21st-Dec-21, 10:40 AM
The Jaguar XJ220 was a bit of a PR and financial disaster for the firm. Originally announced in 1988 with a race proven V12 6.12 litre engine, allegedly capable of the magic 220 mph at the, then eye watering cost of £470,000 it eventually hit the streets in severely watered down form due to cost restraints. The engine was downgraded to a 3.5 litre twin turbo V6 and many of its promised state of the art gizmos were absent. Although it was the fastest production road car on the planet for a few months, until superseded by the McLaren F1, the most Martin Brundle could coax out of it in road legal form was 212.3 mph. I don't suppose calling it the XJ212 would have the same ring though. 281 cars were built and 272 sold, way less than planned. Some disappointed clients even pursued Jaguar through the courts, hoping to cancel their contracts on the basis of its radically altered features. You can read the full story of the car HERE. Incidentally, has anybody ever seen one on the roads? It is one of the few supercars I have never come across so I presume the vast majority are squirrelled away in private collections.
Jaguar also thought it a really good idea to run a race series with the road car in the USA to promote it there, in spite of the fact that it wasn't actually for sale in the country at the time - at the Indianapolis Raceway Park (a 5/8th mile oval) of all places! This descended into total farce as nearly all the cars were wrecked within a short space of time. You can read the full story with videos HERE.
Anyway, a competition version was also on the menu so the XJ220C duly appeared under the auspices of TWR. It was built to compete in FISA GT racing and, driven by Win Percy, won its first race at Silverstone.
Three works XJ220Cs were entered in the Le Mans 24 hour 1993 race in the GT Class. The Nielsen/Brabham/Coulthard car won its class, beating Porsche by two laps while the other two cars retired with engine failure. The winning car was then controversially disqualified for lacking a catalytic converter. Four cars were entered in 1994, without works backing, two failed to appear and the other two retired.
Apart from a lightly-modified road-going XJ220 entered for the 1993 Italian GT Championship in Martini livery this was really the sum total of its racing history so there are very few liveries available to any slot car manufacturer which probably explains the previous lack of a slot version. The Unipart Le Mans car being the only well known version. Scalextric produced this back in the 90s, quite a nice model for the time although based on the road car rather than the racing version, but nobody has bothered to resurrect it until now.
MR Slotcar
On then to the subject of this review, the latest offering from MR Slotcar which consists of three liveries: a genuine Unipart one plus Castrol and Silk Cut 'tribute' versions, in reality this is a euphemism for fantasy paint jobs. The latter two have been lifted from the far more successful XJR versions. There is also a white kit available for home decoration. MR stands for Mossetti Racing, not Mister Slotcar as so often misquoted. Ernie Mossetti is a long-standing, highly regarded designer based in Toronto.
I have been loaned the Castrol version by Tel (savage GT) for review purposes and, as always, have tested it from the point of view of the average home racer who just wants to run cars straight out of the box with only basic preparation. It will be returned to Tel in due course so he can work his magic on it and we may get an updated report later.
First impressions
The real car was very wide and very low so an excellent candidate for slotifying although the amount of rear overhang isn't ideal. The slot car looks about right in its basic proportions but I haven't checked exact scale dimensions. However, there are a number of detail errors, particularly the lack of proper side ducts. The two fantasy liveries have an incorrect rear wing and lack the distinctive spotlights of the Unipart car so the front end actually looks a bit peculiar. The wheel arches are also too big and/or the wheels are too small but that is par for the course with most slot cars these days. One strange thing on the car I have is that the wheel centres are different colours - red on one side and blue on the other. As this is a fantasy livery I have no idea whether it is deliberate or a cock up on the assembly line:
Chassis/running gear
This is very similar to other high end makes with a triangular pod, flat chassis and the usual high quality gearing and wheels etc. Can anybody explain the actual performance difference between a triangular pod and a rectangular one please? Although the motor is unstickered it is actually a Slot.It 20,500rpm flat 6. As supplied the car is in plastic track configuration with a fairly strong magnet and Slot.It C1 tyres. The guide blade is enormous and might cause jamming problems on hairpin curves and as it is such a wide car it may prove difficult to race a pair of them on narrow Scalextric track.
Performance
Before giving it a proper run I oiled the relevant parts and ran it in for 30 minutes at low voltage. I also replaced the rear tyres with a pair of F22s which are more suited to my wooden track than the standard fitment and loosened the body screws a tad. I left everything else box stock.
