The Jaguar F-Type R Coupe has been revealed as the fastest production car in South Africa.

Jaguar F-Type R Coupe – the fastest production vehicle in South Africa

The record, which has stood for 13 years, was broken by the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe. The 405 kW supercharged V8 coupe came very close to speeds in excess of 300kph on the 4900 metre runway at Upington Airport.

Driven by Dawie Olivier, National Aftersales Manger at Jaguar Land Rover, the coupe completed two runs in both directions for the record to be official. On the uphill section of the F-Type’s record-setting run it achieved a speed of 288.33kph, while the returningdownhill run saw it reach 300kph mark with an officially-measured speed of 301.03kph.

The official land speed record now sits at 294.68kph, beating the previous record of 287.63kph set in 2002 by Mike Griffiths driving the Porsche 911 GT2.

“The F-Type R Coupe is limited to 300kph, but we chose not to remove the speed limiter, even though the regulations make provision for us to legally do so. The car that we used is exactly as customers can buy it off the showroom floor,” said Richard Gouverneur, Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa.

“Ultimately, we ran out of space to go even faster – however this was the safest venue to illustrate the potential of this vehicle.”