Jaguar marks E-PACE launch with barrel-roll Guinnness World Record

Car stuff, Gadgets, Transport
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What is it about car manufacturers and setting unusual Guinness World Records at the moment? Yesterday we wrote about how an extreme pogo-ist (yes there is such a thing) had set a World Record for jumping over three Nissan Jukes with one bounce between each car in order to promote its latest all action Jukecam dashcam.

Now it’s the turn of Jaguar who last night marked the launch of its new E-PACE compact SUV at London’s ExCel with a 15.3 metre-long jump complete with a 270-degree corkscrew-like ‘barrel roll’.

Behind the wheel was stunt driver Terry Grant, who has completed stunts on many film sets and holds an impressive 21 Guinness World Record titles

Says Terry: “As far as I am aware no production car has ever cleanly completed a bona-fide barrel roll and therefore it has always been an ambition of mine to perform one ever since I was a boy. After driving the Jaguar F-PACE in the record-breaking loop-the-loop, it has been amazing to help launch the next chapter of the PACE family in an even more dramatic dynamic feat.”

Unsurprisingly, the barrel roll is not one to be tried at home; months of testing and analysis were completed to fine-tune the stunt. The ramps were modelled extensively using CAD before any jumps took place and Terry experienced a G-Force of 5.5 during the 270 degree twist, and required a 160-metre run up to hit the air at the correct speed.

For yesterday’s E-PACE launch Jaguar also partnered with HTC Vive to reveal the new design via VR technology. The exclusive event at the ExCel in London featured over 70 Vives to give guests a virtual sneak peak of the model with a further 12 VR pods featuring a series of interactive technology stories, to dive deeper into the mechanics of the E-PACE.

Using Vive’s tracked controllers, guests could rotate the model to view from all angles and lift away sections of the car to reveal the interior. Whole sections of the car could be interacted with, such as opening the boot to get a 3D view of the capacity inside, or removing the engine for a close up look.

Priced from £28,500 the Jaguar E-PACE features 4G Wi-Fi, and a super-sized touchscreen as standard.

You can see the Jaguar E-PACE World Record Barrel Roll in the video below:

 

Chris Price
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