Jaguar’s confidence must be sky high right now. Just a few short years ago, people would have laughed aloud at the thought of a Jaguar ‘Ring Taxi. Designed to be driven day in, day out, at high speed around the Nurburgring the Ring Taxi was the preserve of the BMW M Power cars, the M5 generally being the weapon of choice.
But in today’s world, Jaguar are a different company. I’ve driven some of their products in recent months that have truly surprised me, the build quality, design and chassis engineering right up there with the best from Germany. So now they’re launching their own high speed Nurburgring Taxi, using the XJ Sport as the base vehicle.
No leather, just hip-hugging race seats x 4
Said Frank Klaas, Global Head of Communications, Jaguar Land Rover: “We’ve been running a successful Nürburgring driving programme from our Nordschleife engineering test centre now for some time, as it’s the very best place to demonstrate the dynamic abilities of the current Jaguar XF, XJ and XK models.
“Of these models, we found it’s the XJ Supersport that most often surprises journalists with its speed simply because they perceive it to be a large luxury car. The XJ is both those things, of course, but its aluminium architecture means it’s rigid and lightweight too, which make it a very good car on track. To underline that fact, our engineering team created this special Nürburgring taxi version in which our trained drivers can safely take passengers on very hot laps!”
Custom matt grey paintwork
The car is finished in a non-standard matt grey paint finish, the body specified with the exterior Sport Pack, plus the Speed Pack that removes the 155mph speed limiter. Otherwise the car is mechanically standard. Inside, it’s luxury leather is removed and four competition seats and harnesses are fitted, plus a custom roll cage designed to protect all four occupants. The engine is the standard 5.0 supercharged unit fitted to the production car.
Back seat drivers hold on tight
The XJ Sport might seem an unusual choice for a ‘track car’ but we can see, that’s part of the fun. The aluminium construction makes the shell stiff and lightweight. I’ve not seen any news on the chassis and damping, but from the Jaguar sports series cars I’ve driven, I’d believe them if they claimed the car was riding on it’s standard settings.
For a company that’s had it’s fair share of lemons across the decades, it’s truly heartening to see Jaguar having the confidence to take on the Germans in their own back yard.
Nordschliefe Jaguar Taxi
