Some
of the most advanced sports prototypes ever designed were born out of the
3.5 liter Group C Championship. The two short years of that series
saw some of the largest evolutionary jumps in prototype design, brought
about by competition among car manufacturers such as Jaguar, Peugeot, and
Toyota.
It was into this environment that the independently designed Allard J2X was born, to much fan-fare. By 1991, mainstream sports car design bore little resemblance to the Porsche 956s and Lancia LC2s that first debuted some 10 years earlier. The Allard J2X suddenly accelerated the pace of thinking at a time when the development graph was already quite steep.
But the Allard was a veritable flash in the pan and followed the fate of many racecars by failing to realize its potential. So what happened to this car and who was behind it?
This is the Allard J2X's story.
This story couldn't have been written if those involved hadn't been interested in having it told it. Many thanks to the following: Hayden Burvill, Costas Los, John Iley, Paul Burgess, Tracey Morris, Doug Peterson, and Gordon Friend.
