Jaguar’s hyper car experiment is
over, but five working prototypes of the C-X75 are very much alive and well. We
head to Gaydon to drive one of them
This year will be written into history as a
chapter entitled ‘The year of the hyper car’. No fewer than three of these
monuments to speed and technological advancement, one each from McLaren,
Porsche and Ferrari, will enter production before the year is out. But there
was nearly a fourth, a car that might have signaled a new-found ambition for a
once world-beating British marque. Until Jaguar’s announcement that it was to
indefinitely suspend the project, the C-X75 was set to be the quickest and most
technologically sophisticated road-going Jaguar yet. However, five running
prototypes exist, which is why we find ourselves about to join a very exclusive
club, one made up of drivers of the 21st century super-Jag that
never quite was.
Jaguar
C-X75 front
Behind the scenes
In hyper car terms, the C-X75 moved from
concept to running prototype very quickly, but it has changed along the way.
Those who last read about the car after its 2010 Paris show unveiling will be
wondering where its jet turbine generators have gone. A some point, Jaguar
decided its hyper car wasn’t yet ready to part with its drive shafts. Or with
reciprocating pistons, for that matter.
It was decided, in May 2011, that the buzz
surrounding the car was too great to ignore. The car would go forwards,
engineered in partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering. But, like the
show car, it couldn’t be just another supercar.
Jaguar
C-X75 side
“There were four non-negotiable targets”,
says program manager Rob Aitkin. “The car had to be as fast as a Bugatti
Veyron. It had to emit less CO2 than a Toyota Prius. It needed a
zero-emissions range as good as a Chevrolet Volt’s. And it had to look like the
show car; we could change details, but not the major proportions or lines.”
So the C-X75 had to push the envelope on
both performance and efficiency. Ambitious? Oh yes. Unrealistic? Perhaps.
Impossible? Not quite.
In place of the Bladon Jets turbines came a
primary power plant that would set Jaguar’s engineers a challenge on cooling
but allow it freedom on packaging. Developed in-house, the C-X75’s all-aluminum
1.6-liter petrol four-pot is like no small-capacity engine ever built for the
road. Both supercharged and turbocharged, it produces unbelievable power for
its size. Its supercharger declutches at 5500rpm, at which point the turbo
takes over to deliver 2.4bar of boost for an astounding 502bhp at 10,000rpm.
And yet it is reliable enough for one unit to have completed thousands of miles
of Nürburgring testing and still be fresh enough for service in one of Jaguar’s
five prototypes. Durability simply isn’t a problem.
And because the C-X75 is a plug-in hybrid,
that engine is only half the story. Immediately behind the driver – who sits
almost midway between the axles – there’s a 19kWh lithium ion battery pack
capable of supplying a continuous 300kW.
The electric motors are Jaguar’s own.
There’s one for each axle, and they produce 194bhp and 295lb ft each. They
weight just 20kg, making them more efficient, judged on output per kilo, than
any electric motor Jaguar could buy in. The front one drives the front wheels
directly through reduction gearing; the one at the back runs in parallel with
the engine, sending power to the rear wheels via a seven-speed automated manual
gearbox.
The
electric motors are Jaguar’s own
At full chat, the C-X75 makes more than 850bhp
and 738lb ft. it’ll hit 60mph in less than 3.0sec and 100mph in less than
6.0sec, going on to beyond 200mph. Scarcely believably, it would produce less
than 89g/km of CO2 on an NEDC emissions test, driving for 40 miles
on battery power alone. And it looks incredible – more like the heir to Malcolm
Sayer’s C and D-types, and the elegant XJ13, than either the XJ220 or the
XJR-15 ever seemed.
The innovative engineering in this car
could fill textbooks. The all-carbon fiber construction makes for torsional
rigidity of 60,000Nm per degree – three times greater than a Lamborghini
Murciélago. Every major component is positioned within the wheelbase, with the
exception of the seven-speed gearbox, which goes in sideways to minimize the
overhang behind the rear axle.
The thermal management systems are
ridiculously complicated in order to balance the needs of the battery, which
works best at 31deg C, and a 502bhp engine whose exhausts run at up to 900deg
C. Both are surrounded by carbon fiber that would start to unbake itself at
200deg C or so.
Pulling the butterfly door shut and
fiddling with the five-point harness, I’m doing my best to play it cool. This
car is going to be quick, but will it really feel Veyron quick? Above 100mph?
Honestly? Credit to Jaguar for letting us find out.
