The Art of Performance Tour brings a high-speed driving experience right to Jaguar customers. Rather than ask current and prospective clients to drive long distances to rural race track facilities, Jaguar brings an exhilarating driving experience to its customers in Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. With The Art of Performance Tour, Jaguar is able to get more participants behind the wheel of its cars in a safe and much more thrilling driving environment than prospective customers could (or should) experience in a more traditional test-drive.

“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.

“Jaguar started the Smart Cone technology which is what initiated the importance of the Tours.  Every market has a different take on dynamic activities, and what Smart Cones did was allow every market to have a similar activity. The Smart Cones use military grade GPS technology, which is proprietary to Jaguar, and it has just taken off in every market.”

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.

Participants had the opportunity of driving the Jaguar F-Type R-Dynamic Coupes (base MSRP $91,000) through the Smart Cone autocross course. The car’s 3.0 litre V6 380 hp supercharged engine can launch the all-wheel drive coupe from 0-100 km/h in 4.9 seconds. These cars are extremely nimble and a great fit for this driving experience. Putting the power down through all four wheels helps launch these cars under full throttle out of each corner on the way to the next set of Smart Cones. The F-Type’s handling and responsiveness really stands out.

Also available for a quick drive, on the more traditional plastic cone course, was the all-new Jaguar I-Pace EV400. It is powered by a 394 hp and 512 lb-ft of torque all-electric drivetrain, which can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds. The I-Pace is available to drive at the Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal experiences. It has a starting price of $86,500 and a 377 km range. The I-Pace is surprisingly responsive and maneuverable for a vehicle that weighs more than 4,700 pounds. Jaguar is referring to the I-Pace as the “world’s smartest five-seater sports car.” Based on our very brief drive, we were impressed and pleasantly surprised by its enthusiastic demeanor.