Fastest Jaguar to date

The planet’s most taciturn racing driver, The Stig, and South Africa’s hairiest racing driver, Deon Joubert, will take turns at the wheel of the Jaguar F-Type V8R around Top Gear Festival’s 1.5km racetrack outside Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

The Stig will drive the newcomer in the Power Laps component of the event and Joubert in the Time Attack segments. Depending on how things pan out over the course of the weekend, the new addition to the Jaguar range could make close to 20 appearances on the track.

“I can’t wait to get to Durban,” enthused Joubert.

“I’ve regularly driven Jaguar’s performance flagships in events as they’ve been launched over the last couple of years and this car will push the envelope even further.”

The Stig wasn’t available for comment.

The Polaris White Jaguar F-Type Coupe V8R they will share features Jaguar’s Super Performance Braking System nestling inside 20-inch Gyrodyne wheels.

It also boasts an Electronic Active Differential (which goes from open to fully-locked in 200 milliseconds), torque vectoring by braking and Jaguar Adaptive Dynamics. These features will stand them both in good stead out on the track.

In addition to the track car, a second Jaguar F-Type Coupe V8R will be used by Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond in the Supercar/Cool Wall segments of the stadium shows, with the roar of its supercharged V8 guaranteed to add to the sense of occasion.

Members of the public who want to get up close to the F-Type Coupe will also find one on the Jaguar stand in the exhibition area, along with an F-Type Convertible – South Africa’s best-selling open sportscar – and a number of other high-performance models from Jaguar’s “R” range.