XK180 Concept Roadster

Fifty years after the Coventry-based company launched the XK engine and the XK120 sports car, the XK180 concept car was created to showcase the skills and talents of Jaguar stylists, craftsmen and engineers.

Inspired by the great Jaguar roadsters of the fifties and sixties, the Jaguar XK180 was hand-built in the company’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) workshops at Browns Lane in Coventry. Although not intended for production, the concept car is based on a shortened version of the supercharged XKR convertible, which was introduced earlier that year. The all-new bodywork, hand-made in aluminium, follows a styling theme that combines influences from past Jaguars with completely modern styling. The AJ-V8 power unit is modified to produce 450 horsepower and the brakes, wheels and suspension are upgraded to match the engine’s performance.

The concept car features a system of fingertip gear-selection by controls mounted on the steering-wheel, developed by Jaguar specially for this project. The detailed attention paid to the car’s mechanical specification underscores Jaguar’s philosophy that concept cars should not be just static showpieces but fully engineered vehicles. Many of the engineering features incorporated into the XK180 have been road and track tested on a fully instrumented engineering prototype.

Some thirteen and a half inches (345 mm) shorter overall than the XKR, the XK180 was styled in the Jaguar Styling Department under the eye of the company’s director of styling Geoff Lawson. The lines of the car are the work of Keith Helfet, a senior designer at Jaguar and best known for his work on the XJ220. Helfet’s brief was to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of the XK series and he drew influences from a range of XK-powered machines, notably the D-Type. The result combines echoes of past racing Jaguars, in the shape of its rounded nose and the headrests behind the seats, and such unique forms as the ‘double-bubble’ windscreen.

Whilst the XK180 may be reminiscent of the D-Type in shape, this heritage is combined with modern technologies. The sculptured rear end styling incorporates a unique rear light cluster specially developed by Valeo for XK180. Twenty four light emitting diodes (LEDs) provide the light source for the rear lamps, direction indicators and stop-lights.

Jaguar sports cars have always offered luxurious driver and passenger accommodation in addition to outstanding performance but in the Fifties and Sixties the range always included a ‘Roadster’ model which put performance before luxury.

By combining style with an enhanced engineering specification we were creating a car which was the spiritual successor to the classic Jaguar roadsters

Geoff Lawson

The roadster spirit is evident in the cockpit of the XK180. It uses high-performance components – in the shape of racing seats with full safety-harnesses – and then adds a touch of Jaguar luxury by trimming the seats in the finest Connolly leather. There is tradition too, with a dashboard in engine-turned aluminium carrying switches that echo the style of the great Jaguar Le Mans winners of the Fifties.

The aluminium body panels were all formed by hand and assembled at Abbey Panels of Coventry. Abbey Panels Ltd is an old established Coventry company with long associations with Jaguar. Among many other projects, Abbey Panels have collaborated with Jaguar on the construction of the Le Mans-winning C and D-Types, the legendary XJ13 prototype and the XJ220.

From Abbey Panels the aluminium body was shipped across Coventry to Jaguar’s Special Vehicles Operations Department (SVO) at Browns Lane. Here, Mike Massey, Manager, SVO, Gary Albrighton, Principal Engineer and XK180 Project Manager and their team shortened the wheelbase of the XKR platform by five inches (125 mm) to accept the new body style.

Development of the XK180’s engine was carried out at Jaguar’s Engineering Centre at Whitley, Coventry. The engine was modified by increasing the supercharger speed by 10 percent and this, together with modifications to the intercooler, induction and exhaust systems, raised the maximum power of the 4.0-litre unit from 370 bhp in standard form to 450 bhp.

The standard five-speed automatic transmission of the XKR and the ‘J-Gate’ have been modified to incorporate a sequential gear selector system controlled by push buttons on the steering-wheel. This enables the driver to change gears without taking a hand from the wheel and the selected gear is indicated by a fascia mounted gauge.

The XK180 suspension is based on that of the XKR, with racing-style aluminium shock absorbers incorporated in the coil spring/damper units. The suspension was developed within SVO with assistance from ride and handling experts at the Whitley Engineering Centre. The Brembo braking system, with aluminium four pot callipers, features 355 mm x 32 mm cross drilled ventilated discs and 315 mm x 28 mm cross drilled ventilated rear discs. The unique-styled, two-piece aluminium wheels were the largest ever fitted to a Jaguar at the time. The wheel rims are twenty inches in diameter, and are nine inches wide at the front and ten inches wide at the rear. They are fitted with duper-low-profile Pirelli tyres – 255/35 ZR20 Pzero Direzionale at the front and 285/30 ZR20 Pzero Asimmetrico at the rear.