One Lap Of Los Angeles

THE JAGUAR F-TYPE SVR TAKES ON THE BEAUTIFUL PLAYGROUND

- Bradley Iger

Love it or hate it, one thing that’s undeniable about Los Angeles is that it’s a true car town. Though it wasn’t initially designed that way, the sheer size of L.A. combined with the lack of interconnected mass transit systems makes the use of an automobile essential for anyone who wants to check out the various points of interest found within the City of Angels in an amount of time that isn’t measured in days.

Beyond practicality considerations, L.A. is also a city with a longstanding love of motoring. Hot rodding arguably got its start here in the 1930s, and Los Angeles has been the host of countless motorsport events over the decades—legal and otherwise—due in no small part to the epic scenery, favorable year-round weather, and abundance of great driving roads.

But what if you wanted to get a taste of it all in one day? Ideally, you’d want something like this 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR Coupe—fast and lovely to look at, but also comfortable enough to make the inevitable bouts with traffc easy to endure. With a supercharged 575hp V-8 underfoot, we set out to do a “loop” of the city that included stops at iconic locales in and around each major part of Los Angeles as well as some of the greatest driving roads one can find in the western United States.

Starting Point: Chinatown—Situated just northeast of Downtown, Chinatown has an aesthetic that’s truly unique among L.A. neighborhoods and its centralized location makes it a great spot to get this lap started. Approaching it from the Pasadena side of the 110 as we did also gives one the chance to experience the first freeway ever built in America, a twisty, scenic section of tarmac that justifies turning on Dynamic Mode from the F-Type’s toggle switch on the center console.