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.
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.
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
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.
"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 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*
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.
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,
@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.
+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!
Got to agree with you, the sound is extraordinary. But the car seemed to be rubbish in terms of handling, when Tiff has to struggle like that, it's a hard car to drive...! I'm most impressed by his recovery of that huge slide, i thought he'd go off the track and ruin the car! :-O
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".
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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 ??
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.
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
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 heard it said Tiff took 4 showers after that test drive and was still in a cold sweat. That thing was scary as hell.
Look at this man give all of that feedback and drive like that. Tiff is a legend.
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.
Just a heads up. He now co-hosts a YT chanel called "LOVE CARS"
THIS! This is auto journalism! Top Gear can sod off in the express train to hell. Why aren't we demanding more like this?
+Christian Wilson there's room in the world for both you know...
It's incredibly difficult to find a racing driver with a personality ! lol
Talking while drifting an XJR15 through Stowe in 4th.... Ridiculously talented driver.
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.
Great video. I can understand why this car was responsible for all the canceled orders for XJ220s... 6.0L V12 is far more interesting than a 3.5L V6T.
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
Top Gear is more entertainment than informative nuggets than it was in the 90's.
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.
"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.
grab 6th gear, flat out through abbey, BUT ITS NOT EASY ! =D What a legend
nnnEEEEEAArrryyy spun it 😂
The same person who designed the XJR-15 is the same who designed the McLaren F1
8:35 phwoooooar Tiff one-handed maximum attack, what an absolute LAD
Wow! That sound!
I remember this broadcasted back in 1991. It was fantastic then as it is now
never was a fan of jaguars at all really but this and the xj220 are so intriguing to me
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.
I think the XJ220 is a clunky looking car. But this XJR 15 is very well done. Form following function in a beautiful way.
XJ220 looks like a deadly serious racing car, whereas the f-40 looks like a giant Tonka toy. !!!!!
@@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.
Imagine driving such a wonderful machine
"The resultant handling in the XJR-15 is, well, exciting to say the least."
Excellent video! Enlightened and gripped, too---unlike the XJR-15.
I love tiff's narrated laps.
The XJR-15, a moment of sublime madness in the usually classy and noble Jaguar make, and one of my favourite cars ever.
Legend has it that this Jaguar XJR15 is more of the purest sports car than the Ferrari F40. I'd love to see a head to head!!
Both are so visceral
There is a head to head with the f40 and the xjr15! Just litterely type that in lol
Ready to catch any SLIIIIIDDDDEESSS
Tiff is incredible!!!
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*
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.
id be rather happy with just 450hp it shouldn't be all about numbers. There is a game called Top Trumps for that
ynotnilknarf39 equally. TWR made conversion kits for those Jaguar V12s
Even though it was a terrible car dynamically, the XJR15 is a very good looking car.
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,
How do u know that? Is that type of info on Google buddy?? Or do you personally know them?
Absolutely superb video
XJ220 and XJR-15 vs. The Lamborghini DiabloGT and VT6.0
I knew of the XJ220 but never heard of this one. It looks good but like the XJ220 the taillights seem like an afterthought.
They came from Rover. Hence why they probably look familiar.
@@samueladams1775 Not Rover - 1988 Mazda 626 Coupe.
Undoubtedly the hardest car to drive in Gran Turismo 2.
Was at the British grand prix in 91', they had these jags as a support race. Nice to look at but compared to the F1 cars pretty slow and quiet!
The Monoco race is fun to watch - on youtube. I wonder if the XJR15 can benefit from ground effect mods and lowering the engine?
POWER OVERSTEER!! 3:52
@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.
"... with a bit of PAH-ER OV-AH-STEE-AH ! !" ---> 3:53 LOL
TIFF IS THE GOD!
BEAUTIFUL TRUE RACE CAR....fools forget that torque wins hands down....this car could pull a 767 out of the sky and make a ferrari cry....
Tiff Needell is very very cool.
The car is all over the shop!!, they were supposedly a nightmare to drive. Surprising considering TWR developed it...
+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!
Toad Rage developed for road use? Where is that from?
