The Jaguar XJ220C

When the GT Class N endurance racing category was announced, the XJ220 was ideally placed to compete within the category. TWR designer Richard Owen was given the task of adapting the Jaguar for GT racing, although when he began the project in 1992 the FIA had still not settled the rules and so he proceeded with a design for IMSA racing in the USA which he assumed would also cover Le Mans and other international races.

Working quickly to the changing rules, TWR was in a position to unveil their version – known as the XJ220C – at the Auto Sports International Show at the Birmingham NEC in January 1993, announcing their intention to compete at Le Mans that year. In order to comply with the homologation requirements, TWR also announced the XJ220S, a limited-production road-going version.

Unlike the production XJ220, the TWR versions would be purpose-built with carbon-fibre replacing most of the aluminium panels for strength and weight-saving. Wider sills and an adjustable rear wing completed the transition process. Further weight was saved with the spartan interior, and what was left, such as the dashboard, transmission tunnel and instrument binnacle, was again replaced with carbon fibre.

Both the nose and tail sections of the car were replaced with composite structures in place of aluminium, and to enable easier access to the mid-mounted engine the entire tail section was made in one removable piece.

Although the basic chassis and floorpan was left unmodified, new wheels and tyres were specified and the suspension was redesigned to accommodate the increased demands that would be made of it on the track. New uprights at the front and rear were provided to allow much greater brake cooling for the larger discs and bigger brake callipers.

The engine and gearbox installation remained similar to that of the standard production model, though TWR did extract some additional power from the V6. To aid cooling, a larger radiator was fitted, the oil flow improved, and a water-to-oil heat exchanger replaced the standard air-to-air version.

After testing at Silverstone, and later at the former airfield at Bruntingthorpe, the XJ220C made its first public début at Silverstone where Win Percy drove the car to a win in the BRDC National GT race.

Le Mans 1993

Four examples, including the prototypes, of the TWR-Jaguar XJ220C cars were prepared to FIA Le Mans specifications in 1993. Two cars were tested on the practice day prior to the race, with David Brabham setting the required times. Three cars were then entered for the race: John Nielson, David Brabham, David Coulthard in XJ220 C 002 (No. 50); Armin Hahne, Win Percy, David Leslit in XJ220C 001 (No 51); and Paul Belmondo, Jay Cochran, Andreas Fuchs in XJ220C 003 (No 52).

A problem occurred during testing when the Race Steward, Alain Bertaut, discovered that the XJ220Cs were not fitted with catalytic converters. As the Jaguars had been built to comply with IMSA International GT class rules they were not compelled to carry emission-control equipment. None of the other Le Mans entries were fitted with catalytic converters either, and Tom Walkinshaw argued the point with Bertaut. The FIA official in charge of IMSA technical regulations supported TWR’s argument, but Bertaut remained adamant. He did eventually agree that the Jaguars could participate pending an appeal. Perhaps there were those who resented Jaguar taking part and had complained to Bertaut?

The 1993 Le Mans was the first year of the GT class and was run on June 19-20th. With the many alterations that had been made to the rules during the preceding months, all was not quite clear by the time of the race, but there was a good showing on the grid. TWR were not worried by the main threat from the Porsche team, they were quietly confident that the XJ220C would hold its own.

For the GT class, there were four Porsche 911 Carrera 2s, seven Porsche 911 Carrera RSRs and the works-backed Porsche 911S Turbo LM, quite a strong showing of a dozen examples. Amongst the others on the GT grid were five Venturi 500LMs and two Lotus Esprits as well as the three TWR-XJ220Cs.

From the start, Hans-Joachim Stück’s 911S Turbo LM took the lead in the GT class and kept the others at bay for over an hour, when the throttle stuck and it had to come into the pits, losing five laps in the process and handing Jaguar the lead. Walter Rohlr took over the Porsche and after some six hours had regained two of the lost laps when he struck the back of another car on the Mulsanne chicane. The oil tank split and the engine seized, putting the Porsche out of the race and leaving XJ220C No 50 still leading in its class. XJ220C no 51 had retired after siz laps when it blew a head gasket.

At 2.55 on the Sunday morning, the No 50 Jaguar began to give trouble and pulled into the pits with a leaking fuel tank. Changing the bag tank took 73 minutes.

The No 52 Jaguar, which had been leading its class at the time, blew a tyre on the Mulsanne straight, spinning it on the track. Fuchs managed to get the car back to the pits, the tyre was changed and Belmondo took over. However, the blow out and the limp to the pits had strained the engine, which was badly overheating, leading to retirement after just a few laps.

Meanwhile, Coulthard had taken control of the remaining Jaguar and clawed back the GT lead ahead of the Porsches, keeping the lead to finish first in class after 306 laps, and fifteenth overall, two laps ahead of the Porsches.

Victory was assured and the three drivers took their places on the podium to receive the trophy. Then politics entered the arena; after the protests from M. Bertaut, the matter of the catalysts – or lack of them – was aired once more. This time the appeal was upheld on a technicality; TWR had failed to lodge its appeal wit the Federation Français du Sport and the Jaguar team was disqualified. Counter protests were mounted and much was made of the fact that there had been no response to any of the appeals or to the questions asked by TWR from the Le Mans authorities. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest maintained their position and asked for the trophy back.

Le Mans 1995

In 1995, PC Automotive entered two of the TWR-XJ220Cs for Le Mans: Chassis 001 driven by Richard Piper, Tiff Needell, and James Weaver (No 58) and Chassis 003 driven by Bernard Thuner, Olindo Iacobelli, and Win Percy (No 57).

During practice, 003 recorded a time of 4 min 3.23 sec and 001 a time of 4 min 3.63 sec – faster times than those in 1993. The weather conditions that year were no the best and several cars came to grief. By midnight, car No 58 was running fourth with the other XJ220C in ninth position. Unfortunately Iacobelli hit a wall and came into the pits for some quick repairs. Win Percy took over but found the car unresponsive and the steering lacking precision. He soldiered on but had to make three more pit stops for the problem to be sorted out. The damage was, however, structural and was deteriorating the whole time the Jaguar was out on the track, so on lap 123 it was decided to that the car should be withdrawn. The remaining XJ220C was still leading and going well until lap 135 when its crankshaft broke. That was it and the Jaguars were out of the race.