ220s, the fact that they are in command of the most accomplished supercar ever made should suffice." In a comparison test published in the Car March 1994 issue, the testers liked the "sheer blistering pace, looks and a superb cabin" but its size, the doors not opening far enough and handling were criticised: "If there's a more evil device on our roads, I wouldn't like to find it, for the XJ220 suffers from immense initial understeer followed by violent and snappy pendulous oversteer." Most disappointing was the engine, at idle it sounded "like someone's clanking a bucket of rusty nails together". While its rival, the Bugatti EB 110, impressed the testers, the XJ220 disappointed: "The Jaguar is outmoded and lacks soul: it looks like a cynical marketing exercise and feels it in its lack of purity and coherence." Motoring journalists have been critical of its size, being too big for a two seater with virtually no luggage space, too wide to fit through traffic restrictors or to drive comfortably on most roads. underwhelming brakes without ABS, poor directional stability and "terrible visibility" were also disliked. Most criticised was the behavior at low revs, the engine sound was described with words like "a pail of nuts and bolts being poured through a Magimix", The recession combined with the drastic changes to the production version left many of those who placed a deposit unable to complete the purchase. The index linking of contracts exacerbated the issue, and added almost £200,000 to the purchase price between early 1990 and mid 1992. The McLaren F1 suffered from similarly poor sales performance, with just 71 cars sold against McLaren's target of 300. McLaren's F1 program eventually turned a small profit due to the sale and servicing of the 28 GTR racing variants produced. Jaguar customers attempting to withdraw from their contracted purchases were given the option to buy themselves out of their contracts, but by 1995, the issue had resulted in legal action as buyers claimed the specification changes rendered any contracts void. Jaguar produced evidence clearly demonstrating that the vehicle specification shown in the contract matched the vehicle that was delivered and the presiding judge, John Donaldson, quickly ruled in Jaguar's favour. The XJ220 appeared in later motoring press articles; Evo journalist David Vivian, writing a head to head test between the XJ220 and the Lamborghini Murciélago in 2009, commented that "going ludicrously fast seems trivially easy" and acknowledged that the decision to change the V12 engine for a turbocharged V6 engine "would garner more acceptance now". The Lamborghini delivered the far better driving experience however: "After the XJ220, it’s almost absurdly agile", "the big difference, and it is massive, is how much more exciting, entertaining and accessible the LP640 is to drive."

A racing version was introduced at the 1993 Autosport International motor show; given the model name XJ220 C, it was built to compete in FISA GT racing. The XJ220 C driven by Win Percy won its first race, a round of the BRDC National Sports GT Challenge at Silverstone. Three works XJ220 Cs were entered in the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in the newly created Grand Touring Class. John Nielsen, David Brabham and David Coulthard won the GT class, beating Porsche by two laps; the other two cars retired, both through engine failure. However, the class win was revoked when the Jaguar XJ220 C was controversially disqualified for failing to run with catalytic converters. The Jaguars had passed scrutiny and completed the first day of qualifying when senior steward Alain Bertaut complained that Jaguar were not running catalytic converters. The cars had been entered under the IMSA GT category and Bertaut claimed that they needed to run with catalysts. Richard Piper, Tiff Needell and James Weaver were holding fourth position until an engine failure during the night, ending their race, whilst the second XJ220 C retired after leaving the road. A lightly modified road going XJ220 was also entered in the Italian GT Championship in 1993, although without factory support; where it raced in Martini livery. This entry predated the factory's Le Mans entry. The XJ220 C was promoted in the United States in the made for TV "Fast Masters" racing series at Indianapolis Raceway Park, airing on ESPN in the summer of 1993 and featuring invited drivers over 50 years old in an elimination format. The competition became a farce due to the cars' viscous Limited slip differentials proving ill suited for the oval track the organizers had chosen, producing strange handling characteristics that resulted in several crashes. TWR developed a further six road cars called the XJ220 S, featuring one piece carbon fibre reinforced polymer front and rear bodywork; the engine was tuned to The XJ220 S models did away with the hidden headlamps of the original and instead opted for perspex covered lights. The S models were essentially road going versions of the XJ220 C race car and as a result featured a much simpler race orientated interior with kevlar seats and the removal of the leather trim. Colin Goodwin, a writer for Autocar, tested an XJ220 S in June 1995 at Millbrook Proving Ground and set the lap record at an average speed of .

The Jaguar XJ220 Pininfarina is a special XJ220 built in 1995 for the Sultan of Brunei and his brother Prince Jefri, who commissioned a number of rare and one off heavily modified cars based on expensive luxury cars. This car was modified by Pininfarina with the redesigned body being manufactured by coach maker Coggiola with modifications including fixed headlights, new rear lights with a redesigned double vane rear wing, and a new interior package. The car also comes with dark green exterior paint.