Jaguar World February 2022 Track Test XJ Ring Taxi!
This is not your average luxury saloon. The XJ Supersport Ring Taxi was developed to give passenger rides around the world’s most famous circuit, the Nürburgring, where we had our first taste of it. Ten years on, we’re finally going to drive it ourselves, at Castle Combe.
HAVING DRIVEN plenty of supercharges XJs over the years, I admit to being overly confident, perhaps verging on cocky, when I climb into this 2012 Supersport 5.0. Even the roll cage and tight bucket seats that change the interior’s character don’t deter me. if there’s one car I feel comfortable to drive quickly, it’s the X351-generation XJ.
I was so wrong.
Because of the 5.0 litre V8’s almost unlimited amounts of power and the car’s considerable bulk, driving the big saloon through Castle Combe’s tight corners is (probably) more physical than wresting a bear, making it a very different experience from driving a supercharged XJ on the road. And, for for that matter, the first time I was a passenger in this very car almost ten years ago.
Words and Photography: Paul Walton
In 2012, Jaguar revealed a slightly modified XJ Supersport. Called the Ring Taxi, it was designed to give three passengers a first-hand view of the car’s capability by going around the toughest circuit in the world: Germany’s Nürburgring. Frank Klaas, Jaguar Land Rover’s then global head of communications and the man behind the project, said at the time, “We’ve been running a successful Nürburgring driving programme from our Nordschleife engineering test centre now for some time – it’s the very best place to demonstrate the dynamic abilities of the current Jaguar XF, XJ and XK models.
“Of these models, we found it’s the XJ Supersport that most often surprises journalists with its speed, simply because they perceive it to be a large luxury car . The XJ is both those things, of course, but its aluminium architecture means it’s rigid and lightweight, too, which make it a very good car on track. To underline that fact, our engineering team created this special Nürburgring taxi version in which our trained drivers can safely take passengers on very hot laps.”
The car chosen was a left-hand-drive XJ Supersport long wheelbase in Italian Racing Red, it came with the optional Sport pack with a revised body kit, which Jaguar reckoned reduced aerodynamic lift by 40 percent, as well as the Speed pack, which raised the limited top speed to 174 mph. Inside, a full roll cage, four-point harnesses, and four individual racing seats replaced the luxury, leather covered originals. On the outside, a matt grey vinyl wrap covered the bright red paint, creating an aggressive appearance. That was certainly my impression in May 2012 when Jaguar invited me to the Nnrburgring for a ride in the car, driven by none other than Frank Klaas himself.,who, as a former racing driver, had plenty of experience at the ’Ring.
Much to the chagrin of the two journalists in the back, who were close to being ill due to our speed and the complicated nature of the ‘Ring, Frank didn’t hang about. I, however, had skilfully manoeuvred (another word for ‘pushed’) my way into the front passenger seat, giving me a perfect view of both this notorious circuit and Frank at work.
I don’t scare easily, especially when driven quickly in a car but it was a close call on this 12.9-mile circuit. “The long straight after the Bergwerk [corner] is incredible,” I wrote in the September 2012 issue of Jaguar World Monthly, “reaching in excess of 200kph (120mph), while at the Karussell [the ‘Ring’s famed 180-degree banked corner], Frank creates so much force going around at speed that I’m pushed against the door.” It was a phenomenal lap and I went home with new respect for the XJ’s abilities.
As for the car, it was later given an XJR makeover complete with a new red, green and grey wrap that featured the model’s logo prominently on the boot and doors. It’s not known if the engine was changed accordingly, but, if so, the Supersport’s original 510PS (503bhp) would have increased to the XJR’s 550PS (542bhp).
After six years and hundreds of laps around the Nürburgring, it was eventually replaced by both an XJR 575 and an F-TYPE SVR (which were themselves replaced by an all-electric I-PACE in 2019). The first Ring Taxi was immediately gifted to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, but with the JDHT regularly demonstrating its car collection, the big saloon wasn’t to have a quiet retirement. I caught up with the car for the first time in almost a decade at the JEC Racing’s track day at Castle Combe in late 2021. And this time, thanks to special permission from the Trust, for a few laps around the Wiltshire circuit I wouldn’t be a passengener.
