News homepage
The fastest Jaguar ever will take to the Goodwood hill at this weekend's Festival of Speed. It will be joined by Le Mans winning cars, the unique XJ13 and a rather special XKR.
Finished in Lime Green paint the "Goodwood Special" XKR would be easy to spot even without exterior graphics and satin graphite grilles, mirror housings, window surrounds and bonnet louvers. The 21-inch alloy wheels have also been given a dark finish and the car sits lower than the regular XKR.
Under the bonnet, Jaguar has given the supercharged, 5.0-litre V8 more power while a performance exhaust should ensure that this XKR sounds as spectacular as it looks. According to Jaguar's Managing Director the Goodwood Special was an opportunity to explore "the harder side of the XKR" without having to consider some of the practical and legal constraints that apply to road cars.
The Bonneville XFR is officially the fastest Jaguar ever, having hit 225.675mph at the famous salt flats last November. The Festival of Speed is the car's first public appearance in the UK and it will be driven by Paul Gentilozzi, who raced and won the American Trans Am series five times between 2001 and 2006 in a Jaguar XKR.
With the theme of this year's festival "Epic Feats of Endurance" it is appropriate that Jaguar's first Le Mans winner, the C-type, will be present along with the Jaguar D-type that won in 1957. The XJ13 was conceived to take on the Sarthe circuit, but never raced.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed runs from 3rd to 5th July with entry by advance ticket purchase only. Check out www.goodwood.co.uk for full details.
John Lambert - 2 Jul 2009
|
|
|
|
|
