- The TWR Supercat blends old-school endurance racer with modern grand tourer.
- A supercharged 651-hp V-12 provides the pace.
- Just 88 examples will be made, each hand-built in the U.K.
It’s a hard time to be a Jaguar enthusiast, what with the company’s production models on pause while it pins its future hopes on electric models intended to compete with the likes of Aston Martin and Bentley. Happily, while you can’t currently buy a new Jaguar, those with deep pockets can now get a new old Jaguar, one with a supercharged V-12 like a Supermarine Spitfire and a proper manual gearbox. It’s called the TWR Supercat, and it’s a brutish grand tourer that embodies some of the best elements of the big, fast cats of the past.
TWR
TWR is an initialism that will be immediately familiar to fans of racing Jaguars in the audience, although it’s perhaps not quite what you’re thinking of. Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the original firm founded in the U.K. in the 1970s, was broken up in 2002. This resurrection of TWR is unrelated financially or structurally, though it does have blood ties: one of the two co-founders is Tom’s eldest son, Fergus Walkinshaw.
The basis for the Speedcat is the XJS V-12 of the 1980s, a car known as a gentleman’s express, built for the boulevard more than the racetrack. That didn’t stop Walkinshaw Sr., who prepped an XJS in partnership with Jaguar, then took it to the 1984 European Touring Car Championship overall win. Competing at Spa-Francorchamps, the TWR XJS handed Jaguar its first 24-hour endurance racing victory since the D-type’s win at Le Mans in 1957.
TWR
Walkinshaw-prepped Jaguars would win Le Mans too, most notably the gorgeous Group C XJR-9 with its signature purple Silk Cut livery. The TWR Speedcat is intended to evoke this reflected racing glory in a street-legal machine that’s suitable for both long-distance touring and trackwork. It seats just two, with an extended rear space for luggage.
Under that gloriously long hood is a 5.6-liter supercharged V-12 that revs to a maximum of 7750 rpm, producing 651 horsepower at 7600 rpm and 538 pound-feet of twist, paired with a six-speed manual transmission and rear-wheel drive. Lest you think that recipe sounds too old school, the Supercat features tube-frame construction paired with carbon-fiber bodywork, unequal-length-control-arm suspension up front and multi-link in rear, and multilevel programmable traction control and ABS.
TWR
The design is the work of Khyzyl Saleem, a 3-D artist known for his outrageous widebody projects, including Travis Pastrana’s “Family Huckster” Subaru GL wagon. Further input came from well-known British-born, LA-based car personality Magnus Walker, who is basically like if Gandalf was really into air-cooled Porsches. Only 88 examples will be built, paying tribute to the XJR-9’s 1988 Le Mans win, and the cars will be available both in left- and right-hand-drive versions for multiple overseas markets outside the U.K.
Pricing begins at the equivalent of $285,000, although it should be noted that this includes the U.K.’s 20 percent tax on new vehicles. There are also optional extras to be considered, up to and including ceramic brakes from those who may track their Supercat more heavily. Each car will be handbuilt in TWR’s Newbury facility, located about an hour east of London.
The Supercat joins a host of recent retromods like the Kimera EVO37 and various reworked Porsche 911 builds. It’s almost as if enthusiasts are not quite ready to let go of the past, even as a high-tech future beckons. What that future looks like for Jaguar as a brand will emerge in the next couple of years, a huge course change for a beloved British institution. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a blend of Jaguar old and new, the TWR Supercat is here to scratch that itch.
