Auto Test

Among equals

“Here on this Airforce base there were several scenes shot for the Hollywood movie ‘Top Gun’”, we are told by Carl Garcia, commander of the El Centro base. It was twenty-five years ago that the film starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was a worldwide hit. In the winter months the El Centro Naval Airbase is used as a training establishment for fighter pilots from all over the world. Flyers from Britain, Germany and Italy regularly hone their skills in the skies here, an hour-and-a-half east of San Diego and close to the Mexican border.

The commander of the base, Carl Garcia, takes his task as test driver seriously but also with typical nonchalance.

But here today, where the two runways of El Centro are laid out like a giant ‘X’ marking the spot, it is not a matter of training helicopter manoeuvres nor of spectacular exercises by the US Navy’s ‘Blue Angels’ aerobatic team. Today Commander Carl Garcia has something else in mind… the Jaguar XKR-S Cabrio. “This was my first encounter with a Jaguar”, he explains, “A great auto with incredible power, a bit like a jet.” The car’s styling features massive skirts, there are Pirelli high-performance tyres fitted and the ‘S’ has a huge spoiler to give the rear end a unique look.

The five-litre eight-cylinder power plant outputs 550 horsepower (404 kW) and a massive 680 Nm of torque.

Press button bite

This giant carbon spoiler is there for good reason. At high speeds in the region of 300 kilometres an hour the back of the car should experience as little lift as possible. The performance data for the most potent Jaguar ever built brings a smile to face of the experienced fighter pilot at the wheel on the runway of the airbase. The five-litre eight-cylinder power plant outputs 550 horsepower (404 kW) and a massive 680 Nm of torque. Carl Garcia makes himself comfortable in the luxurious leather seat… adjusts the steering-wheel position and moves off with the sun at his six o’clock to the top of runway 8/26. Then it is a matter of pressing the button with the ‘start flag’ icon on the central tunnel to engage ‘Sport’ mode. Now the growl of the compressor-boosted V8 becomes a wild roar. And the dampers become harder, the steering more precise and nothing now stops the progress through the six stages of the ZF automatic transmission.

The experienced US Navy pilot allows himself to be pressed back in his seat and gets ready to enjoy his flight. Only when he reaches 170 miles an hour (about 272 kilometres per hour) does he hit the brakes to bring the 1.8 ton sports car to a halt at the end of 8/26.

Comparatively efficient

Garcia puts the pedal to the metal and there is a bit of spin from the back wheels before the ‘P-Zero’ tyres get a grip on the runway surface. The experienced US Navy pilot allows himself to be pressed back in his seat and gets ready to enjoy his flight. Only when he reaches 170 miles an hour (about 272 kilometres per hour) does he hit the brakes to bring the 1.8 ton sports car to a halt at the end of 8/26… unfortunately the runway has a total length of 2,900 metres. “Our F-18 jets go airborne at around 170 miles an hour, depending on their load”, says Garcia with a grin, “And until the fighter had reached a thousand feet the Jaguar would be ahead. The real take-off power comes only at about four thousand feet. But the F-18 can reach Mach 1.8… that’s almost twice the speed of sound.” Everything, of course, has its price. While an F-18 without weapons on board costs about 100 million Dollars the Jaguar XKR-S Roadster can be seen as a bargain at 138,100 Euros. And its fuel consumption of 12.3 litres per hundred kilometres driven must be seen as modest when compared with what the F-18 needs each time it take to the air. The British sports car accelerates to a hundred kilometres an hour in 4.4 seconds.

Those who were offended by the fact that the far from underpowered XKR model had its top speed artificially limited to 280 kilometres an hour rejoice to find that an ‘S’ as suffix means that the 300 mark can be reached.

Finesse with the settings

The XKR-S can be had in both open and closed versions and currently represents the absolute top of the Jaguar model range. Those who were offended by the fact that the far from underpowered XKR model had its top speed artificially limited to 280 kilometres an hour rejoice to find that an ‘S’ as suffix means that the 300 mark can be reached. But even here there is a limit imposed. “The car could be even quicker,” says its developer, Andy Lovis, “But at such speeds it gets a bit rough and we wanted to avoid that. But, yes, it could do 200 miles per hour… or 320 kilometres an hour.” It is no surprise that great attention was devoted to the fine settings of the suspension. In comparison with the 510 horsepower standard XKR the ‘S’ is stiffer and gives the driver more feedback. A real plus are the modified front wheel suspensions with their higher damping rates.

So that the performance of the car when driven close to the limit is exceptional not just on the runway at El Centro but also on the street, there is a sports suspension which lowers the body by a centimetre, stiffer suspension for the front wheels, an uncompromising ‘TracDSC’ drive mode and an active rear differential.

Race-track ready

So that the performance of the car when driven close to the limit is exceptional not just on the runway at El Centro but also on the street, there is a sports suspension which lowers the body by a centimetre, stiffer suspension for the front wheels, an uncompromising ‘TracDSC’ drive mode and an active rear differential. Andy Lovis again… “With standard tyres fitted we can do a lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under eight minutes. Few other cars can match that… not with this level of comfort.” And not with this sound. Few other autos can match the song sung by the Jaguar XKR-S Cabriolet whether on the runway or on the Nordschleife track.