PistonHeads reader Chester Barnes got the ride of a lifetime at Goodwood on Saturday, when Jaguar’s ride-and-handling guru Mike Cross demonstrated the Goodwood Special XKR’s potential at the Festival of Speed.
XKR with PistonHeads prize winner aboard
Chester won the ride in an exclusive PistonHeads competition, and was treated to a thrilling high-speed passenger ride with Mike getting the XKR sideways under power in the first three corners at least.
The ride was an adventure right from the off, according to Chester. The XKR followed Jaguar’s XFR Bonneville racer driven by Paul Gentilozzi, and he performed such a spectacular burn-out on the start line that our heroes couldn’t see where they were going.
Mike lets it all hang out at turn 2
We met Chester immediately after his run as the assembled supercars waited for the return journey. ‘Amazing,’ he said. ‘But it all happened so quickly that I just want to do it again!’
Sadly the supercars only get two runs per day, so that wasn’t to be, but the lime-green Goodwood XKR did seem to be a hit with visitors who crowded around it in the paddock.
There’s no suggestion yet that Jaguar intends to make any production versions of the special XKR, but the feedback received at the event has got to bode well for a project designed to ‘explore the harder side of Jaguar performance’.
Mike, Chester, Nissan winner Nigel and Smiley!
Apart from the more hardcore visual treatment, the Goodwood XKR has a small power increase over standard (up 20hp to 530hp) but a hefty 10 per cent more torque at 516lb ft.
Jaguar even let us apply a couple of PistonHeads Smileys to the car’s side windows for Chester’s run, which must have shaved a few tenths off Mike’s E.T. at least…