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It’s able to lap the Nurburgring under eight minutes and go very sideways. XKR Special is one hardcore Jaguar.
At last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Jaguar showed off a very green, very fast XKR Special prototype.
The calibre of enthusiasts who attend the Goodwood festival are not easily impressed (considering the quality of automotive art on display), yet attendents warmed to the XKR Special as it went (very sideways) around the 3.8km circuit with Jaguar’s legendary dynamics engineer, Mike Cross, at the helm.
Despite the car’s outlandish Shrek-green colour scheme (as opposed to traditional British racing green) and garish ‘XKR’ side graphics, its fine-tuned acoustics and swift performance impressed all.
Now, a year after the Goodwood display, good news is at hand as Jaguar has announced the XKR Special will go into production before the end of this year - in exactly the same trim as the Goodwood prototype.
Since its Goodwood debut, the XKR Special has lapped the Nurburgring in a very competitive 7:58 time during its dynamic validation testing. In order to access such performance, Jaguar engineers boosted the 5l supercharged V8’s power by 15 units to 385kW, with peak rotational force swelling from 625- to 700Nm. With the XKR Special’s gas exchange regime benefitting from a redesigned exhaust system, the V8 acoustics are baritone perfect.
In order to cope with the increase in engine output and cornering speeds, XRK Special features larger 21-inch alloys (rolling the requisite performance rubber) and a lowered ride height courtesy of revised suspension. Jaguar boss Mike O’Driscoll has confirmed the XRK Special will be capable of a top speed beyond the psychological 300km/h barrier.
Do you think the XKR Special is a dual-pedal Porsche GT3 alternative? Debate it here...
The calibre of enthusiasts who attend the Goodwood festival are not easily impressed (considering the quality of automotive art on display), yet attendents warmed to the XKR Special as it went (very sideways) around the 3.8km circuit with Jaguar’s legendary dynamics engineer, Mike Cross, at the helm.
Despite the car’s outlandish Shrek-green colour scheme (as opposed to traditional British racing green) and garish ‘XKR’ side graphics, its fine-tuned acoustics and swift performance impressed all.
Now, a year after the Goodwood display, good news is at hand as Jaguar has announced the XKR Special will go into production before the end of this year - in exactly the same trim as the Goodwood prototype.
Since its Goodwood debut, the XKR Special has lapped the Nurburgring in a very competitive 7:58 time during its dynamic validation testing. In order to access such performance, Jaguar engineers boosted the 5l supercharged V8’s power by 15 units to 385kW, with peak rotational force swelling from 625- to 700Nm. With the XKR Special’s gas exchange regime benefitting from a redesigned exhaust system, the V8 acoustics are baritone perfect.
In order to cope with the increase in engine output and cornering speeds, XRK Special features larger 21-inch alloys (rolling the requisite performance rubber) and a lowered ride height courtesy of revised suspension. Jaguar boss Mike O’Driscoll has confirmed the XRK Special will be capable of a top speed beyond the psychological 300km/h barrier.
Do you think the XKR Special is a dual-pedal Porsche GT3 alternative? Debate it here...
