Jaguar PR just called saying they've withdrawn their pledge to let Wes race the XFR Thursday against GM's Bob Lutz in a Cadillac CTS-V. Apparently, not because they're afraid to lose, they're afraid the XFR just can't take it. Pussies.
It's true. Stuart Schorr, Jaguar's main product PR man, told us flat out he expected the XFR would lose to the CTS-V, so it's not that he's afraid to lose to "Maximum" Bob Lutz.
Instead, they're afraid the XFR can't handle the strain. Specifically, the brakes. Without better brake cooling, Schorr tells us his folks are concerned the XFR just can't put the necessary laps in without endangering the driver.
So what does this mean for us? Well, it means we're still racing Lutz — except now, since Mercedes and now Jaguar weren't willing to stand by their product for five laps in a time attack race versus the CTS-V, we're beginning to believe the CTS-V is the only production luxury sedan on the market wiling to stand by its lofty claims of performance cred. So we'll race against Lutz using his own CTS-V — and probably the Mitsubishi Evo we'll drive up there in.
Unless, of course, some other automaker's less feline than those we've already tried. Any automaker want to put their fast four-door where their mouth is — e-mail me.
UPDATE: Stuart's responded in the comments below and I wanted to highlight his correction he made to what I wrote on the brakes. Read it here.