- Supercharged 6.8-liter, GM-derived V8 makes 960 hp here, but is safe for 1,200 hp.
- Hand-formed aluminum body panels are fixed to an all-new bonded aluminum chassis.
- Future road cars could offer manual transmissions, four seats and even four doors.
The Jensen Interceptor is back, but not how you remember it, if you even remember it at all. After previously teasing its reborn British GT, Jensen International has finally shown the whole thing, revealing a front-engined track-only weapon with the kind of aero tricks that would have seemed like Area 51 stuff back in Jensen’s heyday.
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Called the Interceptor GTX, this isn’t a restomod of the classic Interceptor from the 1960s and 1970s – Jensen has been building them for years. It’s a completely new, track-only prototype designed to prove the engineering that’ll eventually underpin a family of road-going Interceptors. Jensen says around 80 percent of its exterior form is intended to survive into those future models.
An American V8
The recipe is reassuringly old-school. A front-mounted 6.8-liter V8 that started life as a GM-sourced 6.2 sends power exclusively to the rear wheels, but there’s little old-fashioned about the numbers. Built by Texas-based Late Model Engines and topped with a 2.65-liter supercharger, it makes 960 hp (973 PS) here but can support up to 1,200 hp (1,217 PS) and more than 1,100 lb-ft (1,491 Nm).
Power travels through a carbon-fiber driveshaft to a rear-mounted six-speed sequential transaxle, which can be operated using paddles or a proper lever. But Jensen says future street versions will get a conventional automatic, or even a six-speed manual.
The hand-formed aluminum body sits over a bonded aluminum chassis with double-wishbone suspension and three-way adjustable Nitron dampers. There’s hydraulic power steering too, because Jensen thinks changing direction should offer more feedback than navigating a PlayStation menu.
Cage And Carbon Buckets
That enormous carbon wing, which spoils your view of the Interceptor’s most recognizable feature, its wraparound rear screen, isn’t decorative. Together with a splitter, flat floor and diffuser, it helps produce more than 350 kg (772 lbs) of downforce. Inside are carbon competition seats, six-point harnesses, a roll cage and a MoTeC display, with unnecessary screens deliberately given the boot.
Road Next, Then Luxury
The Interceptor GTX certainly makes a statement, but what comes next is far more in keeping with the spite of the original Interceptor. Jensen plans a street-legal GTR, followed by a more luxurious and truly on-brand GT to rival Aston Martin models, and the road cars will gain four seats and even four doors, according to comments managing director David Duerden made to Autocar.