EMBARGO: 12 NOON, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 THE JAGUAR XK180 A CONCEPT ROADSTER FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM Jaguar today unveils a new vision of the classic Roadster. Fifty years after the Coventry-based company launched the XK engine and the XK120 sportscar, the XK180 concept car has been 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 this 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 Jaguar XK 180 is the first major project from the newly re-established Special Vehicle Operations Department. Originally formed after the Daimler Limousine ceased production in the early nineties, the department is staffed with craftsmen skilled in every aspect of vehicle manufacture and expert in producing bespoke vehicles for individual customers. "The XK180 graphically illustrates the skills we have available in SVO," said Nick Scheele, Jaguar's Chairman and Chief Executive. "In the future we will be using these skills to produce components and systems for those customers around the world who want to enhance aspects of their vehicle's performance. Whilst the great majority of our customers are completely satisfied with the specification and performance of their cars, a number of customers have asked for a more individual approach. SVO will, in future be able to satisfy this demand from our customers." 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 XK180 have been road and track tested on a fully instrumented engineering prototype. Some thirteen and a half inches (345mm) 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 XJ 220. 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," said 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 (125mm) to accept the new body style. Development of the XK180's engine was carried out at Jaguars 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 front discs and 315mm x 28mm cross drilled ventilated rear discs. The unique-styled, two-piece aluminium wheels are the largest ever fitted to a Jaguar. 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 super-low-profile Pirelli tyres - 255/35 ZR2O Pzero Direzionale at the front and 285/30 ZR2O Pzero Asimmetrico at the rear. As he left for Paris and the unveiling of XK180, Nick Scheele, Jaguar's Chairman and Chief Executive, pointed out that the work of creating the new concept car had come at a time when the company's engineers had a particularly heavy workload. "Jaguar is currently committed to the most intensive new product programme the company has ever undertaken," he said. "In October, we will launch the S-Type, an entirely new sports saloon that will double our production and sales. In 2001, another new Jaguar saloon - the X400 - will make its debut. "These two major programmes, together with ongoing work aimed at continually improving our existing models, mean the company's engineering resources are working at full stretch. But Jaguar would not be Jaguar if the men and women who develop the cars of tomorrow could not find the time and enthusiasm to create an exciting special project to celebrate this landmark anniversary in our history. They did it fifty years ago when they designed and built the XK 120 record-breakers. They did it with the XK-SS road-going version of the D-Type and with the lightweight E Type. The XK180 is proof that this creative spirit is still an essential part of Jaguar." FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Communications and Public: Affairs 01203 203321 EMBARGO: 12 NOON, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 JAGUAR XK180 AN ENGINEERING HERITAGE On the morning of Monday May 30th 1949, a twin-engined DC3 aircraft lumbered off the runway at London Airport. On board were Jaguar's founder, William Lyons later to become Sir William, for his services to exporting - and a group of motoring journalists. They were on their way to Jabbeke, in Belgium, to observe the proof that the '120' designation of the new XK 120 was genuinely based on the car's maximum speed in miles per hour. By dinnertime they were back in London, and the following day's papers carried stories of how they had seen works test driver Ron Sutton cover the flying mile at a speed of 126.448 mph. This speed though was set with the car's normal windscreen, hood and sidescreens in place. Jaguar's engineers knew that with a little adjustment, the car would go even faster. So they removed the weather protection and replaced it with a small curved screen in front of the driver. Sutton set off again and this time set a speed of 132.596 mph - before driving past the assembled journalists in top gear at just 10 mph! The XK 120's record-breaking runs at Jabbeke were early proof that it is in the blood of Jaguar engineers to take their best and make it better. It is a philosophy that was to lead to wins in the world's toughest endurance race at Le Mans, world championships and some very exciting cars. The XK 120 was conceived as an exhibition-piece, to draw attention to Jaguar's new 'XK' six-cylinder engine at the first post-war London motor show. The two-seater was designed to gain publicity for the new engine because the saloon car for which it was intended was not yet ready for production. Jaguar needed to make its mark at the show and a hand-built sports car that would showcase the new engine was the best way to do it. The XK 120 was created and caused a sensation - such a sensation that Jaguar was forced to reengineer the aluminium-bodied special in steel, so it could be produced in the numbers required to satisfy the world's demand. By 1950, the