In the 1980s supercar battle, Ferrari had the raw F40, Porsche the highly sophisticated 959 and Jaguar had, well, nothing. That is, until its chief engineer, Jim Randle, decided to begin work on an unsanctioned project on a mid-engine, all-wheel drive Jag supercar.
The XJ220 concept, named after its 220 mph (350 km/h) claimed top speed, was unveiled at the 1988 British Motor Show. It sported a 6.2-liter version of Jaguar’s classic V12 engine with a quad-cam system developed for testing in the Le Mans XJR-9 racer and, as Randle envisioned, all-wheel drive.
At the time, Jaguar said that it originally meant for the XJ220 to remain a concept, but customer demand convinced it to award Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR a contract to develop a production version.
Alas, its specs were quite different from the concept that wooed the public: the engine bay did not house a V12 but a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 engine while power was directed only to the rear wheels, and conventional doors replaced the concept’s Lamborghini-style scissor doors.
However, with an output of 542HP and 645Nm (476 lb-ft) of torque, the V6 was no slouch. In 1992, F1 driver Martin Brundle achieved the highest top speed of any production car with the XJ220 hitting 223 mph (359 km/h) at the Nardo speed circuit after the catalytic converters were removed, and 1990 Le Mans winner John Nielsen recorded a 7’47’’37 time at the Nürburgring, a record that stood until 2000.
Two decades later, EVO magazine reunited Nielsen with the XJ220 at the Nordschleife. They also brought along the new XKR-S which with 550HP and 680Nm (501 lb-ft), is the most powerful production Jaguar ever built, eclipsing (on paper, at least) even the mighty XJ220.
They also put Chris Harris in the driver’s seat and unleashed the two “cats” on what is probably the most famous track on Earth.
You can watch the video right after the jump to see if the old cat can show the newly born kitten a few tricks of its own.
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