N-Tune XK-ER Performance
This car worried me a bit, because in standard form, it ways a fat bloke short of two tonnes, and here I am about to climb into a version designed for endurance racing. Let's hope it's not going to act like a huge barge and not go around corners.
We noticed two keys things right at the start of our test day. The first of them was the fact that our usual test track was being used for a classic car race, and so we weren't allowed on it all day. This was obviously an issue.
Secondly, we noticed that the doors didn't open and you had to climb in through the window. This really was a racer, it's just a shame that the big bloke on our engineering team didn't fit, although it gave the rest of us a laugh.
To solve the problem of tracks, we headed to somewhere where it's always open - the Nurburgring. If anything would push the Jag to it's limits, this would be the place. Obviously, I drove first.
The first thing I noticed while driving the car was it's brakes. They stopped very quickly, and very straight, making it easy if I forgot where the corner was or misjudged it's tightness.
It also turns in with a surprising amount of agility. OK, so it's not going to out-turn an Elise, but it was certainly no slouch. This was good.
The other fantastic thing about this car is that you can get 7 laps of the formiddable 'Ring on one set of tyres! The super-hard compound gives them incredible life.
Of course though, it's not quite perfect. If you get it wrong, fishtailing comes quickly and is also very hard to get out of, and there are a few moments of understeer, especially on high-speed corners, but overall, this car is pretty good.
8.5/10 for me.