We remember the optimism of May 2013 when Jaguar launched its first two-seater sports car since the early ’70s
FROM THE Mitsubishi Space Starin Holland to the Daewoo Kalos in Switzerland, I’ve attended plenty of car press launches over the years. Although all very different models and locations, the one thing they had in common was being totally and utterly forgettable. I can’t remember half of what I’ve driven or where although in the case of that pairing this isn’t such a bad thing.
An exception to this is the Jaguar F-Type. A decade after I flew to Spain to test the car, I can still remember not only the event itself but how I felt when I finally drove Jaguar’s first true sports car since 1974.
Yet it wasn’t the first time I’d seen the F-Type; Jaguar had been releasing teaser images of it throughout 2012. I then attended a top secret unveiling later in the year when Jaguar’s then studio chief Ian Callum talked us through the car’s design. It was so top secret, in fact, I have no recollection of where this actually took place.
When the cover was pulled off I can remember thinking that it wasn’t as ground-breaking as the E-type had been five decades earlier. Yet a typical Callum car, the crisp lines and perfect proportions gave it more of a muscular character than its arguably more feminine ancestor.
And then in the spring of 2013 came an invite for the press launch when we’d finally get to drive the car. Like one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, they were highly sought-after and I was over the moon to have received one. In early May and feeling like Mick Jagger, I and several other journalists then flew to Pamplona in northern Spain where the event was held.
In more true rock-and-roll style, as we walked down the steps there was a long line of the 340PS version of the 3.0-litre model waiting for us on the airport’s tarmac. Looking magnificent under the Spanish sun, their roofs already lowered, I had never been more ready to drive a car than when I’d passed my driving test in 1991.
I was assigned one in red which Ian later told me wasn’t on the original palette list. Thankfully he championed for its addition, arguing you couldn’t have a Jaguar sports car and not have the colour as an option. Judging by how many you see in the hue, he was proved right.
My review of the car in the June 2013 issue of Jaguar World Monthly clearly reveals the excitement I was feeling. “As I pull away slowly for the first time, I get a genuine sense of this it; this is what you’ve been waiting for.”
As I headed deep into the beautiful Spanish countryside it didn’t take long for me to realise it drove as well as its heritage demanded it should. With sharp handling, controlled body roll plus plenty of mechanical grip, it was a prope
