Thursday 17th March 2011

Racing Red XKR-S Makes Us Yearn For BRG

XKR-S looks good at Goodwood, but whatever happened to racing green? Perhaps an XFR-S would be the way to bring it back...

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The new Jaguar XKR-S was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed press day today, looking resplendent in 'Italian Racing Red' (and sounding rather fruity, according to our man on the ground PH editor Chris-R, whom we can thank for these pics).

But the bright-red Jag at Goodwood, and the 'French Racing Blue' version we saw at Geneva, has got us wondering: whatever happened to British Racing Green?

We know they say that only the Germans ever really bought BRG cars, and that the colour became rather a cliché, a victim of its own notoriety but, given Jaguar's rebirth as a force to be reckoned with in the world of sporty cars, perhaps it's time for a resurrection of British Racing Green?

Perhaps it could be re-introduced on an XFR-S... rumours about the like of which (an XFR with some body-tweakery and the same sort of engine and suspension tweaks that the XKR-S benefits from) are beginning to swirl around the industry.

Here's hoping...

 

 

[Luca Brasi]

That spoiler really fks the whole car up.

[jazzyjeff]

Luca Brasi said:

That spoiler really fks the whole car up.

Slight over-reaction...!

JJ

[MetalFoot]

Looks fit. But it's nothing special.

8/10

[rix]

Italian racing red? Talk about whitewashing it's heritage! That said, it does look a rather nice shade, as did the vivid blue of the geneva car. Agree tho the spoiler is at odds with the rest of the lines

[Beefmeister]

iPhone pictures? Or Blackberry?

Anyhoo, I love that red on the XKR-S. It's a gorgeous colour.

And i think the spoiler suits the rest of the car. It wouldn't look good on the standard car, but on the S - yep.

[JumpinJack]

YES YES YES! I think this looks incredible. Although the red might need to grow on me

Can't wait to see these rolling past my unit every day.

[Cotty]

MetalFoot said:

Looks fit. But it's nothing special.

8/10

Yep thats what I thought.

[Honsta]

Wished they would bring this car out in that lime green they had on the XKR Goodwood Special. French racing blue is still the colour I'd choose though.

[esvcg]

If that body kit look was added by another company other than jag it would get called ugly and laughed at. Sure it sounds great, but thats not hard to do for this type of car.

Seriously jaguar have managed to cheapen the whole grace thing they bang on about, that rear end and front bumper are a mess, the car just looks silly.

[Sivraj]

Sorry i think it just looks wrong!
I all looks a little bit like halfords bolt on bodykit and wheels to me.(don't mention those exhaust pipes).
I'd expect a bit more style and taste from Jaguar.
I do like the colour though.

[muppet42]

Think it looks nice enough and probably sounds rather interesting as the article suggests, but it would indeed be interesting to see a BRG variation or similar. Was thinking along the lines of that metallic green that's been used on a few Astons and Jags in the recent past though...



...and indeed the subtle Bond version ...

[dberkmen]

Oh dear, that's awful with that wing.. What next, pop-rivetted wheel arch extensions?

C'mon Jag - get with it, elegant, clean and graceful lines please, or it'll start looking like a Nissan!!

[Cassius81]

Like the car, but the spoiler = Halfords.

This is comfortably as pretty a car as most modern Astons, but they don't feel the need to tart their cars up with ridiculous wings on the back, do they?

[Hendry]

I like it. No, it's not subtle but I think Jag has been subtle for too long.

It's only a single model of course. If you don't like the in yer face styling then just get a XKR and a chip tweak.

Horses for courses...

[george h]

Looks better in that red than the revolting electric blue colour at first.

Still should be in British racing green though.

[Beefmeister]

Cassius81 said:

Like the car, but the spoiler = Halfords.

This is comfortably as pretty a car as most modern Astons, but they don't feel the need to tart their cars up with ridiculous wings on the back, do they?

It isn't 'tarting' in the XKR-S's case. The current XK shape was designed before they were a separate company from Ford (and hence Aston at the time), therefore it was never going to be allowed to go over 155mph.

These mods are designed to allow the car to be stable at 300kph, it's as simple as that.

[Evo]

An upswept rear spoiler like the M3 CSL would have looked cleaner, rest of it looks very nice though.

[BoostMonkey]

Look very nice in red, but what about trying it in a deep blue/purple like they do on the Range Rover Sport, I think that would look rather special

[Beefmeister]

Evo said:

An upswept rear spoiler like the M3 CSL would have looked cleaner, rest of it looks very nice though.

They've tried that, it wasn't sufficient for high speed stability:

[Evo]

Make it bigger then

If Aston can get a Vanquish / DBS to work properly without having an accident at Halfords then Jag should be able to.