Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2015 Gallery 2

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Jaguar Land Rover North America

Car manufactures are a curious bunch. Some companies like racing, some keep far - far away from such foolishness. Many companies are what they are because of racing. Think of Ferrari for just one.

Some car manufactures like to show off their product at car races. They know that those who spend so much time and effort to watch skilled drivers make cars do amazing things, like special cars. And these car enthusiast may just be in the mood to buy their cars.

Jaguar is one such company. Jaguar has set up at the Sonoma track before like it did this year and Jaguar has the boldness to allow speed-crazed car fans a seat behind the wheel of the latest hot Jaguar.

My first stint behind the wheel in the 'demo' Jaguar on a coned-off area the Sonoma track was back in the 1990's in a 4-door sedan with a total of 4 people in the car per each lap. Having my share of 'speed-freakiness' I of course tried to see how fast I could make the Jag go. As I unwound the steering wheel exiting a tight near 180 degree loop heading to the next set of cones with the gas peddle pressed firmly to the floor, the Jag just coasted around and frittered into the straight bit. Once the Jag had fully entered the straight section and gained its composure, the engine seemed to now realized that the throttle was calling for more acceleration and slammed forward just as I was entering the next braking area.

My comment at the time to the Jaguar rep. about this ill-behavior of failing to respond to throttle input brought about this curious response. The Rep said that this was for safety and 'programmed' into the car to prevent overzealous acceleration while the steering was not straight forward. I thought "tell that to the bus bearing down at me as I was turning a corner".

But back in the 'now' at Sonoma Raceway. Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC is working with SVRA, bring their cars to the track for demonstrations and driving. Not just any Jaguar but the latest Jaguar F Type R Coupe and drop-top models.

Pro drivers were giving Jaguar fans 'hot' laps around the Sonoma 12 turn track, I even saw some 4 wheel drifts out of turn 2.

Tony Hunt, with the Jaguar Performance Academy
I got in line for the cone course in an F Type R Coupe. My coach Tony Hunt, with the Jaguar Performance Academy, took me around the course to point out the turn-in and apex points to get the fastest laps. Yes I said FASTEST LAPS. We are out of the '90's. I was not just getting to drive the F Type but I was asked to go ... Fast!

All the 'Hot Laps' under 30sec at the end of the day.
After Tony came back to the starting line it was my turn to have a go. One practice lap and then hit the gas with the clock on. The time to beat was 29.3 sec. At the end of the day the best number on the board was 28.75 sec. I managed to avoid embarrassing myself and got into the 29+ sec. and gained a cool Jaguar hat, Just like my man Tony.

The F Type has supercharged V8 and is a real go-for-it machine. I even felt a bit of a wheel spin off the line. The turn-in was a surprising pleasure. My timed run, I am certain, was lessened due to my reaction to the head rush the F Type gave me nearing the first braking point. I think I over reacted and let off the gas too soon. I think I could of held on a bit longer and let the F Type's totally effective braking system do it's best work. (Like the saying goes, 'races are won under braking.)

I had previously driven an F Type on the city streets and Freeway. Getting to jam on the gas, brake and slam this hot coupe into tight corners demonstrated what the 'street drive' could only hint about. Nice work JLRNA. (P.S. jamming and slamming are descriptive and smoother was faster)

An additional note; Tony suggested that I not trail brake into the first corner. As with all the computers talking to one another, asking them to do 2 things at once only confuses them. Sort of like asking a guy to go to the store and bring back both milk and eggs. Tony later clarified the brake/throttle input thing, saying that it was a safety issue and 'programmed' into the car to keep people from pressing the gas and brake at the same time and driving through the front window of the Save Mart

That reminds me again of the '90's when I tried to get that Jag to both turn and go at the same time.

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