Currently reading: Driven: the one-off Jaguar F-Type rally car
Jaguar's bespoke open-top creation was built to tackle gravel and mud, and it's brilliant fun over both

Having finally driven Jaguar’s roofless rally car, which was basically a present to itself on the 70th birthday of the XK120, the model that was both a game-changing sports car and a competitive rally machine, I now know the F-Type Convertible is unsuited to rallying for two main reasons.

The first is weight, because while a conventional rally car weighs around 1200kg, this one is more like 1500kg. The second is that even with a 40mm increase in ride height, it still doesn’t have quite enough ground clearance to breeze over really rutted gravel tracks nor sufficient suspension travel to absorb the biggest divots and bumps.

Jaguar f type rally car driving 3

But those things only make the F-Type less rapid along a rally special stage. In this instance, that’s entirely immaterial, because this car hasn’t actually been developed for competition. We’ll never see it go up against a stopwatch. Instead, its only objective is to be fun to drive on mud. It’s a gravel-kicking plaything, which explains why it has only two driveshafts, rather than the four that would invariably make it faster. And does too much weight or too little suspension travel mean it isn’t fun to drive? Not a bit of it.

The loose surface underneath, the extra ride height and the knobbly rally tyres make the car’s steering less responsive than the roadgoing model’s. So you work the wheel a little harder and learn to be patient with the front axle on the way into a bend. The trick Exe-TC dampers marry astonishing body control with impressive bump compliance within what travel they do have, while the fluid and progressive oversteer that meets you at every corner exit is so easily controlled, and with it so entertaining, that you soon find yourself sliding the car at every opportunity.

Jaguar f type rally car driving 4

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

The Jaguar F-Type has given the big cat back its roar, but can the 2017 updates keep at bay its closest rivals including the masterful Porsche 911?

Back to top

As effective as the rally tyres are on the loose, they’re still no match for the turbocharged four-cylinder engine’s 300bhp, particularly with only two wheels by which to divide it. If you’re leaden-footed with the throttle (which you will be, because that’s far and away the most amusing method), the rear tyres will spin up all the way through third gear. With a little throttle sensitivity, it's possible to coerce the rear tyres into biting into the mud so that they slingshot the car forwards quickly and neatly, but that hardly seems to be the point of the exercise. Much better to clog it and make the car slide.

Wanton oversteer aside, what makes this F-Type so absorbing to drive is exactly what makes any gravel rally car so much fun. It’s the sensation of it moving around on the loose surface, of it skating across the road in a bend and of the tail wagging left and right, even on the straights, all while being cradled by a proper competition seat and clamped in position by a six-point harness. It means that you feel the car beneath in a way you simply never do in any car on a grippy Tarmac surface.

87 Jaguar ftype rally drive gravel side

The anti-lock braking, traction control and stability control systems have all been disabled, so you’re out there on your own. It never feels as though it wants to snap around into a spin, but locking the wheels under heavy braking is very easy to do. The key is to jump off the brake pedal and quickly ease back onto it.

Back to top

That’s just one of the ways in which this car is challenging, and rewarding because of it. If I have more fun driving anything this year, I'll be surprised.

This article was originally published on 14 February 2019. We're revisiting some of Autocar's most popular features to provide engaging content in these challenging times. 

READ MORE

An F-Type with a difference: the open-top Jaguar rally car

Jaguar F-Type used car buying guide

V8 vs flat-six: Jaguar F-Type R battles Porsche 911

Join the debate

Comments
7
Add a comment…
lewisbwork 1 March 2023

Great topic!

KatieScott 19 June 2019

ASSISTANCE FOR STUDENTS

Hello, everyone. As I can see there are a lot of people looking for  reliable assistance. That is why I want to share my experience of solving such problem with https://premiumqualityessays.com/buy-editing/. I got this helpful source form, my friends, and use it more than 3 years.

Susancarter 7 June 2019

Info for all students

Hi. Lots of students struggle with their written essays, spending hours, days, and even weeks on writing. But don't you know that here you can get quick and qualitative help with your academic writing!