No story, no internesting espn comments, just the facts maym... I raced a XKR on the highway last night with the top down. He was the thrid car in a caravan of my s2000, a newer eclipse, and then the Jag. When the highway opened up, I dropped it down to fourth to see who wanted to play. After running up to around ~100 or so, I brought it back down to normal speeds. The eclipse, who seemed like game maybe 5 minutes earlier, didn't want any, but the Jag did as he tried to get the eclipse to get out of his way. Well sooner or later he did, and he got on my ass around 85 mph. I was in the left lane passing a car and when all was clear I moved right. I held it steady around 85 and when I saw him punch it, I took off. His momentum of jumping first got him to my rear bumper. I then proceeded to wind out fourth and fith in a worklike, 9000 rpm manner. At the top of fourth I thought I started to pull, so I speed shifted into fith to maybe put some distance on him. No go. I was waiting for SOMEONE to do SOMETHING, but NOTHING happened. Dead even up to redline in 5th when I tapped brakes... No flyby for him just an energetic wave and he mouthed something that I could not make out, and then he took off. The Tail said XKR... Supercharged V8, 390 hp? I think. Fun, safe race. (either of us did not pass a single car the whole time).

 

It's actually 370 hp. The NA cars have 290 hp, the XKR's with the suprchargers have 370hp. Good Race though.

 

raced an XJR once from about 25mph to 90 mph. I beat him by about a car length and a bit, a lot of people called BS at the time, those cars are powerfull but heavy.

 

yea man, real heavy. 4000lbs

1200 lb difference is A LOT. So I guess the power to weight ratio is pretty similar.

 

Nice race!

Actually the power to weight ratio of the Jag even if it was a convertible XKR is significantly better than the s2000.

XKR convertible 6.3kg/kw
XKR 5.9kg/kw even better than the Porsche 911 (6.0kg/kw)
S2000 7.2kg/kw

All XKR's have automatic gearboxes though, right!?!

Not saying anyone is a BS'er but at highway speed wouldn't an XKR eat up an S2000? It has more than double the torque and a much flatter power curve. If it is a coupe not a convertible its aerodynamics would probably be far superior too. Does it suffer from overly tall gearing?
The other possibility is that manufacturer's power output claims are exagerrated.

 

it could have been an xk8, but I could have sworn it was an xkr. Either way, car and driver's published ~13.6@105 for an R isn't that much faster than a s2000. I've been neck and neck with 2 ls1s, and one 2001 cobra up at these speeds, so who knows.

 

Come to think of it an 8 looks pretty similar to an R, especially at speed while your'e driving. Could possibly have been rebadged. Did it have the XKR gills on the hood?

Does anyone out there who has a good knowledge of mechanics and physics who can work out if better gear ratios would be enough to offset the s2000's power to weight disadvantage?

Come to think of it it's quite possible as XKR's are designed to be more of a luxury cruiser than a hard edged sports car. I'm not sure but I think that they are all four speed auto's too.

Anyone know?

 

Well it does have that crappy Fod Transmission now. If there is one thing the rags always rip the new Jags is that they say the transmission spacing is off on that transmission, yet Ford seems to now be putting it into everything. Also have that archaic J shifter, if there is one thing I want Jag to get rid off it's that nasty looking J shifter console. I have seen the XKR run from 14.0 to 13.5 in the 1/4 so I don't think this story is far fetched.

 

Don't know the actual gear #'s, but that could definitely be the case. The gears on XKR are a lot taller, and more widely spaced.

Don't forget the wheels too. That thing has standard 18 inch wheels and optional 19's, so that's an additional 15-20% acceleration disadvantage.