Jaguar C-X75
  • Jaguar C-X75

Jaguar C-X75

Appears In
Spectre

On Film
The car features in a breath-taking six-minute night chase through the streets of Rome after Bond flees the SPECTRE meeting. Driven by new SPECTRE agent Hinx, the Jaguar C-X75 chases Bond in his borrowed Aston Martin DB10, screeching down narrow streets around Vatican City and alongside the River Tiber. Both supercars hit speeds of 100mph and rattle down the 68 steps of the Scalo de Pinedo to the riverside. Here, the Jaguar is bathed in fire as Bond engages his car’s rear flamethrowers. Hinx eventually pulls to a smouldering stop just as Bond leaps his car into the river and the Aston slowly sinks.

The Vehicle
The C-X75 concept car, developed with Williams Advanced Engineering of F1 fame, debuted in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show to represent the pinnacle of Jaguar’s engineering and design. And while plans to put the car into full production stalled, Jaguar continued the development of five prototypes, which aimed to match the performance stats of a Bugatti Veyron. The two cars share the same 220mph top speed.

Nestled between the bulkhead and the rear wheels is a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that produces a massive 502bhp courtesy of a twin-scroll supercharger and a huge turbo. Electric motors on each axle then add another 390bhp. With its seven-speed transmission, the car can sprint from 0-100mph in under six seconds.

The Production
The existing C-X75 prototypes, with their lined cabins and highly finished exteriors, were too valuable to use in filming, for anything other than static or slow shots. Therefore, seven replicas were built and adapted to handle the extreme stunt sequences. Stunt driver Martin Ivanov was behind the wheel while three staggered crews worked around the clock doing the repairs.

The prototype C-X75’s powerplant, and the electric motors on the axles, were not practical for the film’s stunt sequences, so a simpler and less costly 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine was fitted along with the same transmission as the McLaren 650S GT3 competition car. Each stunt car was built around a tubular space frame chassis with composite body panels. The ABS and traction control were removed and hydraulic brakes were added, while the suspension was lengthened and boosted with rally-spec springs and dampers.

Despite the engine modifications, stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell noted that the C-X75 was so powerful that the production had to further tone down the engine, so the throttle response wasn’t as aggressive.