Yaaaa, not my cup of tea either. For this, I have my Porsches.

 

My D90X is limited to 99 mph due to the Duratracs; same as the OCTA; same roll over risk. PS I have never, nor do I intend to, approach 99 mph.
Same could be said for my E63S. I guess one could make a mess of a Skoda at low speed if not handled properly. The roll over warning sounds worthy. Where can I find one to study?

 

I'm currently at Goodwood and I'll update this thread with loads of pictures of the OCTA. The rollover risk is still there, but the 6D suspension literally keeps the car flat. I was speaking with one of the development engineers and he told me he they were doing 100+ in corners at the Nurburgring and it was perfectly flat. You can see this in the videos where prototypes were literally drifting around the Nurburgring at high speeds. This system doesn't have anti-roll bars. and the hydraulic systems completely neutralize body roll.

 

Per one of the specialists at Goodwood, in the US, OCTA models with the special Duratracs will be limited to 112, but for the EU it will be limited to 99.

 

If you are setting up a car for less body roll that's great my AMG GLE 63s coupe has no body roll in corners with its active suspension but no matter how flat the car remains in the corner you still have to deal with centrificle force and inertia [grip] . Anyone that thinks a 6,000 lb. truck with a high center of gravity is going to do well at high speed in the real world of **** roads and distracted drivers on "tall off road" tires is dislusional at best.

Hans Stuck told me once when we were talking about all-wheel drive cars, "there are no repaired Audi Quattros, they are all totaled ". The high speed crash videos of the OCTA will be epic..

 

True! Unfortunately, there will be drivers who think the opposite.

 

Without a doubt we will hear and see the consequences of their egos.

 

I agree - Octa is a pass for me too. As others have stated, it's questionable if a 2 1/2 ton brick with a high center of gravity should go 100 mph?! I personally don't get the appeal of trying it; others do for sure, but each their own. I think the folks buying Octa won't drive it anywhere near what it can do and are unlikely to take it much off road. It's going to be expensive street candy for someone with alot of money. Most frustrating IMO JLR wasted time with it, as they could have just made the regular Defender models better. Given what JLR must have wasted (invested), they could have generated similar profit by upping the existing Defender MSRPs by about $3-4k? They would have to invest some money to find ways of making that worthy, but still, the Octa does nothing for the 20,000 existing Defenders they sell every year, and figuring a way to up the MSRP on the base probably would have made them more money. And, it would have made a greater number of Defender owners happy! A few easy ways to up the MSRP on new Defender sales? Sell optional upgrades for things like: premium Bose stereo that allows you to store music internally on a chip; 18" rims with front skid plate; rock sliders; additional exterior lights; a second battery; a tire inflation switch inside to raise/lower tire pressures; an enhanced instrument cluster that can be fully customized so you can monitor what you want: similar to what Wrangler does with temps for oil, tire pressure, etc.; There are ways to get upgrade features on existing Defender sales that JLR passed over to focus on the fun of speeding 120 mph over a dirt road in this Octa contraption. Good luck with that, but it's a fail from my view...

 

Hey all, sorry I've been MIA - I fell ill on my last day in the UK and was stuck in bed for the past week with the worst flu of my life. Luckily I'm on the mend and able to update this thread. I spent several hours over two days at the JLR pavilion at Goodwood talking with various people from marketing and engineering. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer. While nobody other than a few press members were allowed on ride-alongs, it was impressive watching the OCTA go up the hill climb. I did speak to one of the test drivers and he said that Turn 1 on the hill climb was achieved at speeds pushing 85 mph, and there was almost zero body roll - I was shocked to see how that thing raced around without a hint of body roll. I have attached a google photos link filled with pictures of the OCTA, including engine bay, interior and undercarriage pictures. Also, if you look closely, you'll see Simon from Powerful UK in some of the pictures. I didn't care for the vegan material on the interior. While I wouldn't say it felt "cheap," leather is a much better alternative. The redesigned center console is interesting - the tray is no longer a tray, but it is now a drawer, which can bee seen in the link below. I also did not like the seat design - the lack of stitching is extremely noticeable in person. And since we're on the subject of seats, the Body and Soul Seats are pointless. The massage was weak (unlike every other JLR product) and the seat haptics for music just felt strange. Similar systems in MB and Bentley products feel natural, but in this case it felt unnatural. Seat adjustment was excellent, but they moved the side bolster and lumbar adjustments to the screen. Underneath, most of the components are shared with the standard car, but there are some big changes; most notably, check out the pictures of the front lower control arms. They are significantly beefed up compared to the already impressive control arms on the standard car, plus they have the SVO logo stamped on them instead of the Jaguar and LR emblems. Also, the OCTA comes with an extra front impact beam just below the grille for added strength. Bear in mind that this is a pre-production prototype, so there are things that could change. I was told that there are only six of these "finished" prototypes in existence - four Euro spec cars, and two being the US spec cars used at the LA and NY events last month. One of these will be kept by JLR's Classic Works, while the rest will be scrapped.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...VUV2MtNm5GRThB

 

You mean you did not get a photo of Destiny??