Meet The SCV8 Jaguar X-Type

A race-spec Jaguar from a racing Series that never happened, built by a racing champion.

Hidden away for the last 18 years, the Jaguar SCV8 is an X-Type that was destined to have 550bhp and was built to race in the SCV8 championship in 2003. If you like old Jags, you’re sure to love this one!

This Jaguar X-Type is no ordinary X-Type. Created by the four-time BTCC champion and Touring Car legend, Andy Rouse, this particular X-Type is nothing like the road-going models that you sometimes still see today.

Now, most people do not even know what SCV8 is and there’s a fair reason for that. Coming up to two decades ago in 2003, the SCV8 Supercar Series was announced. It gained the interest of ex-Formula One drivers, active Touring Car drivers and many other people of interest from various racing series. Over 60 motorsport teams registered interest and there seemed to be a plentiful supply of teams and drivers to line the 20-car grid which was set to debut in the following year of 2004.

Sadly, the SCV8 Supercar Championship never saw the light of day. Created by Andy Rouse and proposed to be a series for RWD production steel body cars, powered by V8 engines, the race series was put on hold and, in the end, never actually happened. The world of Touring Car racing was already crowded enough and the SCV8 Series would only have harmed the BTCC more and so as a result, the idea of SCV8 faded away as there was simply no room for it in the world of Motorsport.

And so, after 18 years of hibernation, the SCV8 Jaguar X-Type has resurfaced and has the Motorsport community talking about the Supercar V8 race series and Andy Rouse once again.

The car was built by Rouse Hall Motorsport and was the last car that Andy Rouse created before his workshopped was closed for good. The seller notes that this particular SCV8 race car does not have the Nicholson McLaren 550hp V8 that it was meant to for the races but rather is being sold without an engine or with a Lotus V8 installed.

Although it may be missing an engine, this SCV8 Jag still is a certifiable collector’s item as not only does it mark a racing series of days gone but also Rouse’s final creation. The car also comes with all the paperwork, drawings, a ‘small cache of spares’ kept by Rouse.

Even if you cannot appreciate the history behind the car or the man who built it, you simply cannot deny that the SCV8 Jaguar X-Type is a marvellous thing to look at, especially now that these cars are modern classics!

Let us know what you think of the SCV8 Jag, in the comments!

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