Global Debut for TWR’s V12 Super-GT ‘Supercat’
- New TWR Supercat breaks cover in public debut
- Contemporary carbon-fibre body constructed on classic Jaguar XJS foundations
- Supercharged V12 engine with confirmed output of 660bhp & 730Nm torque
- Immersive and analogue driving experience from 6-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive
- Available to commission now, with numbers strictly limited to 88
- Available in the UK and markets worldwide
NEWBURY, UK, Nov. 20, 2024 – “Almost 40 years after my father’s original company dominated the racetrack, we’ve brought the TWR name roaring back with our new Supercat. Our debut product, designed as an authentic, analogue Super-GT for the committed driving enthusiast, has been developed for over three years by some of modern motorsport’s brightest talent. Built on the foundations of the classic Jaguar XJS, it uses modern materials and production methods, plus our in-house supercharged V12, to deliver a visceral, immersive driving experience on the road and the track. With production limited to just 88 examples and every car individually commissioned, it’s a chance to own something truly unique and personal, rooted in motorsport history but completely contemporary in its design, engineering and performance.”
Fergus Walkinshaw, Director and Founder, TWR
TWR has formally unveiled the Supercat, its radical new Super-GT underpinned by the legendary Jaguar XJS. Widely trailed in the summer of 2024, the Supercat has already won plaudits from clients and commentators ahead of its public launch today.
The Supercat has been engineered by a team representing the most celebrated names in motorsport, including McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche, Williams, and Renault F1. The team is led by TWR director and co-founder Fergus Walkinshaw. His father, Tom, the revered constructor and racer behind the original TWR, drove Jaguars to victories in the European Touring Car Championship, Spa 24hrs, and Bathurst in the 1980s.
A true TWR Super-GT
It is the Jaguar XJS that provides its essential foundations, and TWR Supercat incorporates elements inspired by other great racing Jaguars of the era, including the XJR-9, XJR-15 and XJ220 supercar.
True to its motorsport heritage, the Supercat has rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox for an authentic, engaging and entirely analogue driving experience. Under the long, sculpted carbon-bodied bonnet lurks a potent V12 supercharged engine, developed in-house by TWR engineers, producing 660bhp and 730Nm of torque.
TWR’s defining philosophy is that great driving cars are not the product of raw power alone. This is evidenced in a suite of engineering enhancements to ensure the Supercat can be driven dynamically in the world’s most demanding motorsport and road settings.
To corral the remarkable uplift in power, the body has been stiffened with an integrated, tubular steel structure with body panels finished in carbon fibre to deliver significant weight savings, versus the original (1,605kg vs 1,770kg, a 9.3% reduction).
Further enablers of the car’s dynamic capabilities include the option to specify carbon ceramic disc brakes from launch, fully programmable traction control, launch control, and five distinct driving modes, which ensure TWR drivers can adapt car dynamics to whatever road or track setting they are in.
Double wishbone suspension, augmented by an active dynamic damping system, delivers a composed Super-GT driving experience on long continental trips while providing assurance, feedback and stability in highly dynamic road and track driving settings. This gives the desired duality of character that defines a Super-GT and fulfils the founding missions to create something capable of fast yet supremely comfortable touring and then highly dynamic driving on fast roads or tracks.
In that sense, the Supercat delivers on its brief to be the perfect tool for driving to the Nürburgring. Its adjustable suspension and steering deliver a supreme GT driving experience, and the car can be adjusted to meet track requirements for a highly dynamic drive before returning its occupants in supreme comfort.
The same uncompromising approach is applied to the car’s packaging. The rear seats make way for a significantly extended luggage area, fulfilling the critical requirement for luggage space, true to its Super-GT DNA. Interior comfort is also delivered through a complete overhaul of the interior cabin, which provides all of the contemporary features expected of a modern Super-GT while remaining sensitive to the classic design that defined the Jaguar XJS.
