A Jaguar for the Tour de France

Published on July 21, 2014 in News by Frédérick Boucher-Gaulin
Jaguar F-Type Team Sky

More and more people are attracted to bicycling each year. It is the ideal means of transportation in congested cities, and you can burn away a few calories at the same time. But you sometimes need to transport your bike with a vehicle, and everyone has a different solution for this: roof-mounted racks, supporting rods on the trailer hitch, or even buying a minivan/pickup and stuffing it in the back…

Jaguar Land Rover, official sponsor for Team Sky since 2010, just unveiled their official support car for this event: logically, they chose their most efficient, most spacious vehicle to serve as a mobile headquarters for the cyclists and their trainer: the… F-Type R Coupe?

If the idea of using a fuel-guzzling two-door sports car for transporting bikes seems strange, Jaguar’s explanation is simple: this car was selected to grab attention as a media stunt, and the rest of the support work will be done with an XF Sportbrake wagon.

Custom-built by the Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Division, this F-Type Coupe is still able to lend a hand to the athletes: equipped with radios, amps, speakers, mics and television screens, it allows the team director to talk with his cyclists in real-time. With a modified rear windshield, the car can transport two bikes. And with its 550 HP V8, it can quickly catch up with even the fastest rider!

If you want to admire this beast, you can see it in the flesh on July 26, on the 20th stage of the Tour de France.