Jaguar sets new SA land speed record
Record attempts require two back-to-back runs to be completed, with each run measuring the average speed over a kilometre distance (‘the flying kilometre’).
THE Jaguar F-Type R Coupé is officially the fastest production vehicle in South Africa.
A small group of Jaguar employees gathered to watch the 405kW supercharged V8 coupé drive into the record books at the Upington Airport, in the Northern Cape on February 28.
The event was the culmination of just over six weeks of planning, and saw Jaguar tapping into its heritage; recalling the ’40s and ’50s, when it famously set numerous European land speed records with the XK120.
“Not only do we say that racing is in our blood – we go out there and prove it,” said Richard Gouverneur, Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa.
“Aside from being inspired by our history of racing and land speed records, we also wanted to show off the innovation, performance and the safety of our vehicles. A car that’s capable of reaching 300km/h safely is many times safer at legal and safe speeds,” he said.
At the hands of Dawie Olivier, National Aftersales Manager at JLR – and racer with more than two decades of rallying and circuit racing experience – the F-Type R Coupé reached speeds in excess of 300km/h on the 4900 metre runway.
For the record to be official, two runs have to be completed in both directions while timekeeping officials from Motorsport South Africa measures speed over a one kilometre distance.
On the uphill section of the F-Type’s record-setting run it achieved a speed of 288.33km/h, while the complementing downhill run saw it crack the magical 300km/h mark with an officially-measured speed of 301.03km/h.
The land speed record comprises the average of the two runs, and now sits at 294.68km/h – beating the previous record of 287.63km/h set in 2002, with Mike Griffiths behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT2.
“The F-Type R Coupé is limited to 300km/h, but we chose not to remove the speed limiter, even though the regulations make provision for us to legally do so. The car that we used is exactly as customers can buy it off the showroom floor,” said Gouverneur.
“Ultimately, we ran out of space to go even faster – however, this was the safest venue to illustrate the potential of this vehicle.”
Official South African land speed record attempts are sanctioned by Motorsport South Africa (MSA).
In addition to enforcing safety compliance at sanctioned events, MSA ensures that cars used for production vehicle record attempts are standard and within manufacturer specification.
Vehicles used in official record attempts are submitted to scrutineering both before, during and after events, with scrutineers using a randomly-selected showroom vehicle of the same specification for comparison.
The record is declared to be the average speed of both runs.
(report by IN4RIDE.net)
