LUCA MANNI'S ITALIAN JOB

WITH HELP FROM RSR TUSCAN JAGUAR DEVOTEE LUCA DEVELOPED HIS IDEA OF THE PERFECT XK-R. THEN HE SOUGHT THE HELP OF FORMER WORKS XK-R TEAM ROCKET SPORTS RACING!

IN RECENT YEARS I HAVE TOTALLY dedicated myself to developing my XK-R, facing many difficulties and also making mistakes without ever losing heart. For the amount of work done on my Jaguar XK-R, I have published stories in numerous magazines and websites specifically on that sector. As a starting point I concentrated on the set-up, initially managed by the Andreani Group with Ohlins. That was a total disaster. I then moved to NTP Bolzano with their Bilstein-Eibach handcrafted coilover kit. It worked perfectly.

Next I installed a QUAIFE LSD differential, Malaysian UltraRacing oversized front and rear torsion bars, PowerFlex Black Series rubber kits, handcrafted connection bushings between the rear axle and differential and handcrafted adjustable front suspension upper arms mounted on a uniball.

An oversized stainless steel exhaust was completely built by hand (and hidden) with rear silencers and central silencer (internally crossed to X) which I bought from MAGNAFLOW in the US, a 100-cell sports catalyst then oversized ceramic-coated exhaust manifolds.

Engine changes initially involved direct intake with cone filter, a stage two pulley to the supercharger and other improvements.

Then in January 2018 following a wrong mapping to the control unit, I broke a piston - so then a new project started!

I have been in contact for many years via email with Italian-American Tony Gentilozzi and his father Paul, CEO of the RSR (Rocketsports Racing) Jaguar racing team in the US. I contacted them again to enquire if they had an engine block from one of their racing Jaguars.