A shady character who shall remain nameless has taken the ol' Vanden Plas up to 142 on a public road. In the rain. Blew away a little dodge dart that wanted to race. Was a little scary as every bit of wind, bump in the road, etc made the car go side-to-side which was a little nerve racking. But thanks to some great tires, awesome brakes the vehicle was able to remain under control.

 

Someone who was going home from a strip club a few years ago and not wanting to run (other thoughts a dither), had some idiot in a Lexus 460 push him to a race. Then and as I....errrr, that someone, consequently blew away the 460, he rolled it out to 155 coming off the merge off the 528 to the 417.
He recently then did 135 on the way to Tampa on I-4 and thankfully just missed the constable who found another driver and was giving out awards to those who had top speed on his track.
The car really picks up a buffering around 120 ...and you can hear the wind smacking the flat of the windshield and the trim screaming to hang on and the wiper shivers in fear of blowing off. But the motor keeps pulling as the seeming reentry of the space module gains speed.

 

On a recent trip to Germany I did 250km/h (155ml/h). I was on the middle lane doing 120 (on the 120kmh restricted area) when just before the unrestricted top speed part of the autobahn an ******* Audi driver started tailing me with his A4. The moment we entered the unrestricted autobahn the compressor for an unknown reason started to unleash all this power and how I got to 250km/h didn't realise it. ;-) I want to put a rear view dash camera at the car, to see the face expressions of ******** when I smoke them with my 17y old girl.

 

125, but who in their right mind trusts a set of Coopers above that?

 

I enjoy the passing abilities of my car with UK roads and motorways it's a rare thing to actually stretch a car as they're busy bits of Tarmac. My car is derestricted but I've ran out of stones before the car ran out of speed, like others have mentioned it can get squirrelly at high speeds and I did notice the steering going light on one occasion.
Overtaking in a sorted R is a very satisfying experience when pressing on, one early morning journey that can take 45 minutes in traffic took a third of that on a fairly clear road, just great and typical sports saloons from Jaguar, after all they invented the sector.

 

Back in 2011 I blew the head gasket on my M3 track car and rather than loosing my track fees for Sunday, the XJR went back to the track for the final time. Figured the max I got it up to was about 130 MPH or so at the end of the front stretch of TWS going clockwise. Average MPG was 5 according to the dash . The Bimmer gets about 9 on the track.

Here is video of it. The camera's microphone is on one of the rear license plate bolts. Doesn't make a lot of noise, just a whoosh on wide open throttle. At 14:57 the tail manages to slide out a bit - very long polar moment :-)

Here it is from my friend's point of view. With its power, the XJR just turns into a dot, but he reels me back in when it is time to turn. There is no overcoming 4000lbs in the twisty bits:

The factory Brembos and bog standard Mintex pads held up well.

My track habit actually started at a Porsche Club HPDE at TWS in the Jag, as it was the only car I had at the time. It held its own very well in the novice run group and I had several people ask me about throughout the weekend. P-car guys notice when a car with a 4 doors and a hood ornament gets by them on the track.

Alas, the car is too precious to me now to risk like this, but the memory is forever.

-Mike

 

That's why they make those awesome, gum sticky Michelin S/S's. Absolutely the best street tire I have every driven for performance.

 

For performance yes, for lack of tramiling, not so much. I'm looking to replace mine now with something other then the ss's

 

It's funny how that happens!! I had a very similar experience 3 weeks ago whilst on a holiday in Germany. We entered one of the de-restricted stretches and somehow I was doing 140 indicated on the GPS and the diesel Audi was not as close as he was before!

That's as fast as I wanted to go though, so eased off and back down to a sensible speed and let the chap in the Audi carry on at warp speed after a quick thumbs up on the way past.

Spud

 

I agree that the X308 doesn't feel all that stable at high speeds. Even my recently departed W124 400 E Merc felt more stable and my M6.


Doesn't matter in the USA

 

I've had my 1999 VDP to 150 twice handled fine, 15 years ago, too old to do that now. LOL

 

Too old? You or the car?

 

SWIM with an x308 (non s/c) had a red light off the mark challenge from a new model audi S6.

What made it interesting was the road ahead, an on ramp to a bridge that had 3 long straight away segments divided by hard 90 degree turns (and thick guard rails totally splattered with rainbows of car paint) and the 3rd segment is a very steep incline into the bridge.

So.... The jag held its own going straight but clearly the S6 was substantially faster and had much more cornering ability over the 90 degree turns than the 202" x308, BUT the lead started to close substantially during the incline segment and the jag *almost* caught up by the end of the grade! The torque of wide open throttle uphill on these jags is remarkable!

 

I agree, cruise control on motorways it doesn't miss a beat when faced with hills. Sadly I find myself having to cancel cruise because the car in front has slowed for the incline.

Speaking of cruise control, it always amuses me the ferocity the XJ resumes it's set speed. I clicked resume once from 40mph to a set speed of 80mph, and it took off like a scalded cat.

 

On 7 November 2008, a modified XFR was driven by Paul Gentilozz who prepared the car, to a new Jaguar record of 225.675 mph Changes to the stock vehicle included low-mounted rear spoiler, increased power to 510 PS (375 kW; 503 hp
my standard engine produces 550 PS (400 kW) and 680 N·m (500 lbf·ft) of torque would be interesting to know how fast an xfrs will max out at unrestricted with eight speed
would love to get it on a track

 

I've got Paul Gentilozz beat when I hit 226 mph in my 2002 VDP land yacht.

...in my dreams...

 

The identical car at that speed now that you are 15 years older wouldn't feel so "stable."

Age takes away some of our field of perception and slows reaction time, things seem to be happening much faster.

It IS you, lol!
Vector
(It is me too!)

 

115mph.

 

That XFR was far from stock. ECU, Intake, Exhaust, "revised supercharger". I guess the real power was 650+bhp since something like that is needed to make ~226mph even at almost unlimited runway. The speed requires 6510rpm on 6th gear , gear ratio 0.691 and final ratio 3.31 = 2.29. Stock rear tires: 285/30/20. Well done, but not a stock car....

 

I also think its the fact as age comes upon us, we actually care about others on the highway, except those on Blue Hair Highway (19, Clearwater/Tampa). I used to roll on what I considered my personal runway, the 417, where I didn't see anyone on when it first opened. Now its so crowded I can barely keep the speed limit without a slow down. I can still get rolling on the 520 or on 95, but those are only for short runs. I can't wait for them to finish I-4 by Deland to turn it out on that super smooth surface.