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13-year-old production vehicle land speed record broken

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Jaguar
Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupé sets South African land speed record. Photographer: Rob Till

The Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupé is now officially the fastest production vehicle in South Africa. On 28 February 2015, at the Upington Airport, in the Northern Cape, a small group of Jaguar employees gathered to watch the 405kW supercharged V8 coupé being driven into the record books.

The event was the culmination of just over six weeks of planning, and saw Jaguar tapping into its heritage; recalling the 40s and 50s, when it famously set numerous European land speed records with the XK120.

“Not only do we say that racing is in our blood – we go out there and prove it,” said Richard Gouverneur, Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa. “Aside from being inspired by our history of racing and land speed records, we also wanted to show off the innovation, performance and safety of our vehicles. A car that’s capable of reaching 300km/h safely is many times safer at legal and safe speeds.”

At the hands of Dawie Olivier, National Aftersales Manager at JLR – and racer with more than two decades of rallying and circuit racing experience – the F-TYPE R Coupé reached speeds in excess of 300km/h on the 4 900 metre runway at U­­­pington Airport.

For the record to be official, two runs have to be completed in both directions while timekeeping officials from Motorsport South Africa measure speed over a one kilometre distance. On the uphill section of the F-TYPE’S record-setting run it achieved a speed of 288.33km/h, while the complementing downhill run saw it crack the magical 300km/h mark with an officially-measured speed of 301.03km/h. The land speed record comprises the average of the two runs, and now sits at 294.68km/h – besting the previous record of 287.63km/h set in 2002, with Mike Griffiths behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT2.

“The F-TYPE R Coupé is limited to 300km/h, but we chose not to remove the speed limiter, even though the regulations make provision for us to legally do so. The car that we used is exactly as customers can buy it off the showroom floor,” said Gouverneur. “Ultimately, we ran out of space to go even faster – however this was the safest venue to illustrate the potential of this vehicle.”

Jaguar
Official timing from Motorsport South Africa for Jaguar’s land speed record attempt. Photographer: Rob Till
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.