“The Art of Performance Tour is a mobile event that is executed across eighty different countries globally,” said Aleksandra Bulat, Manager of Experiential & Partnerships at Jaguar Land Rover Canada. “It is important for customers to be able to get into the vehicles and feel them and drive them. It is so different than just sitting in a stationary vehicle.”
At the Toronto event, Jaguar set up an autocross course in one of the large parking lots at Sherway Gardens, a large shopping centre in Toronto’s west end. But Jaguar’s autocross is unique because of the company’s proprietary Digital Smart Cones. Most autocrosses involve driving as quickly as possible through a course laid out by standard plastic cones. The Digital Smart Cone autocross course changes the course for each participant.
The autocross course has a pair of start and finish cones. Once out on the course, the driver heads to the first set of Smart Cones displaying green LED lights on their tops. After passing through that set of cones, the LEDs on the next set of cones turns from blue to green and the driver blasts off in that direction. In the minute or so that it takes to complete the random course, the drivers gets to accelerate, brake and corner as hard as they want through the autocross course. The driver who covers the least distance in the shortest time with the greatest accuracy wins. Trackside laptop computers tally all of the data to determine the winners utilizing military grade GPS tracking.
What’s great about an experience like this is that it is fun and exhilarating for the drivers, and it provides Jaguar with the ability to give a quick driving thrill to its customers in a safe, accessible and easily-transportable environment.
Also on display were a wide selection of new Land Rovers and Jaguars. Two that caught our attention were a 550 hp Fuji White Jaguar F-Type R Coupe (base MSRP of $114,500) and a very exotic looking 575 hp Caldera Red Jaguar F-Type SVR AWD Convertible (base MSRP of $143,500). The R Coupe is powered by a supercharged 5.0 litre V8 and can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 4.1 seconds. The SVR convertible can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds on the way to a top speed of 314 km/h. Unfortunately, neither car was available to test drive or rallycross. Hopefully we will get to experience these cars in action in the not too distant future.
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