Tiff Needell has never exactly been the Jaguar XJS’s biggest cheerleader. But then, this isn’t exactly an XJS.

The TWR Supercat takes Jaguar’s famously enormous V12 coupe and gives it the sort of treatment that makes sensible people reach for their wallets and everyone else reach for a helmet. There’s a supercharged 6.0-litre V12 producing 660bhp, a six-speed manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive and a completely reworked carbon-fibre body.

Only 88 will be built. And by the time you’ve supplied the donor car, paid the VAT and emptied the contents of several unfortunate bank accounts, you’re looking at nearly £500,000.

This isn’t merely another old car being given an unnecessarily large engine. Needell has history with TWR. He raced its machinery, raced against it and even spent time with the terrifying Jaguar XJR-15. More than four decades ago, he first drove a TWR-prepared XJS.

Now he’s back.

Only this time, the XJS has been stripped of its grand-touring dignity, covered in carbon fibre and fitted with enough supercharged V12 fury to make the original seem like it was powered by a particularly determined lawnmower.

The result is part restomod, part supercar and part automotive revenge fantasy. And for Needell it’s a rather more interesting reunion than anyone could have expected.

Forty years ago, he drove a TWR XJS. Now he gets to find out whether the Supercat finally makes him like one.