XK 120 was being produced in sufficient quantities for a team of privately-owned cars to compete in the Le Mans 24-hour race, where two of them finished twelfth and fifteenth. Like many customer cars, the Le Mans 120s were prepared at the jaguar factory and once again their performance encouraged the engineers to do better. The result was the XK 120C. The 'C' stood for 'Competition', and almost as soon as the new car made its first appearance, at Le Mans in 1951, it became known as the C-Type. Developed around the XK engine, the C-Type was evidence of the way in which the science of aerodynamics was beginning to influence racing car design. Its shape was the work of Malcolm Sayer, who had come to Jaguar after working for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. and it combined efficiency and elegance in a blend which made it one of the best-looking cars of its time. The C-Type was to win at Le Mans and go on to win the French classic again in 1953. In between, it achieved success across the world in the hands of both the Jaguar factory team and private owners and throughout its life it was to benefit from continuous improvement by the company's engineers. Perhaps the most important of those developments was the application of disc brakes, which were first used in the successful outing at Le Mans in 1953. While the C-Type led the tracks, the XK 120 was spreading Jaguar's fame and beating sales records in markets across the world. The engineers were happy for their sales colleagues, but they wanted speed records too. In 1953, a Spanish Pegaso had gone to the Jabbeke straight - which was in fact part of the normal motorway between Brussels and the Belgian coast - and set a new record of over 150 mph. The men of jaguar were stung into action and in October of that year they returned to the scene of their 1949 triumph. They came with an XK 120 that had a specially-prepared engine and a body smoothed and streamlined to help it cut through the air as efficiently as possible. The headlamps were rounded, and the parking lamps were removed from their place on top of the front wings. The bumpers were removed, a metal cover hid the passenger seat, and in place of the racing screen of the 1949 car was an enclosed bubble canopy, similar to that of a fighter plane. Test driver Norman Dewis drove the car to a speed of 172.412 mph, proving to anyone who might have been tempted to question the fact that Jaguar had the fastest production sports car in the world. Once again, the engineers of Coventry had decisively made their point. Back in the racing department in Coventry, the engineers were working on something to follow the C-Type. Once again a combination of Sayer's aerodynamics and the XK engine created a classic, the D-Type. The D- Type's first appearance was at Le Mans in 1954, when it was beaten by just 2.5 miles - out of a total distance of 2,523.5 miles. Second place in its first race was pretty good, but this was just the start of the D-Type's racing career. In the following three years it was to score a hat-trick of victories at Le Mans and amass uncountable wins in the hands of private owners. Building racing cars for sale was not unusual in the Fifties but in 1956 Jaguar created a stir when it introduced a version of its race-winning D-Type which was adapted for road use and totally 'street-legal'. This was the XKSS, a D- Type with a full-width windscreen protecting both the driver and a passenger, who would be in the fortunate position of enjoying at second hand all the speed and performance of the most potent sports car of its day. The XKSS had doors, fixed sidescreens and a hood, which when folded was protected by a neat cover. There was even provision for carrying luggage - although it came not in the form of a boot, but of a small rack mounted behind the cockpit! Sadly, the XKSS was to have the shortest production run of any Jaguar. It was announced on January 20th 1957, but on February l2th much of the Browns Lane plant was gutted by fire. All the production tools for the car were destroyed, and the 16 cars that had been built were the only XKSSs ever made. Although the D-Type's final victory at Le Mans came in 1957, the factory participation in racing ceased at the end of the 1956 season. The reason was simple; Jaguar was - and still is - a company that worked with a small team of highly-skilled and tightly-focused engineers. Sir William Lyons wanted to translate the track success of the C and D-Types into a road car, and the company needed to devote all its engineering efforts to that end. The result came in 1961, when the world was stunned by the arrival of the E- Type. Created as a direct descendant of its racing forebears, the E-Type was developed through a third, less well-known generation after the C and D- Types, a car known as 'E2A'. E2A was another example of the Jaguar engineering principle of taking the best and making it better - except that in this case, 'the best' still only existed as a prototype. The prototype was that of the E-Type, known internally at Jaguar as ElA. Since 1957, E1A had been carrying out a rigorous programme of testing in preparation for the launch of the new road car in 1961. One of the most exciting aspects of the E-Type was its radical new independent rear suspension, and in 1960 it was decided to test this new development on Jaguar's toughest test track - the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The problem was that Jaguar was not officially involved in racing and the E-Type did not officially exist, so the car had to be entered by an old and