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Automotive

How did Jaguar pull off its E-Pace barrel roll?

By Scott Collie
July 25, 2017
How did Jaguar pull off its E-Pace barrel roll?
The E-Pace takes flight
The E-Pace takes flight 
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The E-Pace barrel roll in numbers
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The E-Pace barrel roll in numbers
A look at the test rig Jaguar used for its barrel roll
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A look at the test rig Jaguar used for its barrel roll
One of the barrel roll practice runs with the Jaguar E-Pace
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One of the barrel roll practice runs with the Jaguar E-Pace 
Jaguar puts the barrel roll landing ramp into place in London
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Jaguar puts the barrel roll landing ramp into place in London 
The test E-Pace in full camouflage
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The test E-Pace in full camouflage 
The Jaguar E-Pace was launched with a flourish
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The Jaguar E-Pace was launched with a flourish 
The E-Pace takes flight
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The E-Pace takes flight 
The E-Pace gets airborne
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The E-Pace gets airborne
The E-Pace mid roll
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The E-Pace mid roll
If you're in this position, call for help
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If you're in this position, call for help
A look at the stages of Jaguar's E-Pace barrel roll
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A look at the stages of Jaguar's E-Pace barrel roll 
The E-Pace takes flight
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The E-Pace takes flight 
View gallery - 12 images

The new E-Pace is an important car for Jaguar, which meant a normal launch program simply wasn't going to cut it. Instead of hiring some #influencers or using a motor show press conference, the British marque decided its smallest SUV would arrive on the scene with a world-record-breaking barrel roll. Here's a look at how they did it.

Jumping a car isn't easy – as anyone who's tried it at home will know – so the barrel roll you saw at the E-Pace launch was the result of extensive pre-launch preparation. A lightly-modified E-Pace was subjected to 33 test jumps, a process which saw it land on its roof, sides and rear-end multiple times.

Having finally nailed down its approach speeds and angles, Jaguar slotted stunt driver Terry Grant into the driver's seat. He was subjected to forces of 5.5G on the jump, which was over in just 1.5 seconds. After a whopping 756 hours of engineering simulation time, the driver had just a 10 mm (0.4 in) margin for error.

"As far as I am aware no production car has ever cleanly completed a bona-fide barrel roll and therefore it has always been an ambition of mine to perform one ever since I was a boy," says driver Terry Grant. "After driving the Jaguar F-PACE in the record-breaking loop-the-loop, it has been amazing to help launch the next chapter of the PACE family in an even more dramatic dynamic feat."

Check out a mini-documentary about the jump below.

New Jaguar E-PACE | Behind the Scenes of the Barrel Roll

Source: Jaguar

View gallery - 12 images

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AutomotiveSUVJaguarGuinnessWorld Records
5 comments
Scott Collie
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Scott grew up with a passion for cars and a love of writing. He now combines the two by covering all things automotive for New Atlas. When he’s got a spare moment, you can usually find him freezing himself silly in search of fresh powder to ski.

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5 comments
Marco Gonzalez
Impressive feature with a lot of work. Excellent performance but no the first. Kudos for reenacting the "Astro-Spiral Jump"of the 70´s more widely known as the famous corkscrew from "The Man with the Golden Gun" Bond movie using an AMC Hornet X in 1974.
Papa Wealey
Closer to a half-roll, but let's not niggle.
JohnHurst
Roger Moore as James Bond did this stunt with an AMC Matador I believe.
Paravectorno Extactini
So, they make the car, they model it on computer; yet they rig the car up and spin it to get natural data too: What differences were there?! Was it not tested on Thai 1-lane 3-abreast roads on the way to the launch...oh, in (a stadium in) England? Best of luck in natural conditions to proofing runs in Chile.
Lands on roof: still shiny. Er, yes please!
Gregg Eshelman
"As far as I am aware no production car has ever cleanly completed a bona-fide barrel roll and therefore it has always been an ambition of mine to perform one ever since I was a boy," says driver Terry Grant.
Still hasn't. Like the AMC Matador in "The Man with the Golden Gun" and the AMC Jevelins in the Joey Chitwood stunt show and the Chevrolet Sonic, they've all used special modifications including a wheel or skid as a 'kicker' offset to one side between the rear wheels. The James Bond and Chitwood stunts also had a section of the ramp collapse to help start the roll.
The nifty bit with this stunt is the original for the movie was the first stunt modeled with computers. The display was primitive wireframe but the physics was mathematically modeled and perfected with a computer.
If Jaguar or anyone else really wants to impress, build a special ramp that can roll a 100% stock off the dealer lot vehicle, with nothing added except for a safety seat and cage around the driver. When they add things like a full belly pan, a kicker wheel or skid, moving the driver to the middle, adding lots of ballast weight and other things, it's no longer a "production car".