I was pretty disappointed to read this:

Jaguar turns down offers to join V8 Supercars, questions AMG, Volvo participation - Autoblog

Is Jaguar ever going to get serious? They seem to be resting on their laurels (with the "laurels" being their passenger cars). I feel like even cars like the XKR-S and the XFR-S and F-Type don't have any real significance if they're not going toe-to-toe with other cars in competitive sport.

 

Yeah, good question...

There have been some recent attempts, both factory backed & privateer (by recent i mean post 2000), some of which i've tried to highlight in our new Motorsports - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum subforum (shameless plug, we need more traffic in there!)

Let's have a quick look;

Formula 1, Jaguar Racing, factory team 2000-2004
GT2 XKR, USA, RSR Racing, semi-factory team, 2009-2012
GT3 XKR, UK, Apex Racing, privateer, 2006-2008
Superstars XFR/SV8 (prior STR), Italy/Europe, Ferlito Motors, privateer, 2004-current

Then there is/was the XF diesel that ran in the VLN for one season...a privateer effort from Carvell in the UK
And the Beglian Touring car series, silouette cars, a privateer operation by Thiry Racing, first the X-Type & then the XF...

And that's about it...in fact right now the only late-model Jag racecars competing anywhere are the Ferlito XF's.

There is plenty in the various classic series in the UK, everything right up to X300's, but obviously being older models, they are all privateer outfits.

It's a little strange that Jaguar builds high-performance cars; a la the XKR-S GT, without any direct involvement in motorsport...but then again the likes of Lamborgini, Pagani, Bugatti, etc. build supercars & hypercars, without any motorsport activities, so is it really a must to have a race car?

I'm still laughing at the comments from Adrian Hallmark & David Blackhall;

LOL @ Fizzy Drink

Take from that what you will.

I'm wondering now if i'm actually one of those people that Jaguar want to sell too...

 

Are there any Indian car manufacturers in motorsport anywhere?

I can just see a squad of Tuk Tuks belting down the Mulsanne straight.

(ps if you want this moved to the Motorsport section we will).

 

LOL, Clarkson & the boys tried to get something going in the Top Gear India Special, there were some Tuk Tuk's running in the impromptu hillclimb they organised...

Up to you Richard, i'd leave it here for a while, then we can achive it in the Motorsports section later...

 

I think the part that got me was that Jaguar pretty much admitted that they'd get their butts handed to them by Holden.

It must've been an exciting time in the early 90s (and the 50s!) to see Jaguar racing in Le Mans, and being part of the brand as a Jaguar owner.

 

You've gotta remember that the 5.0L V8SC engines (Ford, Chev, and earlier on Holden) are pretty much works of art, and have been developed over the last 25 years, even longer if you consider the predecessor Group A & Touring car series.

Currently these 5.0L's are making ~650HP, naturally aspirated, limited to 7500rpm...

The most RSR could get out of the N/A 5.0L AJ133 was around 550HP, and they spent a lot of money just to get that far.

I remember 10 years ago, when the V8SC's were only making 600HP, one of the teams sent an engine to Ford HQ in the states, and the engines guru's in HQ could not believe how much power was coming out of what is basically a 302ci Windsor V8.

Any new contender in the V8SC series has 25 years of catching up to do from an engine point of view. This means serious $'$$$'$$$'s in order to be competitive.

And let's be honest, if you are not going to be competitive, better off not stepping up to the plate...

 

I agree with you. It definitely will cost a lot of money to be competitive. But I also wonder what's different now than when Jaguar decided that motorsports was a worthy endeavour in the mid-to-late 80s?

 

Ah, the 80's...

XJR-5/6/7/8, which lead up to the XJR-9, then the XJR-10/11/12/14, finally the XJR-15 hypercar, and then the XJ220...all of which were basically outsourced to TWR.

Actually I see a strong paralell between the XJ220 and the C-X75...

The XJ220 promised so much...quad-cam V12, AWD...but when it was delivered, turbo-V6 & RWD...1500 orders fell to just 281 cars produced, and a lot of those deliveries were managed via lawyers...

Can you imagine from the hype of the C-X75 and all it promised, if the production car did not deliver...it would be the same drama all over again...we'll never know since the project was canned, but that's my guess...could not deliver...

I think Jag is playing it very cool, very cautious, very conservative these days, it's hard to ignore what happened in the past...

 

Do you realise, that a V8 supercar is so far removed from any production car, in every respect, that a comparison between makes is laughable.

 

Lordy!
Now you know how I feel!
This is what happens when money people run a car company like it was a money company, rather than a car company.

Racing fosters brand loyalty, pride in ownership, camaraderie, and worst of all: sales... (sales to the WRONG kind of people, ewwww!) Funny thing is, you don't even have to win. You just have to race.

 

The new "Car of the Future" in V8SC means all cars run the same chassis, gearbox, diff, suspension, brakes, the only differences are the panels bolted on & the engine. I thought everyone knew this already?

Basically it's just an engine race now, if you don't have the HP you won't be competitive.

From a manufacturers point of view it's "our engine in a car that looks like our xyz" which is why running the generic category engine with a different badge on it is so unappealing.

 

It's not about whether it can compare to a street car--it's about the competitive spirit that the Jaguar brand USED to have and has apparently lost.

 

Didn't Tom Walkinshaw have some success with the XJS in the European Touring Car Championship? And that was fairly close (all things considered) to a factory one.

 

The scuttlebutt I've been reading is that Jaguar is planning on running GT3 with a turbocharged I4 in an F-Type coupe. They'll probably use the engine now being used in the CX75 prototype program.

 

Yes that's right. The XJS was run in the Group A ETCC from '82 to '84. Chaulked up a number of wins, seven in 1984, including a couple of 1-2-3 full podiums & winning the 24hrs at Spa.

They went to Australia in 1985 & won the Bathurst 1000 too.

The XJS also ran in Group A in Australia, but the rules were changed & the V12 was no longer allowed to run....