Jaguar Offers One-Day Performance Driving School Gratis to 2010 XFR, XKR Owners

First off, Jaguar doesn't expect participants to have any track experience -- a pretty fair guess given that none of its cars come with a manual gearbox. So the classroom talk (which covers basic concepts like brake/throttle use, weight transfer, where to look, etc.), and the morning autocross and "handling oval" sessions will be review if you've been to school before.

But beginners should learn a lot in this environment. The instructors are patient and enthusiastic (exactly what you'd expect but not always what you get at driving schools), and the exercises help get you used to what a car with a supercharged, 5.0-liter V8 and 461 pound-feet of torque feels like when you start to lean on its abilities. You also get practice at applying full braking power and looking ahead in a smaller, less overwhelming environment than a full road course.

Students are introduced to the road course just before lunch, and the lapping sessions are in the afternoon. It's not open-lapping, though. You're either in a lead-and-follow group with instructor doing the leading, or you have an instructor riding shotgun providing encouragement and corrections as needed. Like we said, this course is aimed at Jaguar owners who have never been on a track.

However, even with a few schools under our belt, we did not get bored on that afternoon in Vegas. The skies opened right before lunch, and by the time we were stuffing our helmeted head into a swoopy XKR, the Speedway's road course might as well have been a sheet of ice.

But there was no alarm among the instructors. Activities went on as planned. Pace was slowed up a bit, though, by the XKR's eagerness to swap ends every time we gave it throttle. It sounds a bit scary when you remember just how much power this car has. But it's easy to tell when grip is about to go and then almost as easy to gather it up. And then? Straighten 'er out, back on the throttle and gather it up again. Car Control 101.

Still, with the track as wet as it was, we preferred the heavier but more neutral-handling XFR. As we noted in our full test, throttle response is nice and linear in this car; the transmission is smart; the steering is sharp; and body motions are well controlled. As such, it's really not a stretch to be on a track in a 4,400-pound sedan.

At the end of the day, we chatted with an actual XFR owner who'd taken off a day from work to attend the school. He'd never done anything like this before. Both the car and the performance driving academy that came with it have changed his view of Jaguar, he said. "In the past, they were such an old person's car."

Jaguar will be gauging owners' reaction to the R Performance Driving Academy this year. The level of participation will almost certainly impact the decision on whether to continue it for MY2011 and expand it to the redesigned XJ. Neither decision has yet been made, Colaric told us.