200mph Road Cars

[Bobby Dazzler]

The truth was the F40 only managed 178mph and Chris wasn't happy with that. He tried the XJ220 and did 200mph at his first attempt.
So he encouraged Freddie to go for 200.
Back in 1991, I spent a whole day working up to the that speed, checking the data from my engineer co-driver on his lap until I was completely sure that all the design data correlated with what we were seeing. Call me a wuss, but only at the end of the day did I suit up, and go for a wide open throttle run.
I was flat through the first 180 deg turn at Fort Stockton and saw 206mph as I entered the second turn when.....a bird hit the top of the screen!
It was a Big Bang and my foot came straight off the loud pedal.
I drove casually back to the workshop and waited for Andy Wallace to appear the following day.
He was flat on his first flying lap at 213mph. I'm not sure if that says more about his bravery or lack of imagination.

I'm really glad Freddie enjoyed himself, it really is something special

206 mph in a development car sounds fairly brave to me!

 

[Mactech]

@Mactech next time you’re out in it, if the opportunity arises for my wife to have a looksee then that would get me some serious brownie points. Mrs D has always had a soft spot for the XJ220

I'm sure we can make it happen at some point, but next week I will move house to be 200 miles from the cars base rather than 20, so we'll have to see how things pan out.
Was 206mph brave in a development car for the very first time?
It certainly was special, but my race drivers of the era were doing that a thousand times in 24 hours at places like Le Mans so it really didn't seem unusual.

 

[Dickster]

One of my favourite cars . I last saw one in the flesh a few years ago at the Le Mans Classic..

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I'm sure we can make it happen at some point, but next week I will move house to be 200 miles from the cars base rather than 20, so we'll have to see how things pan out.

That would be great if we could

 

[Darrell]

I wonder what was going through the mind of the Lambo owner.

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Was the Lambo a right off or was it repaired?

 

[Tonygw]

I was wondering the same thing, I am hoping it was repaired properly and put back to its tip top condition.

 

[Darrell]

I was wondering the same thing, I am hoping it was repaired properly and put back to its tip top condition.

It’ll always be that “smashed up Lamborghini” though.

 

[AMGeed]

One of my favourite cars . I last saw one in the flesh a few years ago at the Le Mans Classic..

There is/was a silver example at the Haynes Motor museum nr Yeovil Somerset.

 

[Stratman]

..............................

Fantastic car, just arrived at the wrong time

I vaguely remember at the time a long waiting list of prospective purchasers, many of whom had put down a substantial deposit but had no intention of buying the car. Their get rich quick plan was to sell their place in the queue for a profit.

Then along came a financial crash with many 'city types' hit quite hard. Potential buyers of delivery slots vanished, and some rather worried speculators found themselves committed to either buying a very expensive car or losing a big deposit.

Shame.

 

[fabes]

There is/was a silver example at the Haynes Motor museum nr Yeovil Somerset.

And at Beaulieu

Will watch the episode soon

 

[unimog]

I'm sure we can make it happen at some point, but next week I will move house to be 200 miles from the cars base rather than 20, so we'll have to see how things pan out.
Was 206mph brave in a development car for the very first time?
It certainly was special, but my race drivers of the era were doing that a thousand times in 24 hours at places like Le Mans so it really didn't seem unusual.

Did you have any involvement with G134 XVX? That would certainly take a brave man to run a 540 bhp Transit test mule!!!

Now I wouldn’t mind having a go in that!!!

I believe Don Law own that too.

 

[hgb]

Terrific insight into a great period for car fanatics. I remember seeing an XJ220 in a petrol station near York. It looked like it came from a different planet!

 

[HB]

Love your write ups Mactech. Please share all the stories about everything you remember with us.
Who wants to read about someone asking what mpg a C63 does.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

A couple of beauties parked up at the Jag specialist I used called errr Jag Specialist Doncaster:

 

[Mactech]

Did you have any involvement with G134 XVX? That would certainly take a brave man to run a 540 bhp Transit test mule!!!

Now I wouldn’t mind having a go in that!!!

I believe Don Law own that too.

XJ220 004 has been seen in a number of guises over the years, but still very much the same car.
Here is Andy Wallace in May 1991 Fort Stockton Texas.


This is me at the Nurburgring in Sept 1991 with the car now painted red and on production intent wheels. The first non silver 220.



This is just one of it's race car liveries whilst having it's mid life crisis as a race car in the late '90's



Then with me again as a road car on a racetrack at Donington last year



I did drive the 220 Transit van in period on the road, but only at legal speeds. Nothing like the speeds Justin Law took it up the hill at Goodwood disguised as groundsman's van to put it in the top 10 of all the cars that year!
Bet you can't guess where the number plate was before the Transit was put back into 'sleeper' mode.

 

[unimog]

I did drive the 220 Transit van in period on the road, but only at legal speeds. Nothing like the speeds Justin Law took it up the hill at Goodwood disguised as groundsman's van to put it in the top 10 of all the cars that year!
Bet you can't guess where the number plate was before the Transit was put back into 'sleeper' mode.

Not envious in the least!

I just rewatched that Goodwood hill climb run the same day you posted this up actually, I remembered it doing the internet rounds about 10 years ago.

I would guess the van was in full pikey guise with the number plate in the back window?

 

[bob6600]

Being in Coventry, i used to see the odd XJ220 around as a kid and loved them and still do. I remember a time when there was a batch of unsold XJ220s (LHD I think) and they were at a bargain price of £150k as the financial crash had happened and Jaguar couldn't shift them. Not sure how true the story was but it seemed like a bargain back then but was still double the price of our house back then!

@Mactech next time you get the car out, please post a thread here. I'm sure plenty of members would love to see it in a mini-meet

 

[Mactech]

Being in Coventry, i used to see the odd XJ220 around as a kid and loved them and still do. I remember a time when there was a batch of unsold XJ220s (LHD I think) and they were at a bargain price of £150k as the financial crash had happened and Jaguar couldn't shift them. Not sure how true the story was but it seemed like a bargain back then but was still double the price of our house back then!

@Mactech next time you get the car out, please post a thread here. I'm sure plenty of members would love to see it in a mini-meet

Yes! Sounds like a plan. It will probably wait now for the days to get longer and a time when we are no longer under Covidian restrictions
It doesn't have to be such a mini-meet then!

 

[bob6600]

Yes! Sounds like a plan. It will probably wait now for the days to get longer and a time when we are no longer under Covidian restrictions
It doesn't have to be such a mini-meet then!

Yes, only 6 would be a damn shame! The bigger the better, can't wait