Etienne Psaila
In the late 1980s, Jaguar dared to dream the impossible-building a road car capable of reaching 220 miles per hour. Chasing 220: The Rise and Fall of Jaguar’s Supercar Dream tells the extraordinary true story of the XJ220, a machine born from after-hours passion, racing ambition, and unrelenting engineering genius. Conceived by a small band of Jaguar engineers known as the 'Saturday Club,' the XJ220 began as an audacious concept-a 220-mph masterpiece that would recapture the spirit of Le Mans glory and redefine British performance.What followed was a saga of triumph and turmoil. From its dazzling 1988 Birmingham Motor Show debut to the painstaking development with Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the XJ220 promised everything: speed, style, and supremacy. Yet, as recession bit and reality intruded, the dream began to fracture. The shift from a V12 to a twin-turbo V6, customer lawsuits, and economic upheaval turned the supercar’s creation into a corporate storm. Still, beneath the headlines and controversy lay one of the most advanced, beautiful, and misunderstood machines of its time.With meticulous detail and narrative flair, Chasing 220 traces the full arc of Jaguar’s greatest gamble-its conception, engineering brilliance, commercial collapse, and eventual resurrection in the hearts of collectors and historians. From the racetracks of Le Mans to the quiet workshops of Bloxham, it is the story of British ambition writ large in aluminum and turbochargers. Three decades later, the XJ220’s legacy endures-not as a failure, but as a reminder that even imperfect dreams can change the course of automotive history.
