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Automotive Lifestyle
GOLFEN: Jaguar Hosts Some Speedy Fun
Performance Academy track instruction offered to new owners of 510-horsepower XKR and XFR models.
The damp track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway provided some high-speed thrills at the wheel of a Jaguar XKR. (Photo: Wes Allison - Jaguar)
When Jaguar hands you the keys to your new XKR or XFR, they don’t just wave good-bye. That would hardly be appropriate for the owners of Jaguar’s high-tech, 510-horsepower supercars.
Instead, they teach you how to drive them. Buyers of the supercharged performance Jaguars are invited to a specialized race-track driving school called Jaguar R Performance Academy to learn about the cars and how to get the most out of them.
That’s how I happened to find myself on the wind-swept road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. No, I’m not the new owner of an $80,000 XFR or $96,000 XKR, much as I would like to be. I was part of a gaggle of media types invited to take the course along with some excited recent buyers.
“What I absolutely love is that for my $80,000, the company cares enough to teach me to drive it,” said recent XFR buyer Kurt Daens of Salt Lake City, Utah, who was taking the course with his brother, Eric.
The school comprised a full day of track instruction that presented the basics of car control and driving technique, as well as the electronic gear that keeps the Jaguars from spinning off the track. Or off the road, in the real world.
Best of all, the instructors are performance drivers with solid racing backgrounds. At our class, these included racing great Roberto Guerrero, a 15-time Indianapolis competitor and a totally great guy.
“To me, smooth is fast,” Guerrero said. “Just let the car do its job.”
This was a good day of roaring engines and screeching tires, the Jags sounding like full-on race cars as they maneuvered through a dicey autocross or rushed along the road course. The Jaguar R versions of their XK sports coupe and new XF sedan are fast and agile, and the Academy allows you to sample their sharp performance in a legal way.
A drizzly rain in the afternoon slickened the winding track, which lowered our speeds but served to show off the cars’ Dynamic Stability Control. The system can be set in a track mode that allows some tail waggle before cutting in. Or, it can be turned off altogether.
Still, the damp track could be tricky. We learned the good practices of accelerating and braking in a straight line to prevent unwanted skids, and how the DSC would catch you just at the verge of losing it.
We also learned that the bigger, heavier XFR sedan is more forgiving on the track than the edgier XKR. One guy driving an XKR just in front of me hit the throttle a little too hard coming out of a fast turn, and no amount of DSC could keep him from spinning off the track and into the mud.
Instead, they teach you how to drive them. Buyers of the supercharged performance Jaguars are invited to a specialized race-track driving school called Jaguar R Performance Academy to learn about the cars and how to get the most out of them.
That’s how I happened to find myself on the wind-swept road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. No, I’m not the new owner of an $80,000 XFR or $96,000 XKR, much as I would like to be. I was part of a gaggle of media types invited to take the course along with some excited recent buyers.
“What I absolutely love is that for my $80,000, the company cares enough to teach me to drive it,” said recent XFR buyer Kurt Daens of Salt Lake City, Utah, who was taking the course with his brother, Eric.
The school comprised a full day of track instruction that presented the basics of car control and driving technique, as well as the electronic gear that keeps the Jaguars from spinning off the track. Or off the road, in the real world.
Best of all, the instructors are performance drivers with solid racing backgrounds. At our class, these included racing great Roberto Guerrero, a 15-time Indianapolis competitor and a totally great guy.
“To me, smooth is fast,” Guerrero said. “Just let the car do its job.”
This was a good day of roaring engines and screeching tires, the Jags sounding like full-on race cars as they maneuvered through a dicey autocross or rushed along the road course. The Jaguar R versions of their XK sports coupe and new XF sedan are fast and agile, and the Academy allows you to sample their sharp performance in a legal way.
A drizzly rain in the afternoon slickened the winding track, which lowered our speeds but served to show off the cars’ Dynamic Stability Control. The system can be set in a track mode that allows some tail waggle before cutting in. Or, it can be turned off altogether.
Still, the damp track could be tricky. We learned the good practices of accelerating and braking in a straight line to prevent unwanted skids, and how the DSC would catch you just at the verge of losing it.
We also learned that the bigger, heavier XFR sedan is more forgiving on the track than the edgier XKR. One guy driving an XKR just in front of me hit the throttle a little too hard coming out of a fast turn, and no amount of DSC could keep him from spinning off the track and into the mud.
Goodwood Festival Of Speed
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