Everyone here is familiar with the Jaguar XJ-220 backstory (1988 show car with V-12, AWD and gullwing doors, to production V-6TT, RWD, no gullwing doors), so that’s all the detail I am going into.
I would like to clear up some misconceptions, mistakes, and general lack of knowledge about three road-legal cars (not C or S cars) modified to compete in the 1993 Italian GT, and how they fared. Just to make sure we all start off on the same page, let me address the C and S cars.
The C cars: 4 XJ220-C cars built by TWR to compete in LeMans. Not road legal. Based on the XJ220, but with much lighter 2 piece carbon fiber bodywork, spartan interiors and specially built race engines capable of 850bhp, plus all the other race bits including suspension, brakes, wider BBS wheels, giant rear wing, open headlights, etc. Three were entered by Jaguar/TWR in the 1993 LeMans race. John Nielsen, David Brabham and David Coulthard won the GT class, beating Porsche by two laps; the other two cars retired, both through engine failure.Win Percy won one race in a C car in the 1993 BRDC, but TWR did not contest the series, entering only that one race.
They then had the Le Mans win revoked because they had no catalytic converters, appealed the decision based on the fact that catalytic converters were not required on road cars in 1993. Won appeal and had win restored, until FIA decided they had missed the deadline for filing the appeal and revoked the win again. Only in France.
The S cars: 6 road going versions of the C cars were built by TWR and denoted XJ220-S. These cars were built with the same lighter carbon fiber bodywork, 680bhp, and uprated suspensions and brakes, with a less spartan interior. These are road legal, but did not compete in any International or National events at the time.
The N cars: At the behest of the Benneton family, TWR built 3 XJ220-N cars to contest the 1993 Italian GT. They had Jaguar VIN plates and are road legal, and they also received TWR chassis plates denoting them as XJ220-N 001, 002 and 003.
While these cars retained their aluminum bodywork, they were significantly lightened by stripping out all seats, carpets, interior, a/c, radio, etc. They received full race suspensions, larger Brembo brakes, wider BBS wheels and larger turbochargers (M27 cases on the compressor side, making them more like T3/T4 hybrids, while still staying within Group N rules).
All 3 cars were delivered to the Top Run race team. Chassis 001 and 002 were given the team’s livery of white paint with light and dark blue stripes down the sides, and assigned race numbers 11 and 12. At some point car #11 was changed to Martini livery. Chassis 003 was kept as a backup and still wears its Silver Spa paint. It was never raced and shows about 400 miles on the odometer.
How did they do: #11 was driven by Vincenzo Bianchi, and #12 driven by Paolo Cutrera. Between the two drivers they racked up 7 podium finishes in the 10 race series. Paolo Cutrera took 1st place at Vallelunga on May 9, 1993. All in all not a bad showing for a privateer team with no factory support.
If anyone is interested, there is a ton of info on this website, which can be searched by car, driver, championship series and date:
https://www.racingsportscars.com/championships.html
If anyone can contribute any more information about these cars it would help. This was all before Instagram and cell phones with video and information is hard to find. I have Mike Moreton’s book on the XJ220, but if anyone has a copy of Philip Porters earlier book (it’s only available in hardcover, no downloads) and would not mind lending it to me for a week, I will pay all shipping charges with insurance and take you out for some laps of Lime Rock when the car is done.
I hope all my friends on this site, as well as everyone else, is safe and healthy!
