Britain’s Team Sky cycling squad competing in the Tour de France sure has their backs covered as Jaguar has launched a special one-off version of the F-Type coupe to assist them in the journey. Acting as a support vehicle for the team in the penultimate stage of the race, this F-Type was developed by Jaguar Land Rover’s new Special Vehicle Operations division.
Based on the road-going F-Type R coupe, it gets 542-horsepower from the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engine, more than enough for it to undertake the task it is assigned with. Other than carrying two spare bikes on the roof rack, it also gets a separate electric supply in the boot to provide power to the radios, amplifiers, microphones, horns and televisions.
Usually, a larger car like the usual Jaguar XF Sportbrake is used as a support vehicle where its larger size allows large roof racks to be installed and carrying up to nine spare bikes for the team. But the upcoming stage 20 is an individual time trial, where riders go off one-by-one by their own, competing against the clock. So for this stage only, the XF Sportbrake is replaced by this special F-Type R coupe. However, Jaguar has noted that they have no plans in putting this version into production.
