Tag Archives: Stevens

Goodwood Revival #7 Jaguar Foxbat

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In the last of this series of blogs about the Goodwood Revival, today we are looking at a unique Jaguar XK150.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

The XK150 was launched in 1957, updating the XK140 with a one piece windscreen, higher wing line over thinner doors and wider bonnet.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

The XK150 was powered by the same 3.4 litre double overhead cam iron block straight 6 motor which was available with a standard 180 hp or with an SE spec 210 hp featuring a modified cylinder head.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

Initially the XK150 was slower than the XK140 until the introduction of a 250 hp ‘S’ motor featuring triple carburetors and straight ported cylinder head.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

Legend has it that this 1959 car belonged to an industrial chemist in Swindon called Geoffrey Stevens in the mid 1970’s. Mr & Mrs Stevens wanted a car that could carry their two Labradors.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

Over a period of two years from 1975 to 1977 Mr Stevens set about restoring his rusty XK150 and grafting the back of a Morris Minor Traveller onto the back of his car turning it into a shooting break, with enough space to carry his dogs.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

The rear lights come from a Mini Traveller, apparently the badges on the boot were hand cut by my Stevens.

Jaguar XK 150 Foxbat, Goodwood, Revival

The Foxbat came up for auction at Goodwood with an estimated value of £30,000 – £35,000, surprisingly it did not find a buyer.

Thanks for joining me on this Foxbat edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the vehicles that took part in last weekends Palos Verdes Concours, if you think you know your motorcars you might be surprised at some of these most of which I had not heard of until Geoffrey Horton sent me his photo’s. Don’t forget to come back now !

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UK Limited Edition – Subaru Impreza P1

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Last week I looked at the Prodrive P2 which was based on a Subaru R1 with Impreza WRC running gear.

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The Subaru Impreza P1 (Prodrive One) is a limited edition of just 1000 models based on the Impreza WRX.

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The power of the AWD flat four turbo P1 was boosted from 218 hp to 280 hp.

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The front and rear spoiler designs are credited to Peter Stevens who was responsible for the latter Prodrive P2.

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The P1 was the result of a collaboration between Subaru Technica International (STi) the racing department of Subaru and Prodrive who ran the Subaru WRC rally campaign.

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When the car was launched in 1999 just 500 units were envisaged for the UK market only however demand was so high that production ceased with the 1000th P1.

My thanks to the Pistonhead who brought this UK Spec only P1 along to the Sunday Service at the BMW plant back in January.

Hope you have enjoyed UK Limited Edition of ‘ Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Sick Bag Not Included – Prodrive P2

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In 2006 David Richards tasked every department in the Prodrive Group with developing the Prodrive P2 into a fully functional concept car in order to demonstrate ” the perfect manifestation of what happens when our inspirational ideas combine with our innovative approach.”

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Development from designs by Peter Stevens, whose portfolio includes the Jaguar XJR 15 and McLaren F1, to fully functioning vehicle took just 9 (nine) months.

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Prodrive started by using a much modified All Wheel Drive Subaru R1 platform around which to build the P2.

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Under the hood lurks a 345 hp turbocharged Subaru flat four taken from the Subaru World Rally Championship (WRC) programme complete with Prodrives Anti Lag System (ALS) tuned for the road that minimises turbo lag by burning fuel in the exhaust system at low rpm which keeps the turbo turbine spinning at high speed. Such systems which increase the throttle response of turbocharged vehicles were banned from Formula One in 1981.

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The P2 also uses a modified version of the Subaru (WRC) drive train which features Prodrives ATD™ system which compares what the driver is expecting with what the vehicle is providing. The system modulates torque to individual wheels using a differential control system.

In a four wheel drive application such as the P2, if the car is understeering / pushing, then the system will deliver more torque to the back wheels, making it behave more like a rear wheel drive car; if the car is oversteering / loose then more torque will be delivered to the front wheels. ATD™ enables the car to be driven through corners at much higher speeds.

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When a well known large presenter of a well known motoring programme tried the P2 with the ATD™ switched on he apparently drove the P2 in such a tight circle at such high speeds he made himself ill and had to stop the car and open the door to spill his diced carrots and peas on the tarmac.

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With a power to weight ratio of 350 hp per tonne the P2 can reach 62 mph in 4 seconds and a top speed of 174 mph.

Prodrive estimated that it would have been able to retail the P2 for around £40,000 / $ 65,000 in 2006, but declined to manufacture the vehicle themselves.

Hope you have enjoyed the ride in today’s ATD™ edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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