Jaguar wants you to think it just loves to be bad. It even on that notion. So really, the biggest surprise about the new is not its bewildering aggression, or its newly sharpened handling. The real shock is that it took Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations two years to try and deliver on the implicit promise their name insinuates; to finally produce a special F-Type that doesn’t hold back. An F-Type with no limits.

One Lap In The 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR

Think of SVO to Jaguar as the M to BMW, the Quattro to Audi, or the AMG to Mercedes. Or at least that’s how they billed themselves to the journalists assembled at Motorland Aragón in Spain. But is it just hot air, or is there some substance to this upstart crew?

Sideways on a racetrack, at 90 degrees, all four expensive forged 20-inch alloys, spinning vainly forwards under the load of 575 barking supercharged horses, I would have to say YES.

Yes, there’s some substance to this promise. And, as tire smoke finally begins to curl in through the dashboard ventilation, I conclude that the new SVR is properly mental. But maybe not as mental as it could be.

: Jaguar needed Jalopnik to test this car so badly that they booked me four flights with Lufthansa when I could have flown a return flight with a budget carrier. Then they put me up in a hotel that could have doubled as a Bond villain’s lair, gave me two days with their latest creation, and left some rather pretentious leather driving gloves on my bed. I did rescue a Jaguar baseball cap that was left on the back of a car.)

Hit The Road, Jag

Which is surprising, because when I first drove the car across the Spanish landscape this morning, it felt pretty much just like an F-Type R. The standard, run-of-the-mill, bonkers Jag grand tourer with “only” 550 horsepower. You know, .

Flooring it in a 550 horsepower, all-wheel drive Jaguar F-Type R is hard to describe, what with…

From the driver’s seat of this Millionaire’s Miata, the SVR, it’s hard to differentiate from its less well-off cousin the R. A proper luxurious cabin, acres of leather, only some snazzy 14-way adjustable SVR seats (with Lozenge Quilt pattern, and isn’t that fancy) set the new flagship apart internally. You can still hook up your Apple device to lock, unlock, check where you parked it, and the 770w Meridian stereo stands ever ready to orgasm your eardrums.

Hit the start button, though. Dear God. The noise, the wonderful, beautiful roar. The sounds behind me only serve to re-iterate the 2300 words of technical information sitting in my inbox, detailing the impressive and elaborate changes the SVR model brings.

Take It To The Track

Accelerating hard down the one-mile launch ramp that serves as Motorland’s back straight and the F-Type SVR coupe feels as planted as a race car. Even when speedo is leisurely sweeping towards 180 mph. The recalibrated ZF 8-speed automatic transmission feels even quicker to shift than ever before, quick enough to dismiss any cries for a PDK/DCT/DSG system in this car.

My compulsory co-pilot, one hand blocking the ESC button at all times, must have had balls of steel to sit there at this speed. But pushing the typically soft Jaguar brake pedal to the floor results in a retina-detaching deceleration. The pedal feels a bit soft, but there’s no arguing with the results of the optional CCM brakes. I doubt the standard fit 398mm steelies would pull the same trick more than once, but Jaguar were unwilling to let us try. So we’ll have to leave that question open.

It’s Hoon-O’-Clock

Sideways In The 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR

And much to the Pirellis’ dismay, the SVR was finally unleashed.

The next few minutes disappeared in a cloud of tire smoke, but the true nature of the SVR shone like a light through the fog. It’s a backstreet brawler hiding behind a well-tailored suit. It’s like Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Skyfall. Well presented, well mannered when required, but should the need ever arise, it’s nothing more than a thug in fancy pants.

After one particularly graceless slide, the SVR flashed a warning. “Rear wheel drive only!”

The center differential cried Uncle, and the SVR gave me a fleeting taste of the F-Type SVR my own heart desires—one that only sends power to the rears. It’s an F-type that shouldn’t sell, and it might be crashed a lot. But it’s a taste, and it’s good. Really good.

All that effortless power, flowing just to the rear axle, and the F-Type SVR was alive underneath my hands. A driver’s car. Barely controllable, but controllable enough to make you feel like a hero. Next time we stop, the system resets, and it’s back to normal. The moment is lost, like tire smoke in the clouds.

. He lives at the Nürburgring where he drives the RingTaxi most days of the week. This year he’s racing a Fiesta ST in the VLN championship and has just finished the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.