This includes a fully digitalised multimedia interface (MMI) that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The switchgear for adjusting suspension and steering settings is also easy to use and presented through an intuitive toggle interface. Carbon fibre-backed leather seats are available in a highly contemporary finish and a ‘heritage’ option that directly references the louvres from the original XJS seats.
Radically Styled
“I am proud to have designed a TWR true to its racing and performance DNA from the foundations of one of Britain’s great automotive icons. The TWR Supercat represents a ground-up new expression of the original. As a designer, working in a new palette of highly technical materials has allowed me to re-energise the form and stance of the Jaguar XJS to express our mission to create a true Super-GT boldly. In collaborating with TWR’s exceptional team of engineers and aerodynamicists, we have created a car where every line and feature serves a performance purpose, authentically representing TWR’s legacy on the track and on the road.”
Khyzyl Saleem, Designer TWR Supercat
The Supercat realises a vision to create a contemporary, high-performance TWR car founded on the classic Jaguar XJS. Khyzyl Saleem has designed its striking silhouette. One of the world’s leading digital and 3D car concept stylists, he’s worked on numerous performance-focused projects with big names, including the late Ken Block and Travis Pastrana.
The TWR design and creative function are further enhanced by legendary British-born designer and car-collector Magnus Walker, whose perspective as a leading future in global car culture was essential in delivering Walkinshaw’s vision to create a car built from the foundations of a Jaguar XJS while delivering distinctive aesthetics and substance befitting a contemporary TWR car.
Their design lends a new, more aggressively muscular character to the donor Jaguar XJS’ iconic profile, silhouette, flying buttresses and front graphic, with subtle nods to TWR’s deep, decades-long connection to the Jaguar marque.
True to TWR’s foundational principles, design was led by an engineering requirement to deliver exceptional performance. This means the form proposed by Saleem was measured for its aerodynamic effectiveness by a former World Championship-winning Mercedes-Benz F1 aerodynamicist who played a critical role in providing the visceral and engaging dynamic experience required by the original brief
The result is a design that not only speaks of the dynamic intent of this extraordinary Super-GT but also produces downforce through a specially designed suite of splitters and in-body aero to deliver the stability required in both GT and dynamic track settings. This includes a complete reprofiling of the XJS’ iconic flying buttresses, which now cater to the requirement to flow air from the body to the lower haunches of the car.
The floorplan has been flattened and is finished with an entirely re-engineered, bespoke rear splitter to provide downforce to govern the extraordinary power of the Supercat versus the original Jaguar XJS. Exhausts have been reprofiled from the rear to the side to accommodate this.
This suite of aerodynamically dictated design features is further evidenced by the car’s wider width (from 1,793mm to 1,975mm) compared to the original XJS. This width presents a more dynamic stance, particularly when paired with TWR Forged Monoblok wheels (18” front and 19” rear versus the 15” alloys specified on the original XJS).
The first of a new breed of TWRs
As the first TWR production car, the Supercat is the perfect exemplar of the company’s philosophy: blending modern engineering, materials, and methods with a classic base to create something that truly captures the spirit of TWR, which reshaped world motorsport in the 1980s and 1990s.
Future TWR models will undergo the same rigorous development and testing process, adopting protocols and facilities used by the world’s leading sportscar brands, racing teams and other performance specialists.
The same philosophy is applied to the manufacturing of every TWR product, with every car hand-built at the company’s facility in Newbury, Berkshire, at TWR’s dedicated factory facility.
The Magic Number
TWR is now accepting commissions for the Supercat, whose production run will be strictly confined to just 88 examples worldwide, in homage to Tom Walkinshaw’s famous win with the XJR-9 at Le Mans in 1988. The first customer deliveries are expected in the summer of 2025.
Every Supercat is built to order, and customers have a wide range of personalisation options. Orders have already been taken across the United States, the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East in both Right Hand Drive and Left Hand Drive configurations.
Prices will vary according to individual specifications but start at £225,000, excluding local taxes. A limited number of build slots remain open with a £35,000 deposit.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Source: TWR Performance, Ltd.
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