The XJ220 legend lives on – Extraordinary work for an extraordinary car (you can watch the video too…).
Kim Henson explains…
New tyres for Jaguar’s truly iconic XJ220 were not available for more than 10 years. However, the Bridgestone tyre company has worked together with Don Law on the development of new tyres for the model, so that enthusiast drivers can finally get back on the road without worry.
As previously reported on ‘Wheels-Alive’, it was last September when Bridgestone first introduced its exciting project to use the latest technology to produce new tyres for the legendary Jaguar XJ220. This new tyre development has been craved by the owners of these classic cars for some years.
Several months, 17 specs. and hundreds of laps later, the prototypes have been produced, evaluated, and tested, and the final tyre has now received a huge vote of approval not just from the Bridgestone engineers, but from Justin Law; and no-one has driven the XJ220 further than Justin. Thanks to his active participation in this project, it was possible to ensure that the new tyre out-handles and out-performs the original tyres that were fitted to the car.
Justin said: “It’s not just about knowing tyres, this is about knowing everything about the car and how it is supposed to handle. I’m one of the very few people that have been lucky enough to drive this car regularly during the last 23 years, and I’ve covered more than 100,000 miles in this quest.
He continued… “Don’t just take my word for it; with Bridgestone we brought the engineers and test drivers from 25 years ago back together, so we were pretty much guaranteed to do the job right.”
“A project this exciting though doesn’t deserve to be secret” added Christophe De Valroger, Vice President Consumer OE at Bridgestone Europe. He added, “Car lovers everywhere acknowledge the appeal of the Jaguar XJ220 and its history, and for that reason we decided to tell the whole story in film.”
Today, Friday, March 24th at 11:00 CET, join Justin, Don and the Bridgestone development team alongside Andy Wallace, John Nielsen, Alastair Macqueen and Shinichi Watanabe, together with Don’s original pre-production car, chassis no. 004 and relive the experience. To see a video of this, please go to: https://youtu.be/YqCvls0oXjY
So the Jaguar XJ220 is finally rebooted, and the legend lives on.
A little more about Bridgestone EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)…
Bridgestone EMEA, with headquarters in Belgium, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tyre and rubber company. Bridgestone EMEA operates in more than 60 countries and has over 18200 employees. Across the region it has 14 tyre and tyre related plants, a major R&D Centre and a proving ground. Bridgestone EMEA’s premium tyres are sold in Europe, Middle East, Africa and globally.