“That was fast” – Jaguar Art of Performance Tour: Experience

The Jaguar Art of Performance Tour is an event that comes once a year to every major city in the country and always leaves enthusiasts and customers with a massive grin on their face. Having being a veteran of this experience for the past 3 years and given the opportunity to experience it again I did not say NO. The event involves experiencing all the cars Jaguars make in India and enjoying them at their absolute limit. When I mean absolute limit; getting a behemoth like the XJL to brake hard and handle like you were ferrying a head of state away from a terrorist ambush or driving a Jaguar F-Type like you boosted it from Gone in 60 Seconds. There are instructors on scene that briefed us and explained us how to proceed with the three distinct parts of the event – Lane change activity, the slalom test and an acceleration run. Read below to know more about this activity now. We were told about the driver aids and other features that will make sure we are safe and help us unleash our inner – Lewis Hamilton without killing or wetting ourselves.

Lane Change Test

The lane change test involves accelerating hard, suddenly changing lanes and braking hard. The aim of this test is to find out the vehicles weight transfer and dynamic ability. We were shown how a car would react under a high pressure situation where a split second decision needs to be made. The car we tested here were the XE, XF and XJ. The XE and the XF were really good in this test. The most surprising was the big XJ that did not understeer and stopped on a dime in the braking box.

Slalom Test

In this test we had to hustle a car from left to right and pit in the braking box as fast as we could. The test oversees the cars handling, grip and acceleration through corners. Of all the cars we drove here; the Jaguar F-pace, the big SUV was surprising agile.

The car which really left an impression was the nimble and smooth baby XE. The XF was also overall the most effective car here for me. With the race car driver chaperoning me sitting beside me telling me, ‘that was plenty fast’. According to him it was the fastest he had seen someone apart from themselves maybe, complete this test. Ah flattery; all part of the experience!

Acceleration test

The above tests were fun and technical. The last test was the acceleration run. There were two Jaguar F-Types on duty for that. I was the first to reach this test and made a straight bee line for the hot red SVR waiting for its first sortie.

I got into the car, adjusted the steering, the seat and smiled for the cameras like a F1 driver giving people joy rides.

Then the real racecar driver beside me gave me my instructions, don’t touch the gear leaver; he’ll handle that. My job was to mash the accelerator pedal as hard as I could and keep the 567bhp monster in a straight line. The car jumped of the starting line and the surrounding were a warp. And before we knew it, the braking point was there and the fury died down with a touch of the brakes. We then turned around and let the car unleash its fury back to the pits again. With the car slowing down and crackle from the exhaust on the down shifts subsiding, the experience was over.

The Jaguar Art of Performance that took place in Wadala, Mumbai was a great experience. We in the cars were not doing a mundane test drive but were scaring and surprising ourselves with the cars performance and full capabilities. It was worth getting up early on a Sunday!