As I walk towards the car parked in Castle Combe’s busy paddock, I can’t help but notice its presence, helped in no small part by the deeper front splitter and boot spoiler of the Sport pack, plus the black 20in ‘Venom’ alloys. It doesn’t look quite as menacing without the original matt grey wrap though.
However, the interior is just as I remember it, the tight racing seats, thick roll cage and rear-mounted fire extinguisher giving the usually luxurious interior a more business-like attitude. The rest of the cabin – including the leather-covered dash, digital display and chromed rotary gear selector – is all standard. So, other than the restrictive racing harness making it difficult to move or breathe, it all looks and feels familiar and I am instantly at home in the car. That confidence won’t last long.
After I pull my helmet on and adjust the harness to fit my chunky frame, I press the starter located on the dash and the huge engine ahead of me roars into life as if to say this is my final warning…
I’m waved onto the circuit by the marshals and, with the track clear, give the throttle a properly hard shove. Having never pushed a supercharged V8 XJ that hard on the road for fear of losing my licence, I’m shocked by how quickly all that power arrives.
Using the steering wheel-mounted paddles to change gear as I thunder down the first straight, the instant acceleration is never-ending and brutal, and I soon arrive at Avon Rise. As the name suggests, the slight left-hand curve also features a change in the track’s gradient, meaning the big car is already unsettled when I try to line up for Quarry, a tight right-hand corner.
With the standard Supersport LWB weighing 1,915kg (4,221 lb) – and that’s without a heavy roll cage – I need ALL the brakes’ stopping power to slow this leviathan enough for me to throw it into the corner,which is no easy feat given its bulk and the speed I’m still carrying. As I will do for all the bends. I need to use the red-and-white striped run-off areas to get around safely.
The 510PS version of Jaguar’s supercharged 5.0 V8, as fitted to the Supersport, has 461 lb ft of torque, so when I squeeze the throttle at the exit of the bend, there’s no hesitation from the engine, and it once again delivers massive amounts of power launching me down the short Farm Straight like an R-branded cruise missile. Fast approaching a right-left chicane called The Esses, I’m soon using the paddles again to change down while stamping on the brakes at the same time. A surprisingly large amount of body roll accompanies the fast changes of direction and it takes all of my strength not to run out onto the grass.
After hurtling along another short straight, I brake hard for the next long right-hand bend – Tower – the car uncomfortably squirrelling from side-to-side as I do so, before negotiating another chicane, Bobbies. Being even tighter than The Esses, getting this huge car through is like trying to thread the eye of a needle with a concrete post.
Next comes my favourite part of Castle Combe, the long blast through Dean Straight towards Camp Corner and onto the long start/finish straight. If taken correctly, this section is one of the quickest of any British circuit. Feeling confident, I press the throttle as far as it will go, the car rewarding my bravery with another sudden and hard burst of energy, the cabin filling with a loud, melodic growl, deep enough to have been summoned by Thor himself, the scary hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder.
Although my bravery is clearly outweighing my ability, I still throw caution to the wind; flicking the left-hand paddle to drop down to third and scrub off some pace, I hit the corner at a breakneck speed. Despite again feeling I’m battling the weight of a whale, the big car remains perfectly balanced and I thankfully heave its bulk around in one piece. Revs remain high, and, back on the throttle, the car sets off like a sumptuously upholstered jet fighter as I go screaming down the start/finish straight, I keep my foot down again for the slight, but still noticeable, Folly bend (where I joined the circuit), the change of direction making the car roll slightly, before the bend unwinds and I speed towards Avon Rise once again.
This, and all subsequent laps, illustrates three things. Firstly, I already knew the XJ Supersport was fast, but driving one so uninhibited shows what a deranged monster it really is. I doubt there’s another car with four doors. a sensible boot and air conditioning that would be as quick in a setting like this.
Secondly, I realise how challenging it must have been to manhandle the car around the Nürburgring –I genuinely don’t know how Frank Klaas managed the circuit’s 170 corners at that speed. Instead of shouting “Agghh!” as I did around Castle Combe’s paltry 1.85 miles, I remember him negotiating the long German circuit with cool, calm, Teutonic efficiency.
Finally, and more importantly, it demonstrates how much trouble being wrong can get you into.
Thanks to: Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (www.jaguarheritage.com) and JEC TrackSport (www.jec.org.uk)