trusted customer, the American Briggs Cunningham. Driven by Walt Hansgen and Dan Gurney, the car failed to finish, but it was the engine - a 'small' version, of 3 litre capacity rather than the 3.4 litres which was the XK's ideal 'fighting weight' - which gave up the ghost. The two aspects of the design which E2A was mainly designed to prove, the rear suspension and the aerodynamic shape, performed perfectly, with the car running close to 190 mph on the long Mulsanne straight. By March 1961 the E-Type itself was a reality. The combination of Malcolm Sayers shape and Sir William Lyons' eye for detail was an immediate triumph, and by April 1961, the car was already being raced by customers with help and encouragement but without direct involvement - from the Jaguar factory. But once again, the engineers and designers wanted to see how far they could go with the production car as a base. The result was a number of so-called 'lightweight E-Types' developed at the jaguar factory so that they could be raced by a small group of faithful customers. The last of a dozen of these cars has just been sold for almost 5900,000 in America. Laid-up in a California garage since 1964, it is now being returned to Britain to undergo restoration. When that process is completed, the car will race once more. The Lightweight E-Type was the final expression of the Jaguar engineers' creativity on the base of the XK engine, although the power unit remained an integral part of Jaguar production until the late Eighties. Now, fifty years after the first appearance of the aluminium-bodied XK 120, the company's designers and engineers have made their own tribute to Jaguar's heritage in the shape of XK180. It is a Jaguar that combines technology and performance for the new millennium with half' a century of pride in the letters 'XK'. ends... FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Communications and Public Affairs 01203 203321 EMBARGO: 12 NOON, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 BUILDING THE JAGUAR XK180 AN EXERCISE IN ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT Jaguar's XK180 concept car progressed from an idea to a running reality in a little over ten months. Skilled craftsmen from the company's Special Vehicle Operations Department, working closely with a small group of stylists and engineers who could be spared from Jaguar's intensive new model development programmes, had just forty two weeks to complete the concept car in time for the Paris Motor Show. Time and resources may have been limited, but energy, enthusiasm and pride were available in abundance, and the XK 180 roadster can take its place alongside such illustrious forebears as the XK 120 record-breakers, the D-Type and the XJ220. From the outset however, it was also Jaguar's intention that XK180 should not be a mere static exhibit but that it should be capable of being driven and should perform like a real Jaguar. First thoughts about the new car were influenced by the XK 120 that established new speed records on a stretch of motorway at Jabbeke in Belgium in 1949. Its performance dispelled once and for all any doubts about whether the XK 120 could achieve the 120 miles an hour its name implied and it was the basis on which every succeeding XK-engined performance car was created. The second influence was the Jaguar D-Type, whose superb styling cloaked Le Mans-winning performance in aerodynamic good looks. Working on the characteristics of these two historic Jaguars, it was decided that the new concept car should be derived from the XKR, the supercharged sports car the company was preparing to launch in the spring of 1998. The two men who would be responsible for conceiving and building it, Principal Designer Keith Helfet and Gary Albrighton, the Principal Engineer of Jaguar's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) department, discussed the project with Chief Stylist Geoff Lawson and SVO Manager Mike Massey. The conclusion that was reached was that a shortened version of the XKR with a more powerful engine would be a fitting basis on which to start. Work began in SVO on the practicalities of shortening an XKR underframe, while Keith Helfet - the stylist behind the shape of the Jaguar XK220 - sketched possible styling ideas on paper and on the computers that today play such an important part in the styling process. "We want a Jaguar, not a compromise," he and Albrighton reported back to their bosses. They agreed and work started immediately with the Paris Motor Show in late September as the deadline. That date was just ten months away. Within eight weeks, an XKR platform had been modified by SVO, with five inches cut out of its cockpit and provision for shorter front and rear body sections incorporated. While this was going on, Keith Helfet was working in the styling department on first designing the new body and then converting that design into a full-scale clay model. From the beginning, it had been decided that the new car would have an aluminium body, which would be both efficient in manufacturing terms and true to the XK heritage. The original XK 120 had an aluminium body because it was intended as a limited production car and it was being built against a tight schedule. Replace the 1948 London Show with the 1998 Paris Show and the circumstances were the same. During February and March, the full-size clay model was taking shape at Loades Design, a sister company of Abbey Panels, the old-established Coventry company whose collaboration with Jaguar goes back many years. In addition to many other projects. Abbey Panels built the