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Every week, Winton Raceway holds a ‘Test and Tune’ day, allowing punters to rock up and lap to their heart’s content for a very reasonable fee.
We’re frequent visitors, as it’s the cheapest and easiest way of conducting track tests. Even better, all manner of weird and wonderful machinery emerges out of the woodwork at these days, everything from a mid-engined V8 Holden Rodeo to an Aussie-built track-focused hypercar.
Built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing and driven to victory by Armin Hahne and John Goss, Chassis 004 is now owned by Mike Roddy, owner of Melbourne-based Jaguar specialist Mike Roddy Motors.
As well its Bathurst 1000 crown, chassis 004 claimed victory at Donington, Enna Pergusa, Salzburgring and Spa during the 1984 European Touring Car Championship.
While protective of his pride and joy, Roddy has no hesitation in driving the XJS to its limit, even in the pouring rain as you’ll see in the video above. “I’d rather have one car and drive it hard than a warehouse full of 100 cars that just sit there,” says Roddy.
Despite Jaguar’s infamous reputation for reliability, Roddy claims it is “dead easy to run”, saying that by the mid-’80s earlier teething troubles had all been sorted.
While clearly still production-based, there are nonetheless plenty of special touches to the car that clearly define it as a serious piece of machinery, as only a factory touring car can be.
Enjoy the sights and sounds of this awesome car, and full credit to Mike Roddy for not only driving it how it should be driven, but letting us capture footage of him doing so.
