There are those sports cars that want you to go faster. They communicate every motion and let you know where the limits are, so you can dance right on the edge. The 2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupe R is one of those cars.
The Coupe R has a gem of an engine under the stylish hood. It’s the supercharged 5.0L V8 with 550 horsepower and 502 lb-ft of torque backed up by the 8-speed ZF automatic. It’s got all the performance components you would want in a capable sports car: lots of low-end torque, powerful brakes, and clever adjustable suspension. Turns out this package is record setting.
It takes an experienced race car driver to tame this tail-happy beast and extract every bit of performance. Current IndyCar racer – Justin Wilson – is the right guy for the job. The record to beat was 1:06.98 seconds that Justin set two months ago in the all-wheel-drive 2015 BMW i8.
Watch Justin do two laps in the F-Type: one with traction control and one without. The F-Type’s track mode pulls back some of the traction control, but it’s still there. Turns out it’s still somewhat intrusive, because Justin cut a whole three seconds off the lap time with traction control disabled. The record time now stands at 1:04.45.
Thanks to IMI Motorsports for providing the racetrack.
Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, reporter, and software engineer. He has been a contributor at TFL since 2011.
