The Temptation of a Standing Mile

Several months ago, I had the privilege of driving the Jaguar XKR‑S coupe around the Portimao Circuit in Portugal during a testing session. Standing on the loud pedal down the front straight, the magnitude of acceleration had me wondering: How fast would this thing be in the standing mile? writes Wayne York Kung, Product Communications Manager, Jaguar Land Rover North America.

For those unfamiliar with the “Standing Mile”, it's a popular motorsport phenomenon in America where basically, you get a measured mile and you accelerate from zero to whatever speed you can get to in that set distance.

With our refusal to adopt the metric system, we get to enjoy this resolutely British‑American measure. Running the standing 1,609 meter doesn’t have the same ring as running the “M‑I‑L‑E” (said with a gravelly undertone and long drawn out 'I')

We recently hosted a number of international journalists in San Diego, Calif. where they had the opportunity to test the Jaguar XKR‑S on a closed military runway with 9,500 feet of pristine concrete.

After hours, I could not resist this once in a lifetime opportunity to launch the XKR‑S down the runway for a standing mile run. With a military escort keeping an eye on me to make sure that I didn't engage in any tomfoolery, I ventured out onto the runway.

With the “TracDSC” program engaged, I leaned on the converter to just over 1100 RPM. The converter flashed into the peak torque band at 2500 RPM. With just the right amount of wheelspin off the line, I kept my heel to the steel. With TracDSC intervention, the street tires hooked by about the 60 foot mark and at just past 1000 feet, I hit an indicated 100 MPH.

You never realize how long a mile feels until you are standing on the throttle with 550 horsepower at full burn for about 30 seconds. As soon as the throttle closes on the big end, that perception suddenly reverses, and it occurs to me that a mile is not very far at all when you are covering over 258 feet per second.

The radar gun at the end of the standing mile clocked the XKR‑S going by at 176 MPH, and it was still accelerating. At that speed, a mile goes by in about 20 seconds or 15,488 Feet per Minute. With this calculation floating in my mind, the voices of reason reconvened.

The intangibles of the experience reveal so much more than the numbers. The most emotive experience in this car is the sound; it’s the one thing that has left the biggest impression with me. The supercharger whirs assertively and the exhaust makes all the right noises. It is a blend of muscle car baritone and cammy high RPM rasp.

The intake and exhaust sounds were specifically tuned by a group of my coworkers in the British Midlands to maximize the drivers' auditory experience. The exhaust also features active exhaust valves, which open under load to bring out the full aural spectrum of the engine when needed and keeps everything quiet when it isn’t. For engine audio aficionados, the new XKR‑S convertible makes that growling acceleration and burble on deceleration even more thrilling.

Going by the specifications numbers, the speed and acceleration presented by the Jaguar XKR‑S is impressive in and of itself. On a human scale, the speed and acceleration are staggering but there is so much more to the car than that.

At the conclusion of our speed runs, we drove back to San Diego through the California desert and mountains. During this trip, the duality of this Jaguar became more apparent. Without any changes, the car fills a role as a comfortable tourer, returning to the cosmopolitan city. Though the speed gives allure to this car, it’s so much more than that. This is a car that has presence, and that is something noticed at any velocity.

To get a sense of the fun we had on the base, see the links below for some footage we captured of various high speed runs in the XKR‑S.

This event was held under the supervision of professional drivers and took place on a secured military runway. Do not attempt. When driving on public roads, always obey posted speed limits, and exercise sound judgement.