Jaguar’s first venture into family sports car territory has defied gravity by performing a record-breaking 360-degree loop.

The all-new Jaguar F-Pace, which is being billed by the company as the world’s most practical sports car, was driven with daring precision by British stunt driver Terry Grant. The F-Pace sped through the specially built structure, using its sports car derived technology and world-class collection of safety features to complete the record loop and officially signal the opening of order books worldwide.

Ian Callum, Director of Design for Jaguar said: “The Jaguar F-Pace is an SUV with the soul of a sports car. When we created this car we thought differently; we took a Jaguar sports car and made it family friendly. The F-Pace exudes performance yet you can fit five people and all their belongings in it. This is a car for people who love driving, who love design and who love technology – this is the ultimate practical sports car.”

The extraordinary feat, which took place on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show, showcased the powerful design of the lightweight F-Pace and its ability to combine agility with sports car speed and performance.

Pro Driver Terry Grant undertook two months of intense physical and dietary training to ensure his body was prepared for the 6.5 G-Force, which is greater than the forces experienced by space shuttle pilots.

Months of planning went in to ensuring that both car and driver could complete this world record-breaking challenge. Precise physics, angles, speeds and dimensions were considered by a team of experts including structural engineers, mathematicians and safety experts.

The F-Pace arrives early next year priced from £34,170 with five trim levels to choose from along with a wide range of petrol and diesel engines.

Owners can expect to see performance figures such as a 0-60mph sprint in 8.5 seconds and a 130mph top speed from the 2.0-litre diesel with an official combined fuel return of 57.7mpg and carbon emissions are 129g/km.

Economy remains reasonably impressive at 47.1mpg in the faster (0-60 in 5.8 secs) 3.0 diesel although the figure for the 155mph supercharged petrol model is down at 31.7mpg.
The new Jaguar also heralds the world debut of Activity Key – a waterproof, wearable technology which allows the keys to be locked safely inside the vehicle.