With the abundance of Porsche, Alfa, Ferrari, and muscle car restomods out there, it feels like old Jags don’t get nearly enough attention. Thankfully, it looks like the folks over at TWR have not forgotten Jaguar’s long racing heritage and winning history, with their new TWR Supercat commemorating TWR’s 1988 Le Mans victory with the ever-iconic Jaguar XJR-9. Built atop the old Jaguar XJS, the TWR Supercat restomod was developed by a team of world-class engineers from McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, and Renault F1. It’s a massive undertaking too, to honour the founder of TWR and racing legend, Tom Walkinshaw, with Fergus Walkinshaw’s leadership.
Alas, if you have deep pockets, you might want to hurry, as TWR is only building 88 examples of the TWR Supercat worldwide. Each one, as you can imagine, will be offered with a vast range of bespoke, individual commissions and personalisation. It’s definitely not cheap, though, with the starting price of each TWR Supercat starting at £225,000, not including taxes. Besides that, you might need to make a £35,000 deposit to secure a build slot, too. With their first deliveries to be expected sometime in summer 2025, it won’t be long before we get to experience that in-house, TWR-developed and tuned 5.6-litre supercharged V12, with its whopping 660bhp!
A Classic Old Jag Brought Back To Life
In addition to 730Nm of torque and a 7,750RPM redline, the TWR Supercat already sounds like one of the more exhilarating restomods I’ve seen yet. The resto-modding doesn’t stop there, of course, with the folks at TWR pairing the Supercat with a tweaked 6-speed manual gearbox to take on all that torque and power. Moreover, you’ll also notice a plated limited-slip diff on the rear axle to offer you optimal traction and responsive handling. And, to give this old Jag a truly modern touch, TWR gave it a wide, low-slung, carbon-fibre body. It doesn’t just look good, but it also resulted in a 9.3% weight reduction, dropping it down to 1,605kg (from 1,770kg).
It might not sound like a lot, but everything counts, I’d say. Optionally, you could also spec the carbon ceramic brakes package for more braking power. Otherwise, it comes as standard with a double-wishbone suspension and active dynamic damping, allowing you to pick between the softer settings for grand touring or a more precise, focused set-up for the circuit. Additionally, TWR was able to programme in a traction control system (12 whole levels, no less!), on top of launch control, and 5 different drive modes. These aren’t things you’ll find in an old Jaguar XJS, so that’s a nice quality-of-life improvement to help you further fine-tune your ideal drive.
A Modernised, Analogue, Ultra-Special Super-GT
The TWR Supercat isn’t an out-and-out track car, as you might’ve guessed. It’s just as capable for daily driving and taking on long road trips, too. With that in mind, TWR has included more than a handful of track and performance-specific improvements to the old Jag XJS. There’s the set of front splitters, rear diffuser, flat floorplan, and other underbody improvements to give it more downforce and better aero. Even the flying buttresses were re-shaped to make the TWR Supercat more stable at high speeds, and let it cut through the air with more ease. A personal favourite of mine is those side-exit exhausts, not to mention those lovely turbofan wheels!
Speaking of, the TWR Supercat is penned by none other than famed concept car designer and digital artist, Khyzyl Saleem. The Supercat even gets some styling inputs from the one and only Magnus Walker himself! Ultimately, it isn’t just designed to combine modern functionality and also retain some of the XJS’s classic lines, but it’s properly aerodynamic, as well. Step inside, and you’ll find more modernity here too, with carbon fibre and leather bucket seats, in addition to a modern MMI with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Though most of us won’t come close to affording something like the TWR Supercat, I’m more than glad something this special exists.
