Taken from Top Gear 1991 EP 10. Tiff tests the new Jaguar XJR15 at the new revamped Silverstone circuit. Great onboard footage as Tiff goes for it on the last lap!
Anthony Gonzalez He sure is, and now that the comedy television show Fifth Gear no longer wants him, I intend to actively seek out all his work and give him the support he so richly deserves.
The average person watching that car take a lap at Silverstone would probably think "Wow, that looks so cool, I would love to do that". Watching the same car from the inside they'd quickly realize "Ok, I can't do that".
Tiffs driving is awesome and the way he presents his laps whilst commentating is fantastic. What a stunning sound you could literally feel the gear change of the straight cut box. It may be a difficult car to drive quickly but life would be very boring if all fast cars and racing cars were easy to drive and handled predictably.
ive always admired tiff, he really knows what he's taking about - fascinating description of everything that's going on. though you'd expect it from an ex f1 driver, loved the balls out last lap lol!!!
Tiff drove these in competition races, inclusing Monaco And he taught (begrudgingly ) Clarkson how to drift etc.... I have never seen anyone play with cars like he does, even the McLaren F1 is just a toy in his hands, hell watching him putting a GTR R34 Skyline sideways with zero effort is.......the guy is amazing. I will always love this gorgeous car, not an F40 but gods she is close
If they would only drop the suspension for the track, as it was designed to: the body needs clearance for road driving, but for racing you lower it to create the downforce it needs to turn well (they always complain about wheelspin but the fact is, they didn't "turn on" the aero properly).
I honestly have doubts whether they are really human. I'm not bad but pros will scare the shit out of me. While unsuccessfully trying to teach me how to properly drive at speed. Most of the time looking at you the whole time and just taking quick glances at the road, going "See. Look, you can bring the nose in or let the tail out. See how easy it is to control" ...while we are in a power oversteer drift in 3rd gear... Easy for them was not easy for me. I wish it was...
Did you ever see his 5th Gear test of the Veyron, when he fiddled and pressed buttons and pulled all kinds of switches and eventually figured out how to turn its stability control off? He's drifting the world's first 1000hp car about like a madlad while all the Bugatti techs are standing there watching him with their hands on their hips like, "he shouldn't be able to do that...." It was great.
I just watched this in my collection. Had to find this and comment. What a rip! Tiff, you're a Driving God. Us pleebs will never get a better tour, even 29 years later. Not just Silverstone, but the experience in general. Real time narration of a hot lap in a V12 wrapped in scaffolding, AWEsome! 450 HP in 1991 looks like a helluva lot more fun than 1000 HP does nowadays. Yer just spankin' that Kitty. Effort is a lost art. I get an adrenaline rush just watching this. I want to have a go! It feels better than watching some rich Pud toss his Million Dollar car around the Nordschleife. Imagine a few tweaks to this chassis to get the power down? It'd run with the new stuff. 3 decades later. It would be a still be a handful and make for way better racing.
The ride height was set to high to make the ground effects work and the track was damp which " caused some fun.." .Tiff is one of the best drivers i have ever seen on film.
I think that was because the 220 was supposed to have had a V12 but thanks to some 'problems' it got swapped for a twin turbo V6, it's hazy but I think it was something to do with emissions. Plus a collapse in the supercar market didn't help it's sales a lot. And yes Tiff is incredible, can have a relatively calm conversation while driving one of the high speed unstable cars ever, just too tall so the ground effect really didn't work though the track cars might have had adjustable suspension to lower the ride height for proper races rather than a quick but nerve shredding scrabble around Silverstone. I wonder if he does driving lessons?? just normal every day one's hee.... those would be fun
"flat out through Abbey but it's not easy" is very understated for Tiff. Nuff respecte for driving like that in that car. Great video. Cheers for uploading.
JApple157 They are really both TWRs at heart...TWR built the best racing sportscars in the 80s / 90s and built these 2 amazing roadcars using that technology.
