“Performance art is about joy, about making something that's so full of kind of a wild joy that you really can't put into words.”
Pretty sure when Laurie Anderson said this, she didn't know the things it could extend to. Well, let me elaborate.
DISCLAIMER : I apologize in advance for not taking pictures of all the activities in detail. The excitement was too much to contain and we had to finish the activities in a short span of time. All the pictures clicked here is by my dear friend and fellow TBHP member
nitinjetz , so all the photo credits to him. Also brevity is my forte, so this is a condensed report of the event.
D-DAY : 18th March was the date. Me and a friend of mine entered a venue on the Bangalore-Tamilnadu border. It was an airstrip. The wind was the only thing you could hear while we searched for the Jaguar camp and suddenly it was shattered by the sound of backfire gargle from a red speck far away.
When we went closer, we were greeted by the whole gang of wildcats. The XE, XF, XJL, F-PACE and their flagship, the F-TYPE. My face lit up lit up like a diamond in a goat's bum. :D Why you would ask? Because there was not one, not two but three F-Types. I kid you not. Two convertibles sporting british racing green and firesand orange and one hot salsa red Coupe.
Things moved ahead in fast forward mode from here. So much information and chaos and on top of that all the cars were in action. By the time i could process all this, briefing session had started. I carefully listened to the trainer and we were split into 3 groups.
There were three courses. Slalom, Zig-Zag and the Drag race course. Like three course meals eh?
Course 1 - Appetizer :Our group was sent for the zig zag course when the rest for the other courses.
On the zig zag, we had to get the cars up to a a certain speed, turn the steering wheel to the right, brake hard and correct the steering wheel to the true position so that the car comes to a total stop. At first i got a go in the luxo barge XJL and man! It handled like a boat! I ran over a few cones and my heart was pounding hard and praying to the great lord that no damage has occured to the car. Thankfully, nothing had happened as we resumed. Phew!
Next came the XE, XF and the F-Pace. I felt the F-Pace handled this course brilliantly for its size and height.
Course 2 - Main Course : Slalom was next. I could see some wide corners and knew i could take the cars to greater speed on the corners. I went through all the cars so fast that i did not even bother checking the settings on the car but managed to get the rear end out on the XE and the XF and man! what an experience that was!
After getting done with this, we head out to the resting area for some snacks because i knew i had to be rested and in all my senses for the next course.
Course 3 - Dessert :Now comes the best part of the day. The drag race course. I am a loyal fan of Jeremy Clarkson and the episode where he reviewed the F-Type for the first time on the beautiful English country side. Probably the most British thing i had seen that day. he said it is a "X rated hardcore monster for the terminally unhinged with wide range on intoxicating noises". I had my eyes set to drive the BRG F-Type Convertible. It looked like a puma waiting to pounce. Waited quite a bit for that particular car and finally got it. Went and sat inside, fastened my seat belt and requested the instructor if i could put the roof down. Very convincingly of course. Guess luck was on my side and after consulting the coordinators i was allowed to do it. Bam!
Kept the rpm at 5k and launched it and it flew! Naught to 60 very fast. I could hear and feel the grunt of the V8 and the speedo kept going and going. I was told to apply the brakes when we touched 265kmph. You know what the best part it? I got to do it again to come back to the point we started off from. In that short span of time, i was engulfed in pure delirium.
Finishing the drive i could prove the statement by Jeremy about the F-Type.
"Engine in the front, drive to the rear and a big pile of smiling meat in the middle", me being the pile of meat this time. stupid:
Came back to the briefing area, started taking some pictures, left a very detailed feedback and i was on my way back home with a big fat smile and a sense of extreme satisfaction. Some parting shots below. BTW, that's me driving the BRG F-Type with the top down.
Last but not the least i would like to thank the sales team at Marqland Bangalore for keeping the process swift and smooth.
Cheers!
Getting to push some really fast cars to the limit - you are one lucky man! Good of Jaguar to get the entire model line-up for event. These cars are very close to my heart. They have so much soul compared to other luxury cars.
The F-Type been around for a while now and yet remains one of the most desirable cars money can buy. It has fabulous looks coupled with great performance and an insane soundtrack. I thing the V6 powered S variant is probably the the best F-Type out there.
That said, I wonder how long Jaguar will rely on Ford for its V8 engines. There were rumours that BMW would be supplying turbocharged V8 engines to JLR. Don't know if anything materialised.
Jaguar: The Art of Performance is an opportunity to have hands-on what it’s like to drive Jaguar. One will experience the whole series covering Jaguar XE, XF, XJ, F-Pace and F-Type. Of course Range Rover is in the list. This is conducted under the guidance of expert drive instructors. One can test the Jaguar's mechanics to the extreme like full throttle or sudden break or even drift.
This year the event held at Kolkata on 3rd and 4th Feb. Venue was Behala Flying Club. Below few snippets of these luxurious machines.
