Eagle has been turning Jaguar E-Types into
art pieces for some years now and the same can be said for their latest
creation, the new Lightweight GT. The new Eagle Lightweight GT is a love letter
to the 12 original Jaguar E-Type Lightweight race cars but unlike the
stripped-out nature of the original racers, this moving piece of art offers a
comfortable cabin and the refinement to make you want to drive it every day.
With that said, even if the seats were made out of nails, we would still want
to drive it every single day.
The process of creating an Eagle
Lightweight GT starts with a complete strip-down of a Jaguar E-Type Series 1.
Every body panel is replaced by a new one, made out of modern-grade lightweight
aluminum created by specialists that spent more than 2,500 hours forming the
sensational curves and then fitting them to a must stricter tolerance than that
specified by Jaguar’s competition department.
Power comes from Eagle’s specially
developed and naturally aspirated 4.7-liter straight-six engine; it produces
380 HP and 508 Nm of torque and features an aluminum block, a
wide-angle head with bigger valves and a higher-lift camshaft. Fuel is provided
by three Weber carburetors. Paired to it is a re-engineered, five-speed manual
transmission. Eagle says that it’ll do the classic 0-96 km/h in under five
seconds, with top speed north of 273 km/h.
Eagle has taken the iconic shape of the
E-Type and carefully updated it to make it even better and more aerodynamic.
The changes include a deeper rear ramp angle, an increased windscreen rake, and
deeper side sills that not only allow the driver to sit lower but also increase
the chassis stiffness. The wheel arches are also bigger, to accommodate the
bespoke 16-inch magnesium wheels.
The ultra-lightweight magnesium alloy has
also been used in other areas, like the gearbox case, differential case, sump,
and rear hub carriers. In addition, Eagle’s latest model features lightweight
wishbones, Inconel exhaust manifolds, and a titanium exhaust system to keep the
weight down. The result is a car that tips the scales at a dry 1017 kg, which becomes more impressive when you realize that this is a luxuriously
appointed road car with air condition.
The suspension features bespoke Ohlins
adjustable dampers along with a “carefully specified” geometry and spring rates
to ensure that the Eagle Lightweight GT blends the line between race car and
luxury GT. Each Eagle E-Type takes more than 8,000 hours to be created by the
company’s skilled specialists, with just two cars coming out of their UK
facilities every year. The company didn’t release any pricing details on the
new Lightweight GT but given that their other “special edition” E-Type models
are million-dollar cars, it’s safe to assume that this isn’t going to be any
cheaper.