Finally found the one: a drop dead gorgeous 2000 XK8 coupe, BR Green on 18” Flutes with 33k miles; out of Tampa; picked it up a week ago. Will attempt pict. upload.

Has (apparently) original Pirelli tires! v. heavy wear on both inside front tires; steel cord showing through on right tire: suspension problems perhaps? Needless to say, I’m not driving it (much). Looking at new tires and etc. this week (probably Hankok Ventus V12 evo K110). From what I read, she will take: Front 265/40, Rear 275/40, both being 20mm wider than the OEM tire; same staggered 10mm delta front to rear, but 10 mm smaller. Hoping this resizing does not confuse the computer.

Question: Any problems eventually using these tires in autocross and “drivers education” at, say, Roebling Road Raceway?

Question2: In fact, does anyone on jaguarforums autocross their XK8/R?

These cars don’t appear to sit right: 1+inches higher at rear wheel compared to front. Has anyone fixed this on their XK8/R?

So, I’ll stop with the questions. This forum is HUGE (I’ll never keep up with it) but very informative and full of gentlepersons.

 

Welcome,

Congratulations on the XK8. A coupe is a lot rarer among US members on the forum.

Sounds like the front suspension needs attention. Upper wishbone bushes are a regular issue.

Check the XK8/XKR section for lowering rear springs. many have done this to lose the 'down at the front' look.

Graham

 

Hey Pking51 welcome to the forum. I am a reguar at Roebling Road although I am brand new to my XKR. I plan to track it at Roebling with The Dark Side the first weekend in May. While I normally run with the instructors I have asked to run at at lower run group to get used to my XKR without being out there with the race cars that many of the guys run in the Red and Black run groups. What (car) have you tracked in the past? I am trying to decide if i really want to track my XKR or just go in with some friends on a race car. I am in club with some folks that all race and a few have gone in together and bought some race prepped cars that they share which keeps costs down. Best of luck with your Jag. I live up in Savannah so i;m just up the road.

 

Welcome to the forum,

Good to have you with us.
Keep us posted on your track day.

You should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.

 

Thanks, GGG. Yes. Coupe = rare(r). Took me 6 months to find an "early" one in BR Green with "low" miles. When one showed up just 4 hours down the road in Tampa, I pounced.

Hi, DRubnitz. Congratulations on the XKR. My son went to Savannah College of Art and Design, so I know Savannah. I didn't "discover" Roebling Road until after he graduated (2010). I've never been out on a race track (in a car), so I would start at the bottom. Not interested in racing but quite interested in learning how to drive very fast -- safely: in the jag. Looking to gain confidence based on competence with it, so when I arrive: it will be in the XK8.

I'm also intent on improving the "handling" (cornering & braking). So where do you test changes like wider tires, adjustable shocks, stiffer springs / sway bars? Track = better than the 'hood. Does Roebling Road have a skid pad?

Also, Jaguar Club of NA has a standard autocross course layout. If I pick up driving skills and get the XK8 handling well, I plan to try that. But one thing at a time.

I will let you know when I schedule one of the drivers ed. days.

Hi Norri, Thank you.

I think I added car details after my first post. So, we'll see what pops up when I post this note.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Hope you get your tyres sorted.

Have the alignment checked while you are at it.

 

Hey Pking, I am already signed up to run at the dark side De the first weekend in may. I will be an instructor for that event. I also instruct for Hooked on Driving. Roebling does not have a skid pad but you get a really good chance to learn how to handle your car. Roebling is a very safe track with lots of run off. You can change your car settings at the track if you know how to do so but I would suggest running a few sessions before making many changes to see how the car handles. Let me know if you want to come up for Dark Side, it is 4250 for the weekend and you get about 5 hours of classroom time and 7 sessions on track with an instructor. They do a good job and run all levels of ability from newbie to experienced.

 

Welcome to the forum It's the coupe equivalent of my car (although I changed the exhaust and went to the XKR grille) Head on over the XK8/XKR section and you will find tons of great people and great information. Also check out this thread: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ts-data-29800/

 

Hi there pking and welcome to Jaguarforums, good to have you here with us

If you add your car details to your signature it will help others to help you much more quickly.

Nice intro thanks....Congrats on the Jag too, sounds great but no pics???

A really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun
In the meantine ......I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the site and all its features
so jump on in and enjoy
Hope you enjoy your time here!!

 

Thank you JimC64.

On the tire front, I just ordered a pair of 9" wide 18" Flute rims, reconditioned, on eBay, very reasonably priced. I will retire the front OEM Flutes, taking the car form a staggered setup to one that is balanced. This makes sense. Having a car with the weight biased towards the front suggests the tire there should be wider for more balanced cornering. Plan is mount 265/40 Hankook v12s all around to be rotated (front to back) every 5000 miles.

I have already driven around for a while with the rear wheels on the front to make sure the wider rims would work there. They have the OEM 255/45s, but it looks like there is still plenty of clearance for another 10 mm width.

The only question is precipitated by the fact this is a shorter tire: 8mm shorter than the OEM front, 18mm shorter than the back. So it looks like this will introduce ~2% speedo error: always reading higher than my real speed. If all the computers in this thing don’t complain about the change, I’m fine with that.

This also drops the back 10mm relative to the front. While, that still leaves the back sitting 1” higher than the front, but at least the change is in the right direction.