In the land of British supercars, one badge stands above all the rest; XJ220. It was created by Jaguar as an AWD, V12 powered concept car in the late 1980s to take on the likes of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. The production version would be dramatically different from the concept though. It swapped AWD for RWD, and the V12 engine was dumped in favor of a new 3.5-liter turbocharged V6.
While many pundits and pub-stool debaters cried foul for Jaguar’s swap to a smaller engine and fewer driven wheels, the results speak for themselves. The change made the car much lighter, and the new turbo V6 was actually more powerful than the V12. When the car was ready for production it made 540 horsepower, 475 lb-ft of torque. Most importantly, it also hit a top speed of 213 mph, making it the fastest production car in the world, handily besting the 199 and 201 mph top speeds of the Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40, respectively. This mighty machine even held the coveted Nurburgring record for nearly a decade.
Almost overnight Jaguar became the ultimate king of the supercar world. Even today the XJ220 remains the fastest car that Jaguar has ever created. That makes it more than worthy of being our selection for #SupercarSunday.
[justified_image_grid]
