Jaguar XFR Project Sabre

This is where the next chapter begins.

Our Jaguar XFR is already a long way removed from the car that originally left the factory. Over time, it has been developed into a seriously powerful performance Jaguar, with engine, supercharger, exhaust, cooling and calibration work pushing the car far beyond its standard specification.

The current performance build produces 720 bhp and 980 Nm, making this already one very quick XFR.

But outright power was never going to be the end of the story.

Now we’re taking the XFR in a completely different direction.

The Challenge

The brief is simple enough to say, although considerably harder to execute:

Turn our Jaguar XFR into a proper track car.

That means looking beyond horsepower and concentrating on everything that allows a car to actually use its performance.

Weight, chassis control, suspension, braking, seating position, grip and reliability all start to matter much more when a car moves away from fast road use and towards repeated hard driving on circuit.

The XFR gives us an interesting starting point too. It is a large, powerful Jaguar sports saloon, not an obvious lightweight track car. That’s exactly why we want to do it.

The Transformation Begins

The teaser gives the first glimpse at what’s coming.

Alongside the XFR sits a collection of parts that will help change its character completely, including race-focused seating, upgraded chassis components, Powerflex bushes and performance exhaust hardware.

This stage of the build will start moving the car away from its road-going roots and towards something much more purposeful.

The areas being developed include:

• Race-focused interior and seating
• Suspension and chassis upgrades
• Uprated bushes and mounting components
• Braking improvements
• Exhaust and performance hardware
• Wheels, tyres and track setup
• Weight reduction
• Alignment and geometry
• Further development as testing begins

The important part is how those changes work together. Making one part more capable often exposes the next limitation, which is why this project will be developed as a complete car.

Power Is Only Part of the Story

The XFR already has the power.

The next job is making sure the rest of the car can make proper use of it.

A track car needs to respond consistently under braking, direction changes and repeated hard acceleration. Suspension setup becomes critical. Tyre behaviour matters. Driver position matters. Cooling matters. Even small changes can alter how confident the car feels when it’s being pushed.

That makes this phase much more than simply fitting a collection of performance parts.

We’ll be building, setting up and testing the XFR, then using what we learn to keep improving it.

From Road Car to Track Weapon

This project isn’t being built simply to look like a race car.

We want to use it.

The teaser gives a nod to VIEZU’s previous motorsport history before posing the much more interesting question: what happens when we take everything we’ve learned about Jaguar performance and apply it to this car?

That’s what we’re about to find out.

As the transformation progresses, we’ll be documenting the installation, setup, testing and development of the XFR right here.

And You May Get to Drive It

There is another part of this project we’re particularly excited about.

The finished XFR isn’t intended to spend its life parked in the workshop. The plan is to get the car on track and give people the opportunity to experience what we’ve created from behind the wheel.

More on that as the build develops.

For now, the road-going XFR you see here is about to change considerably.

The power build is done. Now we’re building the track car.