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Jaguar Land Rover opens winter testing facility in Minnesota

As it begins the rollout of the all-wheel-drive Jaguar XJ and XF models, Jaguar Land Rover has just announced that it has opened a new facility in northern Minnesota for winter testing. Located in International Falls, MN (on the US and Canadian border), the British automaker says it is one of the coldest locations in the Continental US. Jaguar's new Instinctive All Wheel Drive system was developed primarily to help sell more cars in the northern US, so it only makes sense to open a testing area in the US as well.
With temperatures that can drop to minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit, International Falls was chosen to mimic some of the worst weather a Jaguar or Land Rover will ever see. The grounds house testing chambers, various road surfaces and even a frozen lake. This new facility complements the hot-weather testing grounds in Phoenix, AZ.
The official press release is posted below.

Jay Leno gets reacquainted with the Bertone Pirana

Jay Leno gets all manner of vehicles stopping by his garage – some more rare than others, but this one is an entirely unique creation unearthed from another time. It's the Pirana, a one-off commissioned by a British newspaper in the late Sixties that we actually found listed on eBay a few years back. It was built atop a Jaguar E-Type, but with custom bodywork designed by Marcello Gandini and crafted by Bertone. The result looks like a Maserati Ghibli or Lamborghini Espada of the same era, but actually came out just before either, previewing the Italian exotics that would follow from Gandini's pen and Bertone's carrozzeria. The Pirana is now undergoing a complete restoration to bring it back to the original condition in which it appeared at the 1967 London Motor Show, but before the process is complete, Leno shows us around and takes it out on the open road to relive memories of a relic from a bygone era.

Jay Leno hits the road in a 1951 Jaguar XK 120 Hot Rod

The 1951 Jaguar XK120 featured in this episode of Jay Leno's Garage might look vaguely like a classic Jag roadster at first, but underneath this cat is something completely different. It was built by Leno's buddy Jason Len of XK's Unlimited when he grew tired of keeping these convertibles stock, and this aluminum-bodied beast was the result. Practically the only major Jaguar part left is the engine. It's a tuned 3.8-liter inline six from an E-Type with Weber carbs that makes an estimated 300 horsepower out of some gorgeous side-exit exhausts. The mill is backed up to a BorgWarner five-speed manual. However, the big surprise is the chassis. In place of Jag's original solution, Len has a custom tubular space frame that he claims sheds some 1,000 pounds over the stock example. There are still some classic Jaguar touches left, though, such as the fin over the driver's head that is reminiscent of the D-Type, and both the wheels and gauges are replicas based on that classic racer. Of course the best part is watching Jay drive this Jag hot rod. This big cat really knows how to purr.