Wife and I went to Miami for the R Academy and a weekend getaway. I definitely developed a new appreciation for the XKR. I was seriously considering moving to a more sporty car like a GT3, new Viper or Gallardo.

But after attending the Academy I am reminded of why I bought the XKR in the first place. Complete Jeckle and Hyde! I mostly drove 13 XKR's and also the XFR a few times. We had hours to run all out laps at the Homestead Raceway! Here is how it went:

1) 8:30am we were introduced to the 9 or so Pro Drivers with F1, Drifting and all sorts of other racing backgrounds. They provided a breakfast and a short presentation on driving dynamics and the potential of the R cars.

2) We went right out for some fun. This included the Skidpad where they tried to teach us how to drift. I held the drift by far the longest and completed a full circle! We also did accelerate brake/apex exercises

3) Next was the autocross

4) Lunch was fabulously catered.

5) A bit more instruction then out to the main event for rest of afternoon! Hot laps where 3 of us would follow a pro driver driving our car of choice while he coached us on our lines by watching his rear mirrors. Whenever he would call for a formation change and I would be behind him I would try to get my lines so perfect I'm chewing at their bumper and making them have to really get on the ball! Great fun! We also did some 1 on 1 pro laps where a pro would ride shotgun and coach us.

5) Finally some camera laps where we do hotlaps and the onboard camera records me, the track ahead and all of my vitals including mph, rpm, lateral acceleration load etc via split screen. Then we get a copy of those laps. Very cool.

It was a great day that even the wife enjoyed and will not forget. Any that still have an opportunity to attend I would highly recommend it.

Here are some pics and video below. There are some better clips I will add but they came out sideways from the iPhone angle. Will fix them and upload later.

Great sound upon launch!

130mph down main straight before hard on brakes

Group therapy... Me in Red XKR


Drifting - I was top drifter by a mile!







A little something my wife created by taking a picture of my badge and adding the other pics:









Is there any question we had fun lapping?

 

Great pictures and videos. Looks and sounds like tons of fun. Drifting seems like a lot of fun and a great way for burning up some expensive tires in a short time.

Thanks for the great post,

Albert

 

I'm glad you had a great time, and have rekindled the romance with your XKR. Hopefully you'll take yours to the track the odd time to keep the passion burning. The XKR is extremely competent on the race track, but I suspect few grasp that unless they've experienced it themselves. There's just so much more to the car than great styling and exhaust sounds. It's the complete package, and no place drives that point home quite like the track...and then the drive home!

Bruce

 

Thanks a ton for the pix on your racing academy experience. It is amazing what racing compound tires on an XKR can do on a track- at Road America in Elkhart Lakes, WI mine took 7th out of 36 cars in a non-pro 8 lap raCE (32.8 MILES). a GT40, a Ferrrari FS-40, 2 Z6L1's, a Porsche 911, a Shelby GT500, and a Mercedes something passed me or finished ahead of me, but my heart didn't stop beating fast until about 30 minutes after the race. I could not get the JAG to break loose with the Sport mode on, running 468 HP.
To point out the closeness of the production ride with the GT cars, look at the trial between the two in 2010 at Miller Racing Park in Utah chronicled in Road and Track magazine in the Novemebr 2010 issue: The JAG GT car of Paul Getellozi. Marc goosens and RSR Racing was running 525 normally aspirated HP with the 5.0 Liter AJ133 V8, but was slower than the production XKR in 80-130 mph by 1 second- 8.4 to 9.4!
Of course, the race car did 1:53 laps to the production 2:15 time, but the production car, unlike mine, did not have the big Brembos.

Again, thanks for your wonderful post- it was great.

 

Something else that really impressed me was the Sport mode. It held the gears perfectly, downshifted and constantly kept the car in the sweet spot. The only time I had used sport mode was with permanent manual shift. I just didn't see the value of higher revs for the sake of higher revs on the street.

I still won't be using Sport alone very often but I did gain a new appreciation for it.

 

Looks and sounds a lot of fun.

Jealous?

I could kill!

Graham

 

wow - looks like a lot of fun!!! Great pics/video thanks for sharing.

 

Awesome fun!

 

I did the track day at Limerock park, CT. Jag did put a nice day on.

 

I have started venturing over to the second generation XK side of the forum because I have starting getting the itch to get an XKR coupe that I can take to the track a few times a year, and I wanted to read about others experiences with the 2010-2012 XKR's. I love my 2002 XKR vert., but softops are not allowed on the tracks with at Audi Club track days (which is when I go). I have officially retired my '72 Pantera (from the track) as it's just too exhausting to drive on some of the more technical (read: twisty) tracks, and whereas I love driving my friend's Audi S5-6spd (spectacular car), it's just not a Jag, and it doesn't have the aesthetics of the XKR nor the 510 hp. Reading about your experiences has made me more anxious to find one. Maybe early next year...Boy it sounds like you had a lot of fun!

 

Awesome!

 

pics and videos look great.

thanks for sharing the experience