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Jaguar's electric speedboat smashes decade-old record

We knew Jaguars prowl on dry land, but apparently they dabble with water, too. Jaguar teamed up with powerboat racing specialist Vector and Williams Advanced Engineering to beat the existing British and world records for fastest battery-powered boat with some expertise from Jaguar's Formula E team. The team had to top 76.8 mph, a record set in 2008 by Helen Loney in her Firefly electric hydroplane with Agni motors. The attempt was made in the same location, Coniston Water in the English Lake District, where speedboat record runs have been made since the days of Sir Malcolm Campbell as early as the 1930s, and son Sir Donald Campbell into the 1950s and 1960s – including the fateful record attempt that cost the younger Campbell his life in 1967. The company's documented the attempt in the video shown above. It reveals that the 2008 record wasn't easy to beat. At first, pilot and Jaguar Vector co-founder Peter Dredge managed to get the boat to 76.6 mph – annoyingly close to, and just under, the record. But a later run rewarded the team's efforts, with a clear improvement of nearly 12 mph, making the new record 88.61 miles per hour. This achievement is also impressive considering that Jaguar and Vector only announced their partnership in October 2017, so progress has been swift. The tech in the boat is reportedly derived from Formula E technology, though Jaguar Vector and Williams Advanced Engineering have not disclosed the boat's exact specifications nor what parts are based on Jaguar Formula E car parts. Related Video: Green Jaguar Electric Racing Vehicles Videos williams advanced engineering

Reliving the Jaguar XJ220 with a father-son duo

Jaguar may have canceled the C-X75 project, but there was a time when the Leaping Cat marque did make supercars. Sure, there were the XJR-9 and XJR-15 homologation specials made by TWR, but more famous was the XJ220. Although its reign may have lasted only a year before the McLaren F1 came along, for a brief time in the early 1990s, the XJ220 was the fastest car in the world – which is even more impressive when you consider that it was only powered by a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 when its rivals were using mostly V8s and V12s. That makes the XJ220 a rather noteworthy supercar from the dawn of the 200-mph era. The thing is, while Jaguar has come to embrace the XJ220 as an exceptional part of its history, it doesn't have the time or energy to devote to servicing the 275 that were made between 1992 and 1994. So it turns to Don Law Racing. The father-son team – made up of a master mechanic and his hot-shoe offspring – is tasked with keeping the XJ220 alive both in body and in spirit, and do so with a great deal of well-deserved pride. Drive went out to their workshop in Staffordshire to tell their story.

Not just 'our logo on a sail': Automakers gain technology from America's Cup

HAMILTON, Bermuda - From water taxis that "fly" on hydrofoils to aircraft wings and cutting-edge car steering wheels, the America's Cup has produced technology with potential far beyond its "foiling" catamarans. With their focus on carbon fiber and aerodynamics, the teams that fought for the America's Cup attracted partners including planemaker Airbus and automotive groups BMW and Land Rover, who were keen to learn from them. One area where this is likely to have an impact is in harnessing "foiling" technology, where the America's Cup boats "fly" above the water on foils, cutting water resistance. "Foiling in small electric boats will most likely appear on rivers in major cities. We are just at the beginning of the foiling adventure," Pierre Marie Belleau, head of Airbus Business Development, who managed its partnership with Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA, told Reuters. The space-age catamarans used in the 35th America's Cup, which ended in victory for Emirates Team New Zealand this week, can sail at maximum speeds of 50 knots (57 mph) and have more in common with flying than sailing."CARBON FIBER RELATIONSHIP" For Jaguar Land Rover, which sponsored British sailor Ben Ainslie's attempt to win the cup, the relationship is a strategic one with a focus on technology and innovation. "We don't just get our logo onto a sail," Mark Cameron, JLR's Experiential Marketing Director, said by telephone, adding that the carmaker would be providing more designers to help Land Rover BAR with technology for their next campaign. "This is a dynamic sport that is developing fast. ... It's moving quickly just like the car industry is moving quickly. It's all changing," Land Rover produced a special steering wheel for Ainslie to use in the America's Cup, with in-built gear shift paddles that allowed him to adjust the catamaran's "flight" levels. The relationship is similar between BMW and Oracle Team USA, with the German automaker focused on areas including the electronics in the wheel used by skipper Jimmy Spithill, the development of carbon fiber used to make the boat and its components, and the aerodynamic testing. "We like to think of ourselves more as a partner than a sponsor. We have a very strong carbon fiber relationship," Ian Robertson, who is the BMW management board member responsible for sales and brand, told Reuters between races. "This is a dynamic sport that is developing fast. ... It's moving quickly just like the car industry is moving quickly.