Two Jaguar F-Type Coupé GT4 racing models will race in this year's British GT Championship under the control of Invictus Games Racing.
The team said its cars, which were developed by Jaguar's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division, will be driven by a "select group of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) veterans of the British Armed Forces" who were selected with input from charity Mission Motorsport, which itself has provided several injured service men and women with motorsport opportunities.
Superdry co-founder James Holder commissioned the build of the new F-Type GT4s via his Invictus Games Foundation. Holder, who has raced in British GT himself, said Invictus Games Racing "will enable ex-servicemen and women who have experienced physical or psychological trauma during service to compete against each other and the rest of the top-level racing field, in cars that are tailor-made for them".
The new car is based on the all-wheel drive F-Type SVR but has been converted to rear-wheel drive, as per the series' regulations. It uses Jaguar's supercharged 5.0-litre V8, which is good for 567bhp in road trim but likely to drop some horses when competition restrictors (there to even out performance across the field) are added.
The F-Type GT4 will make its competition debut at the the season’s British GT Championship opener at Oulton Park on April 2.
The 2018 GT4s are the first GT competition cars to be created at SVO's Browns Lane plant in Coventry since the Le Mans-winning C-type and D-type models of the 1950s, although Jaguar GT racers have competed in the British GT as recently as 2007.
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On Mixed surfaces - you could call it "Rallying".....
Given how popular SUV's are and given their USP is supposed to be varying levels of "All Terrain" capability, I don't understand why the WRC is focused on small Hatchbacks that bear no realtion to road models anymore when a pumped up small to medium SUV would seem to be the perfect "cross over " for events that "cross over". Or is that too simple a view?
SUV Racing
That's a great idea Andy1960! With SUV's being the biggest growing sector (USA at least) then why not have an SUV racing series? More people buy and drive them than will ever experience Cayman GT4's or this late entry from Jaguar. A modern day BTCC?
Oh, and congrats to James Holder
For putting his money into this wonderful scheme.