@@gf4353 What surprised me most about the XJ220 was how comfortable the interior was. Instead of the crude kitcar interior of the F40 (a strap to pull the unfinished door with its plastic non-functional window) which by that I mean the F40 I was in didn't have an interior.... The Jaguar felt like a Jaguar inside. Glass door windows that moved up and down, premium soft leather everywhere, carpet, a/c, etc, etc.... Everything felll into hand easily, and everything you touched felt solid and we'll made. The seats were really comfortable. This may not sound impressive but exotic super cars of that time period had interiors you had to make excuses for. The Jag was a real street car that you could go the distance in and arrive still feeling like a human being. Yeah, it didn't have AWD or a V12 but so what. It was gorgeous and really could go well over 200 mph in a time many other super cars couldn't even break the 200 mph barrier.
This car was fitted with F40 rear tyres which was a stop gap as the Bridgestone tyres were not ready. The result was not enough traction and epic oversteer. The correct tyres transformed the handling.
Wonderful. I've been searching for this since I moved to the US in 1998. Now all I need to find is the one where he drove the police round Milbrook's handling circuit in their Senator.
One of the most dangerous handling cars ever made!!! And look, only one and only legend tiff needle taking it to its limit in the wet!!!! No 1else can drive this car like him. Fact!!!! Love you tiff. No1 fan xx The real real top gear stigg!!!!!!!!!!
I think that this version of Silverstone was the best. And this car, wow, wonderful, thanks for the people who made racing games like Need For Speed 3, to know cars like this :D
I don't know what it is, but supercars from the 80s and 90s are my favorite. I know modern cars are "better" but all my dream cars are from that era - f40, f50, GTO, xjr-15, 220, f1, countach, diablo, etc. the only super car I like after 2000 is the Ford GT.
Apparently there were 3 'LM' variants knocking out 700+bhp from a 7.4L V12, the std 450bhp model did 0-60 in 3.2s and had a gear ratio ltd top speed of 191mph.
i accidentally thumbed your comment down, but i meant to thumb it up, and it wont let me change it.. sorry! but when you push the car hard left around a turn, it starts to slide, so he slaps the wheel back over to the right to catch the slide. once traction is regained he turns it left again to get it turning more towards the turn youre trying to make. all of this happens many times very quickly during every turn. jaguars can be pushed like no other car, and thats why theyre great.
This video shows what difference 450hp makes when the car is actually trying to kill you and isn't being tamed by traction/stability control like most cars of today... Power.Oversteer!!!*opposite lock*
Yes,the XJR-15 certainly is pretty. . The car was designed by Peter Stevens and Tony Southgate. Stevens is most famous for designing the McLaren F1 with Gordon Murray,
It's just that he has to correct the back end all the time, because he is driving at the limit. If the car isn't completely neutral, you are going to be busy with the steering wheel.
@gasteinerboy Oh yes, I totally agree about the lack of driving aids really seperates the men from the boys. However, I wouldn't turn down the oppurtunity to drive an electronically enhanced race car, neither.
Doubt there's ever been a more feral road-legal car, produced before or since. Even more so than the original Viper. The 90s were simply insane for hypercars
Looks like he's correcting lots of small slides and feeling for the limit of grip. The car seems very unstable at the rear end even through faster turns. Tiff does seem to be doing it a lot in this video, almost trying to provoke the car into a slide rather than having to react to an unexpected one ??
Thing this will get more views after Lenos eppisode about the car :D Amazing car!! Maby the pipes should go out throu the vent on the back like a Scuderia or Performante type of car ;D
+swavgav31 It was developed for the road and not for the race tracks. The suspension set up was too high for racing hence the interesting and unpredictable handling! The engine was also mounted higher so that it had a higher centre of gravity than the Le Mans cars. It's one of those cars that doesn't really know what it is!
love the looks of the xjr15 but jaguar really cocked it up, they should have mounted the engine lower and lowered the whole car aswell and put a bigger rear wing on
