Jaguar offers free track time to woo buyers

Following an initial event in Sydney in December, Jaguar’s Art of Performance Tour hit Melbourne for a four-day event this past weekend at Sandown Raceway.

The prestige brand invited lucky punters to try their hand behind the wheel of its range of luxury sedans and sports cars at an event that included driving several laps of the iconic Melbourne circuit.

Mark Eedle, General Manager – Brand Experience for Jaguar Land Rover Australia, said the tour is a bid to generate greater awareness of the luxury brand’s range with potential customers.

“We give them a variety of driving experiences across the range of cars which exposes them to the brand, to the product and hopefully increases their awareness off the brand,” said Eedle.

“Nothing beats putting cars in front of people and saying ‘here they are.’”

Participants on the program are potential customers sourced through Jaguar’s dealers and corporate partners including organisations such as the Australian Ballet with the aim of exposing them to a range of vehicles.

“We set up various driving activities on road, track and some dynamic activities. Every car has an instructor in it to give some guidance, but it’s very much at your own pace. It’s totally up to the guest how fast or how slow they want to go.”

Jaguar cycled through around 480 guests and their partners during the four day event, running four sessions each day. The tour will visit all major capital cities and Jaguar plans to return to Melbourne this year to run another event

In terms of sales, Eedle says it’s too early to gauge success.

“It’s a bit early, having said that we’ve had some very positive comments on the day. The whole point is we’re not here to sell you a car, we’re not going to stand here and sign you up. There are no salespeople here, it’s about the experience.

"But of course you do get people going, ‘well what’s my next step?’ so we point them in the right direction and make the link for them. On that basis, yes it’s been very positive.”

motoring.com.au was invited to participate in the Sandown drive event, taking a steer on road and on track.

An informal briefing of the 30 people which made up our group was led by Jaguar’s Tim Jones, a professional driver who gave an overview of the morning’s activities as well as a distinctly low-key presentation of the vehicles on offer to drive for the event.

It was a set-up for a relaxing morning with no hard sell from sales people. While there’s no doubting the aim of the game is to get customers into the Jaguar fold, the approach was relaxed and entirely appropriate for the mixed group of participants attending.

It’s also a must do for social butterflies with many Instagrammable moments guaranteed to give you strong social cred with followers.

The group was split into two, our group taking the first road loop while the second group participated in track laps.

Drivers were paired up and accompanied by a trained driving instructor to drive a loop of about 40 minutes on a mix of freeway and suburban streets in the Jaguar XE and Jaguar’s first SUV, the F-PACE.

While the route offered no opportunity to challenge the cars dynamically, each vehicle showcased its high levels of comfort, the F-PACE unchallenged by a lengthy stretch of speed bumps on the second leg.

Returning to Sandown, it was an opportunity to get behind the wheel of Jaguar’s sports cars and sedans. First a series of coached laps in the Jaguar F-TYPE, which reminded me of why we loved this car so much at last year’s Australia’s Best Driver’s Car followed by a steer in the brutal rear-drive Jaguar XJR.

Powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 generating 404kW, the XJR was a highlight of the day, encouraged by my instructor to floor it on the straights at speeds of around 220km/h.

Other activities to experience on the Jaguar Art of Performance Tour include the Ice Cube which showcases the F-PACE and demonstrates all surface progress control. Setting the speed, the driver takes their feet off of the pedals and the F-PACE ascends autonomously.

A must-do is Jaguar’s equivalent of a gymkhana, its Smart Cone course using GPS positioning to direct a driver through a series of gates, marking accuracy, speed and shortest distance travelled.

Driving the Jaguar XE through the tight circuit, it is surprising how deft the car is and how sharp the steering and handling is. If you’re at all competitive – this is the activity for you.

While registrations for the Jaguar Art of Performance Tour are by invitation only, the best way to secure yourself a spot on the next event is by visiting a dealer and expressing an interest.