Jaguar XFR - 225 Miles Per Hour!

My wife has a Jaguar XJ8, and it replaced a XJS a couple of years ago. We are both members of the San Diego Jaguar club, and I'm a former officer. So I keep track of what is happening in the Jaguar world.

This year Jaguar offered a model called the XF, which replaced the S series. The XF is the combination of a sports car and luxury sedan (according to Jaguar literature) four doors and four passengers. It started out with a 300 hp basic engine and now has an optional 510 hp supercharged one called the XFR.

The April 09 issue of Road and Track, which I just received today has an interesting article on the XFR. Seems that a slightly modied sedan has set a new top speed record for Jaguars - 225 mph at Bonneville. This beat the former record of 217 held by the Jaguar XJ220 supercar in 1992.

According to Jaguar the standard XFR had minor areodynamic (rear spoiler plus), and safety modifications to comply with Bonneville requirements. The stock 510 hp engine had some tweaking in a remapped ECU, modified exaust and air intake systems and revised supercharger settings. What really struck me was that it was using the car's standard 6-speed automatic transmission, with no change in gear ratios.

Now this is a record that I love. Appears I will have to keep a closer eye on the brand.

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Honda's FCX Clarity

A while back I discussed some aspects of the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell powered experimental car. I was impressed with many of the ideas inherent in the car. Recently I read an article that gives a different picture of the car's future.

The bottom line on this article is that the fuel cell approach is not going to work for a couple of reasons. The most critical one the author believes is that fuel-cell technology has been eclipsed by vastly cheaper, here-now advances in batteries and plug-in electric vehicles. He does a comparison of the energy return for the FCX and a the all-electric Tesla Roadster with a battery. His conclusions are that the Tesla's per-mile costs in electricity are roughly one-quarter of what they are in the FCX Clarity.

That's a giant gap to overcome. He also wonders why a very smart company like Honda is putting so much money in a technology that will not be competitive? He believes that there are two reasons. "First, major manufacturers must begin complying with California's mandate that each sell 7,500 zero-emission vehicles between 2012 and 2014. Fuel-cell vehicles get extra points in meeting this quota."

The second reason is that most of the new technology used in the FCX can be transferred to future electric vehicles, even if they won't be using a fuel cell.

What do you think Honda's reasons are for designing a car that currently must cost around 2 million dollars each?

Here is the article:

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-autoclarity0221.artfeb21,0,1545481.story

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SL 65 AMG Black Series Continued

Yesterday I mentioned a couple of things about the new Benz Black Series. First this is a beast of a car, and it is limited to 175 coming to this country. So aside from a car show, I doubt I will ever see a real one. The specs are impressive. Just take a look at the wheels, for instance. 19 x 9.5 at the front and 20 x 11.5 at the rear. Not sure if this is a car or a truck. Tires are 265/35 ZR-19 front and 325/30 ZR-20 at the rear. Much larger and you could use them on an air plane.

One surprise, mentioned in the Road and Track article was the brakes. For $300,000 plus you would except carbon-ceramic, however you still get iron ones. They are large and do the job, but not exotic like those found on other cars in this price range.

Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic is used in the car in the front fenders, hood and front fascia and trunk lid. All of these make the Black Series weigh less than the standard SL 65 AMG. But less is still 4385 tested weight. This means the car is not quite as nimble as a Ferrari 599 in getting off the line, and around a track.

But if you are looking for unique looks, gobs of power, and interior luxury, this could be the one.

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