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Jaguar sets a lap record at a near-forgotten French race track

If asked to name any race track in France, most racing and car enthusiasts would probably answer the Circuit de la Sarthe, known for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Then there's the famous Magny-Cours or Circuit Paul Ricard, but not everyone remembers the Circuit de Charade near Clermont-Ferrand. This challenging track has been called a "twistier and faster" version of the Nurburgring, and in its original five-mile form, it barely had any straights. Formula 1 races were held there in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but safety concerns saw the French Grand Prix moved to Paul Ricard for most of the 1970s and 1980s, alternating with Dijon-Prenois. Later on, the track was essentially halved during modernization work, and it's now largely used for track days. The full length circuit was last used in 1988. This history lesson about a seemingly forgotten French race track is due to one good reason: Jaguar has returned to the venue to set a lap time with a new, all-wheel drive XE. The flying lap of the full five-mile track was the first one in 30 years, and the 4-minute, 9-second lap time set by Belgian racing driver Vincent Radermecker now stands as a record. Due to changes and the fact that the track originally utilized parts of public roads, the lap now included two gateways and a roundabout. Unshockingly, those weren't around in its racing days. The comparisons with the Nurburgring are apt, as Radermecker's comment confirms. "I set the production (sedan) record at the Nurburgring in the XE SV Project 8 last year and this lap was every bit as demanding. The longest straight is barely 600 metres, so I can see why drivers used to call this the French Nurburgring." The Jaguar used for the record lap is an XE 300 Sport, which is powered by Jaguar's 300-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo engine. It hits 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, and the average speed on the Charade lap was 72 mph. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery Jaguar XE record lap View 9 Photos Image Credit: Jaguar Jaguar Automotive History jaguar xe

Junkyard Gem: 2001 Jaguar XJ8

After Ford bought Jaguar in 1989, the bosses in Dearborn finally got their hands on a storied luxury brand that would be taken more seriously than Lincoln outside of North America. A fresh infusion of dollars worked wonders to improve the quality of Jaguar's engineering and assembly, and development of a modern DOHC V8 engine immediately took a high priority. That engine made its debut in the 1997 Jaguar XK8, then went into the engine compartment of the very first production Jaguar sedan to get factory V8 power: the XJ8. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of that first generation of XJ8, found crashed in a Colorado self-service boneyard. The 1998-2003 XJ8 lived on the final iteration of the mid-1980s-vintage XJ40 platform, the X308. While this means that the X308 had chassis ancestry stretching back to the British Leyland era, Ford's money ensured that it would be built better than its predecessors had been during the cash-strapped bad old days. Exterior styling wasn't much changed from that of the XJ300. Inside, the old XJ40 dash finally went away for good, replaced by a design more appropriate for the new century. Jaguar couldn't compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz on leading-edge chassis engineering, but its heritage was hard to top. The engine is a 4.0-liter DOHC V8 with variable valve timing, rated at 290 horsepower and 290 pound-feet. Ford should get credit for funding Jaguar's own engine instead of simply stuffing some member of its Modular V8 family in here. If you wanted a manual transmission in your XJ8, the answer was a firm no. In fact, Ford ended up using the 3.9-liter version of this engine in the Ford Thunderbird and Lincoln LS. The MSRP for the base 2001 XJ8 was $56,355, or about $98,725 in 2024 dollars. The 2001 BMW 740i listed at $62,900 ($110,190 after inflation) and the 2001 Mercedes-Benz S 430 cost $70,800 ($124,030 now). Perhaps the $51,745 BMW 540i and the $56,050 Mercedes-Benz E 430 ($90,649 and $98,190 in today's money, respectively) were more realistic sales rivals for the XJ8, though. This car's interior is a bit grimy but appears to have been in nice enough condition when it arrived here. What happened? This happened. On a near-quarter-century-old European luxury sedan, body damage like this usually results in the insurance company declaring the car totaled. Remember when Dennis Tito paid $20 million to become the world's first space tourist? Jaguar could have saved him some money. You'll never, ever lose it in the parking lot.

Jaguar C-X75 and Aston Martin DB10 spied drifting during Spectre shoot

Based on the cars alone, the 24th James Bond film, Spectre, is set to be one of the biggest and most impressive in the long-lived franchise. While we're stuck waiting until November to see the automotive extravaganza on the big screen, a lucky bystander managed to catch two of the movie's four-wheeled stars filming on the streets of Rome. Italian YouTuber Marchettino, well known for his videos from Ferrari's Fiorano test track, caught the video of the Aston Martin DB10 and Jaguar C-X75 filming in the dark of the Roman night, with the Aston sliding its way around a turn and the Jag giving chase. Not surprisingly, the DB10's Vantage-derived V8 features prominently. This is, of course, not the first time news regarding this chase scene has graced our digital pages. Spectre star Daniel Craig sustained a minor injury in the course of this filming, after the DB10 he was riding in hit a pretty significant pothole. We've also caught 007's Aston filming in the UK. News Source: Marchettino via YouTube Celebrities TV/Movies Aston Martin Jaguar Coupe Performance Videos spectre jaguar c-x75 aston martin db10