Miami: Jaguar AJ-V8 Sunday notes

Jaguar AJ-V8 Exceeds Expectations in Miami Morning Warm up

MIAMI -- Paul Gentilozzi shook down Jaguar's new overhead-cam, 32-valve, fuel injected AJ-V8 in the No. 3 Motorock Jaguar XKR during this morning's warm-up session for this afternoon's Motorock Miami 100, Round 10 of the Motorock Trans-Am Tour for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup at the Grand Prix Americas Circuit in downtown Miami. Gentilozzi was ninth quickest during the session, turning a 55.166-second lap around the 1.15-mile track on his eighth and final lap.

"It was exciting. The engine was phenomenal, but the car hasn't been run in a couple of years; it's been a show car," said Gentilozzi. "I didn't want to get over exuberant in traffic, so I never really got a clean lap. Entering the corner, it's more nimble and it's better under braking. It's great off the corner, too. The acceleration is so smooth and the throttle response is incredible.

"Miami was probably the place where we would expect it to perform the least because it's such a tight circuit," added Gentilozzi. "Our mission was to use this session as a test in a true street course environment. It met and exceeded our initial expectations."

Today's test came on the heels of the engine's official unveiling Friday at Putnam Park Road Course in Brownsburg, Ind. The car took several laps around the permanent circuit there as part of an event held by Jaguar in conjunction with the U.S. Grand Prix Formula One race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Although the engine tested successfully, it will not race in this afternoon's Motorock Miami 100. However, the engine is scheduled to compete in the season finale, Oct. 26 at the Puerto Rico Grand Prix, under the hood of Scott Pruett's No. 7 Jaguar XKR.

The Jaguar AJ-V8 engine uses the stock aluminum block and alloy heads from the Jaguar XKR road car. In fact, other than the connecting rods, crankshaft, pistons, injector hat, and ignition system, the engine is completely stock. The engine's stroke has been shortened, and its bore was widened, raising the stock displacement from 4.2 liters to 4.5 liters for the race engine. The engine weighs approximately 100 pounds less than the current corporate pushrod V8 used in the Jaguar XKR and uses an all-new ignition system developed by Rocketsports and Bosch. It will rev to 9,000 rpms, up from 8,200 in the current engine. It also uses a dry-sump oil system.

Today's Motorock Miami 100 is scheduled to start at approximately 4 p.m., following the Champ Car World Series race. The event will air on tape-delayed basis Friday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. on SPEED Channel.

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