That's not what I heard. I thought they had to raise the road car up hence the road car was a compromise. The race car was always the intention
That car should drive at the 24h race :D
Tiff could very well have been a Stig
"The 450 bhp are impresive" oh the 90's
it still is impressive in a car weighing just over a ton
1050kg..... enough said.
Yeah, it's super light and he's having trouble putting down the power he has already. If it had any more he'd just be doing donuts.
Damn. This “new” version of Silverstone was easily the best layout. The new start finish is really disappointing now.
"The bottom of the steering wheel is cut of to ease access." (then gets into another XJR-15 with a full circular steering wheel!)
I always remember when Clarkson was driving a XJR15 & nearly hit the camera filming next to him, I bet he had brown pants
do you have his xjr-9 drive?
needel is a pillock
Like being in a cage with a bipolar jaguar.
Munn-ark-oh, lol.
Sorry for pointing out the obvious however Tiff aint alf looking young :-)
I think the reason Tiff finished midfield or last in all the XJR15 races that year is because of his overdriving. If he drives races like that.
What a car, would kill a normal driver 👏
The car Must have handeled like a pig
Got to agree with you, the sound is extraordinary. But the car seemed to be rubbish in terms of handling, when Tiff has to struggle like that, it's a hard car to drive...! I'm most impressed by his recovery of that huge slide, i thought he'd go off the track and ruin the car! :-O
Feedback
3:54 POWER OVERSTEEAAEEERRRRRR!!!!
😂
Oversteer in.... oversteer out!!!
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".
Man can drive...
The average person would probably end up in hospital if they tried to.
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!!!
The fact that he can describe/commentate on his own driving shows just how good he was.
@@SulfuricInk0 : Still is, he co-hosts a YT chanel called "LOVE CARS"
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).
Jag is better looking
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.
His car control is something else. Still doing it at 70 as well. Massive respect.
So, if I want a proper upper body workout I should buy a Jaguar XJR15? Hmmmm................
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.
This car eats the shit out of f40
Now that is a car made out of a car company giving it's all to show the world how to make a real super car. That one is mind fucking blowing.
And even the Ford gt is a reimagined car
One of the best-looking cars ever built.
It must be an amazing machine to drive, so rewardful if you master it.
"Oversteer in, oversteer out!!" Love it.
"Oooversteer in.....oversteer OOOUTTTT!" Just brilliant :)
great car and great driver
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 forgot to say, ¡what a great car control by Tiff! ¡wow!
Tiff is a hero...the xjr-15 was so much fun in NFS 3
William Woolard...the thinking mans Jeremy Clarkson.
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.
At 6:00 "Going to the Fifth Gear" :o)))
Tiff, Chris, Randy. No other motoring journalists come to mind who can drive a beastly car at the limit, while commenting in whole sentences.
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.
It's incredible how difficult it is to control with no turbo and only 450hp !
What a terrifying car !
Amazing car, amazing driver, amazing circuit...
5:50 "grab another gear, right, power power power, another gear, oversteer, pow WOAAH" =D
Saw one of these on a short track. A proper beauty and a beast of a car,
I've never seen anybody fighting the car so much, wow what a driver Tiff is
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.
No, I haven't. I've got most old TG episodes from 1991 onwards on VHS, I'll try to get some more uploaded!
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.
I wonder how fast this thing is around the current Top Gear track. :D
I wish the stig presented top gear.
there feathering the wheel to keep it on the ideal racing line :P
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 ??
mark34bn i think it’s very similar to the kind of correction made in his Sierra
Spectacular review
with a little bit of POWER OVERSTEER!!!
Mega!
subtitles "go into the violent prison"
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.
Are we gonna forget the fact that this looks like it inspired the Pagani Zonda????
@RetBaron hahaaa
Excellent
Blimey. Nice work Tiff. Not easiest car to drive. Great looker though.
McLaren had 620+ bhp just a few years later from the same size engine
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
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!!!!!!!!!!
Good way to get used of a race car on a circuit doing lots of laps all out by yourself
Any car with a whining gearbox is an instant hood classic.
Why didn't they just lower the ride to take full advantage of the ground effects? At least for the track
Man, Tiff sounds like he’s being tortured. That’s one hell of a car