On to the track and I was immediately impressed with its smooth running qualities, it purred along just like a big cat. One of the quietest cars I have tried in a long time so full marks for gear mesh etc. I didn't try any real banzai laps as it is not my car and I didn't want to give it back to Tel in bits but it lapped continuously in the the low 5.2 second bracket on my 50ft track which is a bit quicker than my RevoSlot McLaren and not quite up to Thunderslot performance. I think there would be a bit more speed to come once attention is paid to front ride height etc. It has no real handling deficiencies but the rear body overhang means you have to be a bit circumspect with corner entry speed to avoid rear breakaway.
Summary
Performance can't really be faulted and there is definitely scope for tuning although its size means it probably can't compete on equal terms with NSR and Thunderslot. The bodywork on the two 'tribute' liveries leaves quite a bit to be desired though and, if I were to buy one, I would definitely go for the Unipart version. Better be quick if you want one though as all the cars are limited editions of just 550 examples and they are bound to sell out soon.
Jaguar also thought it a really good idea to run a race series with the road car in the USA to promote it there, in spite of the fact that it wasn't actually for sale in the country at the time - at the Indianapolis Raceway Park (a 5/8th mile oval) of all places! This descended into total farce as nearly all the cars were wrecked within a short space of time. You can read the full story with videos HERE.
Anyway, a competition version was also on the menu so the XJ220C duly appeared under the auspices of TWR. It was built to compete in FISA GT racing and, driven by Win Percy, won its first race at Silverstone.
Three works XJ220Cs were entered in the Le Mans 24 hour 1993 race in the GT Class. The Nielsen/Brabham/Coulthard car won its class, beating Porsche by two laps while the other two cars retired with engine failure. The winning car was then controversially disqualified for lacking a catalytic converter. Four cars were entered in 1994, without works backing, two failed to appear and the other two retired.
MR Slotcar
On then to the subject of this review, the latest offering from MR Slotcar which consists of three liveries: a genuine Unipart one plus Castrol and Silk Cut 'tribute' versions, in reality this is a euphemism for fantasy paint jobs. The latter two have been lifted from the far more successful XJR versions. There is also a white kit available for home decoration. MR stands for Mossetti Racing, not Mister Slotcar as so often misquoted. Ernie Mossetti is a long-standing, highly regarded designer based in Toronto.
I have been loaned the Castrol version by Tel (savage GT) for review purposes and, as always, have tested it from the point of view of the average home racer who just wants to run cars straight out of the box with only basic preparation. It will be returned to Tel in due course so he can work his magic on it and we may get an updated report later.
First impressions
The real car was very wide and very low so an excellent candidate for slotifying although the amount of rear overhang isn't ideal. The slot car looks about right in its basic proportions but I haven't checked exact scale dimensions. However, there are a number of detail errors, particularly the lack of proper side ducts. The two fantasy liveries have an incorrect rear wing and lack the distinctive spotlights of the Unipart car so the front end actually looks a bit peculiar. The wheel arches are also too big and/or the wheels are too small but that is par for the course with most slot cars these days. One strange thing on the car I have is that the wheel centres are different colours - red on one side and blue on the other. As this is a fantasy livery I have no idea whether it is deliberate or a cock up on the assembly line:
Chassis/running gear
This is very similar to other high end makes with a triangular pod, flat chassis and the usual high quality gearing and wheels etc. Can anybody explain the actual performance difference between a triangular pod and a rectangular one please? Although the motor is unstickered it is actually a Slot.It 20,500rpm flat 6. As supplied the car is in plastic track configuration with a fairly strong magnet and Slot.It C1 tyres. The guide blade is enormous and might cause jamming problems on hairpin curves and as it is such a wide car it may prove difficult to race a pair of them on narrow Scalextric track.
Before giving it a proper run I oiled the relevant parts and ran it in for 30 minutes at low voltage. I also replaced the rear tyres with a pair of F22s which are more suited to my wooden track than the standard fitment and loosened the body screws a tad. I left everything else box stock.
On to the track and I was immediately impressed with its smooth running qualities, it purred along just like a big cat. One of the quietest cars I have tried in a long time so full marks for gear mesh etc. I didn't try any real banzai laps as it is not my car and I didn't want to give it back to Tel in bits but it lapped continuously in the the low 5.2 second bracket on my 50ft track which is a bit quicker than my RevoSlot McLaren and not quite up to Thunderslot performance. I think there would be a bit more speed to come once attention is paid to front ride height etc. It has no real handling deficiencies but the rear body overhang means you have to be a bit circumspect with corner entry speed to avoid rear breakaway.
Summary
Performance can't really be faulted and there is definitely scope for tuning although its size means it probably can't compete on equal terms with NSR and Thunderslot. The bodywork on the two 'tribute' liveries leaves quite a bit to be desired though and, if I were to buy one, I would definitely go for the Unipart version. Better be quick if you want one though as all the cars are limited editions of just 550 examples and they are bound to sell out soon.
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