Filed under: Concept Cars, Convertible, Performance, Jaguar, Design/Style



In addition to the XJR, XFR-S and XKR-S GT models Jaguar is bringing to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, the manufacturer announced that the F-Type-based, D-Type-inspired Project 7 design study will make its "dynamic" debut at the festival, with driving duties assigned to Mike Cross, Jaguar's chief engineer of vehicle integrity. Here's the cool part: With Jaguar's Director of Design, Ian Callum, leading the team responsible for Project 7, it went from the drawing board to track testing in only four months, Jaguar states, with a claimed 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds and top speed of 186 miles per hour.

Project 7, which was named in honor of Jaguar's seven wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be making runs up the hill at Goodwood over all three days of the festival, which starts at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England, this Friday.

Far from a fragile concept car, Jaguar says, the single-seat Project 7 is a fully functional sports car. It uses the all-aluminum chassis and body of the F-Type, retains that car's 550-horsepower, supercharged 5.0-liter V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission but features lots of bespoke carbon fiber aerodynamic bits, some of which were inspired by the Le Mans-winning D-Type of the 1950s. The most obvious nod to that classic is the rear fairing with integrated rollover hoop - the F-Type's convertible top is gone. The windshield was also lowered, giving the roadster a more rakish silhouette as it sits on 20-inch forged-alloy wheels with carbon fiber inserts.

The driver sits on a composite seat lowered by 1.2 inches compared to the production F-Type and is anchored to it by a four-point racing harness. The passenger seat was replaced with a helmet holder, which demonstrates that the car really does have the purity of purpose Jaguar claims it has and would give us an excuse not to bring any weight-adding passengers along for a ride - if we ever had the opportunity to drive it, that is. Scroll down below for the official press release and a video.Continue reading Jaguar Project 7 concept is an F-Type in a D-Type mold [w/video]

Jaguar Project 7 concept is an F-Type in a D-Type mold [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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Now they're finally gettin someplace. Let's hope the 550 HP makes it into the production cars also.