bodies for the C- Type and 0-Type Jaguars and the company had also worked on the legendary mid-engined XJl3 prototype and on the XJ220. There was therefore an instinctive understanding of what was required in the construction of very special Jaguars. By April the clay model design had been approved. During the following weeks Keith Helfet supervised the detailed modifications to the clay model, which would be used to create the tooling aids and moulds from which the aluminium panels would be formed. For a production car, the clay would have been digitised in order to create tools, but such was the rush on this project there was no time - and no need to use such modern 'time-saving' methods for a one-off vehicle. As the preparations for creating the body continued, SVO was creating an actual 'cut and shut' XKR to act as a test 'mule' for the shorter, more powerful, concept car. Since it had to be capable of being driven to the levels its modifications would make possible, the engineers wanted to evaluate the proposed chassis and engine changes in real world conditions. The 'mule' was a purposeful evolution of a standard XKR, equipped with a full racing safety- cage that spoke volumes about its performance and purpose. By the end of May the tooling aids were ready, and the task of shaping the concept car's body could begin. Working from formers and shapes created on the basis of the clay styling model, Abbey Panels' craftsmen began to form every panel of the new car. They worked entirely by traditional methods, rolling and shaping the components using nothing more than skilled application of hand and eye. The body began to take shape in early May, and by mid-June it was ready for painting. As in any concept car, colour plays an important part in the overall design, and Keith Helfet's choice looked back to one of his favourite Jaguars. the D-Type. Helfet selected a paint that combines echoes of the metallic blue of the Ecurie Ecosse D-Type which won at Le Mans in 1957 with undertones of green and gold. It is a colour which would have been impossible to achieve in the days of the XK 120, and is one of the most obvious signs of Nineties technology in the new car. By now the mule was racking up the miles necessary to test and fine-tune the engine and chassis modifications. All these modifications had been carried out by engineers at Jaguar's Technical Centre at Whitley, and they were designed to add power and performance which would match the car's image and heritage. Engine modifications increased the 370 horsepower available in the production XKR to an even more impressive 450, while racing suspension with adjustable dampers and larger brakes, wheels and tyres ensured the extra power was well controlled. Using the handling circuit and the high-speed track at MIRA, the engineers began to fine-tune the modifications in order to come up with a specification the SVO workshop could follow when the time came to start building the car. Meanwhile, Helfet and his colleagues began to work on the cockpit design, styled, like the exterior, with a retro-influenced cloak over modern technology. Ergonomics were important, as were looks, but Helfet's design policy was also heavily influenced by tactile sensations. "I wanted everything you touch in the cockpit to be metal or leather," he explains. "It formed all my ideas about the instrument-panel, where I wanted the switchgear to have a look and - just as important - a feel of past Jaguar sports and racing cars." It took four weeks to design the interior and another two weeks to create the moulds that would be used to form the necessary panels. It was now July, and the Paris launch date was less than three months away. But everything was coming together according to schedule, and final assembly of the car was under way under a cloak of secrecy in the SVO workshop. The workshop's previous function was the manufacture of the elegant Daimler limousine. The bespoke nature of that operation meant that almost every job was different, with many of the limousine customers requiring individual touches to what was an already-luxurious specification. This work has led to a small workforce with a unique combination of skills. and all of them came into play as the new car took shape. While the body-men assembled the aluminium panels, the chassis specialists were building up the special components Whitley had specified to achieve the required handling. The specially-prepared AJ-V8 engine was installed by workers who had started at Jaguar when the six-cylinder XK power unit was Jaguar's mainstream engine, while trimmers who had shaped the leather to cushion royalty and statesmen set to work on the racing seats and harnesses made necessary by the new car's performance. In the electrical department, work began on adapting switches with the style of the Fifties and Sixties to operate with Nineties technology. It was not an easy task, for even such an action as turning on the headlamps of one of today's Jaguars involves more electronics than were to be found in a complete XK 120. Working with outside specialists who supplied such components as the wheels and the uniquely-shaped windscreen. SVO worked throughout July, August and the early part of September. By the middle of the month the car was ready to be photographed, and in the following week all the tiny detail jobs were completed before it was carefully (loaded for transport to Paris. Jaguar's concept car was ready - XK 180 was a reality. ends... FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Communications and Public affairs 01203 203321