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Jaguar Project 7 concept is an F-Type in a D-Type mold [w/video]

In addition to the XJR, XFR-S and XKR-S GT models Jaguar is bringing to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, the manufacturer announced that the F-Type-based, D-Type-inspired Project 7 design study will make its "dynamic" debut at the festival, with driving duties assigned to Mike Cross, Jaguar's chief engineer of vehicle integrity. Here's the cool part: With Jaguar's Director of Design, Ian Callum, leading the team responsible for Project 7, it went from the drawing board to track testing in only four months, Jaguar states, with a claimed 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds and top speed of 186 miles per hour.
Project 7, which was named in honor of Jaguar's seven wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be making runs up the hill at Goodwood over all three days of the festival, which starts at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England, this Friday.
Far from a fragile concept car, Jaguar says, the single-seat Project 7 is a fully functional sports car. It uses the all-aluminum chassis and body of the F-Type, retains that car's 550-horsepower, supercharged 5.0-liter V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission but features lots of bespoke carbon fiber aerodynamic bits, some of which were inspired by the Le Mans-winning D-Type of the 1950s. The most obvious nod to that classic is the rear fairing with integrated rollover hoop - the F-Type's convertible top is gone. The windshield was also lowered, giving the roadster a more rakish silhouette as it sits on 20-inch forged-alloy wheels with carbon fiber inserts.

2013 Jaguar XJ AWD

Even though this year's winter has gotten off to an abnormally slow start for most of North America, Jaguar has shown the world it means business by launching its all-new Instinctive All Wheel Drive system in Montreal, Canada. Designed primarily for consumers in the Northern US and Canada, Jaguar put us on the same snowy, slushy and icy roads that many of its buyers will have to deal with. Rather than making declawed versions of the XJ and XF, Jag says this system enhances the performance abilities of its sedans when desired while still making them as fun to drive as their rear-wheel-drive counterparts. We had a chance to test out both the XF AWD and XJ AWD, but we spent most of our time behind the wheel of the flagship XJ, driving it on the open roads as well as a few closed courses.
Considering the lengthy and convoluted history of the Jaguar brand - including a stint as a member of Ford's defunct Premier Automotive Group alongside Volvo and Aston Martin - it is rather surprising that the automaker is just now getting around to introducing an all-wheel-drive system intended for widespread use, but the new Instinctive AWD will finally allow the XF, XJ and other future products to better compete against the likes of Mercedes-Benz 4Matic, BMW xDrive and Audi Quattro. In the XJ, Jaguar expects the AWD models to account for around 40 percent of the product mix nationwide and a little bit more (50 percent) for the XF, but in the northern states, it expects around 80 percent of XF sales to be AWD variants.
Instinctive AWD is rear-biased and operates as full rear-wheel drive in good weather, but when the road conditions turn slick, the system can split engine power 50:50 between front and rear axles using a center transfer case.

Unlatched Jaguar E-Type hood doesn't prevent blind overtakes at Goodwood

One of the things about Goodwood Revival that really sticks with you is that the classic racing cars are really driven hard there. It's never a slow parade around the track, but instead the vintage Ferraris and Jaguars really battle each other, metal against metal, lap after lap. The result is often scraped and bent sheetmetal, no matter how pricelessly valuable the vintage cars are. This clip, shared on the Goodwood Road & Racing YouTube channel, really shows the attitude that makes Goodwood what it is. Rob Huff, in a fixed-roof E-type, is chasing after Nigel Greensall in an E-type Roadster in the Kinrara Trophy race, and man, he really wants to get past. The problem is that every time the nose of Huff's Jaguar gently taps the rear quarter of the white Jaguar, the car's large hood wants to flip up and obscure the view, making overtaking even harder than it already is. Clearly Greensall doesn't want to let Huff ahead of him all that easily. We can only imagine how much work it takes to keep a classic Jaguar like that pointing in the right direction on a slightly wet track, let alone driving blind on a racecourse due to a massive clamshell hood in the way. At least we get a view of the XK six-cylinder engine. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.