The earliest XJ220s are past their 23rd birthday by now, and throughout all those years, it wasn't Jaguar who kept them alive, but Don Law Racing. Meet the father and son behind the amazing garage that went racing and built the ultimate XJ220, the LM.
The Jaguar XJ220 debuted as a concept in 1988 with a V12 and all-wheel drive, but entered production four years later with a twin-turbo V6 from Group B and rear-wheel drive, and despite being an amazing supercar, it never really got the love it deserved, not even from Jaguar.
Sure, they lost money on them because the XJ220 came out too late. Also, the Ferrari F40 already broke the 200mph barrier five years before, but even without a V12, this aerodynamic beauty still had 540 horsepower and a top speed of 217mph. Not quite 220, but you have to go Bonneville spec with an F40 to beat that.
Don Law and his son Justin went racing with the car, and since XJ220 owners didn't really drive their cars regularly and Jaguar had no capacity to service them anyway, Don Law Racing soon ended up getting the contract. In order to keep those 275 or so cars roadworthy, they had to buy up all the remaining parts stock from Jaguar, engines from TWR and five-speeds from Ricardo. They even have the original cad model built by Abbey Panels/Albany Zinc Limited.
Then, they built the XJ220 that could do 220mph. The LM is basically a Le Mans racer for the road with 800 horsepower to go with that plate.
That's nothing new to Justin Law though. He used to sneak out of school to drive an XJS with a seven-liter Group C engine and moved on to set the fastest time up the hill at Goodwood. 44.4 seconds driving a 1987 XJR8/9. Not even Sebastian Loeb and his Pikes Peak Peugeot could beat that...
Photo credit: Don Law Racing