Jaguar revealed the striking F-Type Project 7 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month, but the British firm is already planning a lighter, more hardcore version.
The Project 7 is powered by a supercharged, 5.0-liter V8 that makes 550 ponies, making it lightest, most powerful, and fastest Jag ever. But Paul Newson, director of Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division (SVO), told Auto Express there’s room for improvement.
“The Project 7 is 80kg lighter [than the F-Type Roadster], but there are smaller engines that start from a lower point,” he said.
One such engine is the 1.6-liter dual-charged four-cylinder from the scrapped C-X75 hypercar, which makes 500 hp and revs to 10,000 rpm. The turbocharged and supercharged powerplant makes less power than the Project 7’s V8, but is much, much lighter, which could improve the F-Type’s power-to-weight ratio and increase performance.
“We designed that engine for a £1million supercar, so it’s extremely expensive. But it could work well,” continued Newson. “Who can say where we’ll go in the future? The world is downsizing with high-pressure engines. In the longer term, we won’t be using 5.0-liter V8s.”
The F-Type Project 7 is the first showing from Jaguar’s Special Ops wing, but there are “another couple in the pipeline at the beginning of next year, with more to follow,” an SVO source told Auto Express.
Jaguar also released a new commercial recently entitled ‘The Winning Choice,’ which takes direct aim at its main competitors: Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes.
The ad is for the F-Type R Coupe, which houses the same supercharged V8 as the Project 7. It shows actor Robert Young casually strolling past the shadowy outlines of a Porche 911, Audi R8, and Mercedes SL 63, paying them no mind.
“Playing the game is fine,” he says, “But winning? That’s everything.” The F-Type’s throaty V8 then roars to life, and the sultry Jag speeds away without an ounce of worry. Watch the ad below.
