Lots of magnificent Jaguars prowling the Ritz-Carlton — including some relative newborns in the XFR and exclusive, in-person details on the not-here-yet F-Type Coupe that will be featured in an upcoming article.

The essence of a Jaguar to me?

But finding an XJR15 in he flesh was enough to abort the XJ220 photo mid-snap. This TWR-created baby was actually quite successful in racing, and … whisper it… a lot faster around tracks than Jaguar’s own XJ220 hypercar.

Surely these cars shared much of their components and development work? Nope. Barely a common bolt among them — making it a troublesome family member during Jaguar’s late-1980s rise and subsequent floor thud by 1992. No company can afford to make two exotic hypercars at once — a hard lesson Jaguar appears reluctant to repeat.

Although we think the CX-16 is stunning and quite special — the bait/switch of a turbine engine promised at first would never match up wit the reality of the CX-16’s twin-charged four-banger hybrid setup. The XJ220 already played that game with million-dollar clients before — and lost.

Even so, we were bummed not to see the CX-16 out on the lawns. Perhaps some time in the future.