Jaguar's fastest roars again

21:40, Feb 6 2012 Motoring News by Maxine Ashford, drivingforce.uk.net

IT may be 20 years old but the XJ220 remains the fastest, most expensive road-going Jaguar ever built and at 213mph, had the highest top speed of any production car. Between 1989 and 1994 just 350 limited edition cars were built by JaguarSport – the first customer car was completed in June 1992 with a retail price of £470,000. Obviously that sort of asking price attracted the mega-rich and famous and the XJ220 became a celebrity “I want one” item. In fact, it was so popular and demand was so great that it oversubscribed four times in just one day. Jaguar Land Rover has just staged a driving session in the XJ220 with racing drivers on hand to show just how the legendary supercar performs. The venue was Gaydon, in Warwickshire – JLR’s testing centre. First up was chassis 004 – one of just 10 pre-production models which were used for extensive tyre and high speed testing in Texas. My driver was Andy Wallace, a former Le Mans champion, who achieved 213mph in the car during that testing process in the early 90s. After a brief introduction, he explained the difficulty in controlling the 3.5-litre, twin turbo V6 powered car that can race from a standing start to 60mph in less than four seconds. “There’s no power steering, no ABS, no traction control,” he said. “So if you open the throttle fully in a low gear, you won’t be saved by electronics. You really have to be on your game at all times. Just a momentary lapse in concentration and you’ll be spinning out of control. “Basically, you really have to know how to handle the car – it will bite you if you allow it.” As we ambled gentle along the public road to the test track Andy said that as the track was slippery, he would only really open it up on the straight. Famous last words as we approached the first bend at just shy of 100mph. The straight brought speeds just under 185mph – I can only imagine what it would be like on a warmer, dryer day! Surprisingly, the XJ220 is not all about grunt and blistering pace though – it actually has a really stunning interior with luxury premium leather, a radio, sunroof and a charming cassette deck (younger onlookers probably mistook this antiquated technology for an iPod docking station.) The second car to sample was an XJ220 S. In fact, it was the very first XJ220 S which was built using spare parts from the Le Mans cars, including single-piece carbon fibre front and rear clamshells, along with revised springs and dampers. For this left-hand-drive model the luxurious touches were ditched. The interior was more basic with racing seats and no audio device in sight. This time my driver was four-time Goodwood Festival of Speed Champion Justin Law. Once again, the ride was a thrill-seeker’s dream with blistering pace, awesome cornering and bone-rattling comfort. All in all, a brilliant experience although not recommended for the faint-hearted.