When Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations said it would unveil its first model at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, we assumed it would show a high-performance F-Type R-S sports car.
It turns out the British carmaker’s bespoke division had something more extreme in mind.
Revealed in leaked images by 4WheelsNews appears to be a sequel to last year’s Project 7, an F-Type-based concept inspired by classic Jaguar race cars.
The Project 7 name represents Jaguar’s seven 24 Hours of Le Mans wins, and its design is inspired by one of the most famous cars to ever compete at the hallowed Circuit de la Sarthe: The D-Type.
In fact, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the D-Type’s debut, something Jag will play up at Goodwood.
Both Project 7 cars feature cut down windshields and headrest fairings that recall that legendary racer. They also feature more aggressive front and rear fascias, rear spoilers, and other aesthetic modifications that bring the all-gorgeous F-Type to a whole new level of sportiness.
The previous Project 7 was powered by Jaguar Land Rover’s ubiquitous 5.0-liter supercharged V8, with 550 horsepower. That also happens to be the engine fitted to the 2015 Jaguar F-Type R.
Which begs the question: Is this Project 7 another concept car, or a production model people will actually be able to buy?
While Jaguar hasn’t confirmed anything, the latter seems likely. JLR’s previous release describes the car as a “product”, not a concept, and it doesn’t make much sense for Special Operations to debut with a concept vehicle that looks exactly like one Jaguar previously showed.
If it does enter production, the Project 7 would probably be offered in very small numbers, making for a handful of happy customers and a lot of envious lookers-on.
