Jaguar F-Type R Coupe

They say you’re most alive when you’re on the brink of death. Well, by that yardstick, I was certainly the most alive when behind the wheel of the F-Type R. What a machine! And, equally, what a scary machine…

The Jaguar F-Type was comfortably the quickest car of the lot. But we were also fortunate when lapping the F-Type. We set the quickest time early on the second day, when the track conditions were at their best and before the sun took pride of place in the sky. I remember the feeling well. The way my stomach tightened, as I turned off the traction control before exiting the pit lane to set a lap time. Let’s just say this can be quite an unforgiving car.

There are only two cars that I’ve driven around the BIC that have left my palms sweaty one was this, and the other was the F-Type V8 S convertible. The good thing is that the F-Type has a very linear and extremely long-travel throttle pedal which acts as a sort of inbuilt traction control. And, well, if you’d prefer to live to tell the tale, you don’t actually have to turn off the electronic traction control altogether now do you?

The F-Type scores the highest X-Factor score of any car in this test. And that’s certainly because it’s stunning. In fact, it’s one of the most beautiful cars on sale today. But it also scores that high because it has a slightly hard edge to it. You have to work for the lap time, and if you’re not careful it will snap and try to kill you. And, frankly, in a deeply anesthetised world that’s a refreshing change. Sports cars should be a little raw!

Where the F-Type loses out is in terms of practicality and comfort of course. It could also do with slightly better materials in the interior. All in all, though, it’s a truly special machine. It’s one of the few cars here that has a character of its own.

But we would choose the F-Type S, rather than the R. It has all the character of the V8, and it won’t try and murder its owner as regularly.