Wrangling Big Cats At Jaguar’s New R Performance
Academy
05 Apr 10, CAR AND DRIVER Online, Mike Sutton
Beginning this year, Jaguar will include a one-day course at its newly established Jaguar R Performance
Academy with the purchase of a 510-hp XFR or XKR. (The same deal is retroactively applied to owners that
purchased a 2010 model last year.) Several journalists—myself included—recently had the opportunity to sit
in on the driving school‘s second meeting at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for an introduction to the
program and, of course, to have some fun with a couple of big cats.
The R Academy currently is a traveling road show of sorts that will visit various race tracks throughout the
year near the company‘s key markets, which include Las Vegas, as well as Miami (Homestead Miami
Speedway), Los Angeles (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California), and New York (Monticello Motor
Club); a permanent home base for the school is still being looked into.
While the program is more of a responsible way for Jaguar to introduce new owners to the limits of their
cars—rather than a full-on track school for experienced handlers—the lessons and exercises that are taught
are crucial for anyone who enjoys driving quickly yet safely. And free track time never hurts; I‘ve spent a
considerable amount of time on race tracks, including another driving school, and still found the program to
be both helpful and very enjoyable. The R Academy also brings Jaguar up to par with other premium
carmakers, nearly all of which offer their owners some form of high-performance driving instruction, albeit for
a fee. What we like about Jaguar‘s setup is that it‘s included in the sticker prices of the XFR, XKR coupe,
and XKR convertible, which start at $80,000, $96,000, and $102,000, respectively. Jaguar says that only
XFR and XKR owners are eligible for the R program and that participants must use Jaguar‘s vehicles; those
that have a 2011 XJ Supersport on order are out of luck.
Although the setup may differ slightly by location, each event includes a classroom lesson on vehicle
dynamics and safety, along with autocross exercises and follow-the-leader lapping of a proper road course in
both XFR sedans and XKR coupes. Upon settling into the massive media center at the sprawling LVMS
complex—which includes 1.5- and 0.4-mile paved ovals, a smaller dirt oval, a 2.5-mile road course, a
quarter-mile drag strip, and several off-road tracks—we met our panel of instructors, including racers Roberto
Guerrero, Davy Jones, and Adam Andretti (Mario‘s nephew), among others, all of whom broke down the
intricacies of car control and smooth driving.
Once the instructors went over the settings for the cars‘ chassis electronics, we split into groups for a
morning of autocross lapping; one group on a conventional multi-turn course of cones, the other on a short,
tight oval that was designed to help you find and hit the proper entry and exit points of a corner. Drifting is not
the fast way around