Jaguar Project 7: A special kind of F-Type

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year, Jaguar could have quite easily settled for a mere demo of its C-X75 hybrid supercar before a global audience, and they’d have almost everyone glued to their seats. 

But, the success of the F-Type has been the strongest scent in the air off late. And that is probably why an experimental sketch by Jaguar designer Cesar Pieri made it from paper to the race track in four months flat. The extraordinary result was presented before a global audience for the very first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year.

Unlike the C-X75, the Project 7 is a one-off Jaguar concept car, and it's called that in commemoration of the British marquee's achievement of having won Le Mans 24hours seven times between 1951 and 1990.

I am sure you find that uncanny resemblance to the D-Type when you first look at the Project 7’s fairing behind the driver’s head (no folding roof), and its blue paintwork that is reminiscent of the victorious Jaguar D-types of 1956/1957. I assure you it’s certainly no coincidence. Jaguar’s latest concept car is however largely built on the F-Type model with more than just a few modifications.

Besides the aforementioned the Project 7’s exterior design changes include bespoke carbon-fibre components. A new front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser, lowered windshield and a restyled front bumper have been incorporated to make this a very track focused F-Type of sorts. The car sits on 20-inch Blade forged-alloy wheels with carbon-fibre inserts. 

The insides are much like what you see in the standard F-Type model, barring the more tightly fitting bucket seats with racing harness, a helmet holder and custom trim. The seat and the insides of the doors are finished in a quilted racing-style diamond pattern. There are carbon-fibre inserts on the console and SportShift lever, the start-stop button is gloss black and the steering wheel is equipped with machined aluminium paddles.

But mind you, this isn’t just some decorated showpiece for visitors at a Jaguar museum, but a fully-functional high-performance sports car with enormous performance potential. Powering this one-off concept is a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine (currently used on the XKR-S) that pushes 550PS and 680Nm of torque, an increase of 55PS and 55Nm over the F-Type V8 S.  

All this brute force is delivered to the rear wheels through Jaguar’s eight-speed Quickshift transmission and electronic active differential. This tailor-made concept car also features a free-flow exhaust system with a ceramic finish, 10mm lower ride height and a unique spring/damper tune.

So does this commendable effort on such short notice by the Jaguar engineers hint at the marquees return to motor racing anytime soon? Well, not exactly. But a more ferocious version of the F-Type model could certainly be on the cards for the near future.