Another year, another trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I’ve been going for years now and, as each Festival passes, I slowly hone my skills and plans in order to reach the point (which I believe is now upon me) where I can have the perfect Festival experience. I think it’s only fair that I share it.

The chances are that Goodwood is a fair drive from where you live, so my first tip is about your car. I’ve heard people talk about flying into Goodwood, whether by helicopter or jet, to avoid traffic. As extravagant and lavish as that may be, Goodwood is all about cars, drivers and is one of the most important social occasions of the year. For that degree of satisfaction choose a good car. If you do not have access to one then there’s plenty of companies around that can help. Two-seaters are best, if you have more than two people then try and take more than one car, convoys are undeniably entertaining and make an event out of the journey to and from the Festival.

Last year we went in a Bentley Continental GT and Subaru Impreza, the convoy was fun until the point where I had to turn around on the M6 Toll to go back and fetch the tickets (racking up an unprecedented 6 M6 Toll receipts in one weekend with one car). The Bentley was great but the Impreza just didn’t really do it for me, too loud, poor on fuel and no fun to drive after the first hour and that was the inspiration for this year’s nigh-on perfect choice of transport.

I once heard someone “criticise” Jaguar’s new XK by saying it looks “just like the Aston Martin DB9” but I fail to see how that’s a bad point. Although I agree that it’s a shame that these days it’s hard to find a truly unique looking car and, when you do finally find one, it looks like the Caparo (a Marmite (love or hate) car).

We have decided to pair the XK with the Jaguar S-Type. With Jaguar’s new design direction of mixing sharp and soft, chrome and paint, the era of the understated and ‘invisible’ Jaguar could be coming to an end. So this pairing of the new and the old should make for an interesting trip, an homage to Jaguar’s progression and also an interesting comparison between one of Jaguar’s most resourceful diesels and one of their (but not the) most powerful petrol V8s.

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m packing to head off. I’ve got the smart/casual, hot/warm down to a tee now – something I’m quite proud of. It’s Dunhill trousers (not jeans, cords) a light shirt and a thin extra jumper in case it gets windy.

Once packed, our two couples congregate, punch the same destination in on the sat-nav whilst carefully noticing just how much better the next generation of Jaguar in car systems is. Having retained the touch screen, Jaguar has managed to come up with a functional, sleek and higher resolution screen and operating system than before. I’m a firm believer of the ethos, “If you have to use the instruction manual, it hasn’t been designed properly” and, sure enough, although confident that the manual was tucked away in a suede pouch somewhere in the boot or glove box, I didn’t have to check – everything worked fine.

Time to go and, with the key still firmly in my pocket, I sink my thumb into the Start button on the dashboard and am greeted with a shocking discovery, whereas the old XKs used to simply hum a monotonous and constant sound the new XK’s engine lets out a baffled roar, the sound of a tiger in a microwave or a lynx in an oven. Sounds like I’m in for a treat. It’s 140 miles to our hotel, Buxted Park in Uckfield and we really need to arrive before the sun sets.

We’re only going for one day and I’ll be doing this drive again in less than 24 hours so I hoped it wouldn’t drag on.

Earlier, I explained how driving in convoy is a great way to ensure a drive is entertaining and engaging, no matter what routes you choose. As we pulled out, I had to make one last dash into the house so I waved off the S-Type and said we’d catch them up on the M6. After hearing that engine I was looking forward to starting the drive without a diesel companion.

With my house situated half way between two junctions, I took the windy roads to the southern junction, consciously spending as little time as possible on the motorway. The M11-M25 portion was unavoidable but cutting it down as much as possible was a sure-fire way of ensuring the majority of the time spent in the XK wasn’t with the adaptive cruise control on.

The car grips fabulously and, as we approach the M11, the new-found confidence that should I desire it to, the XK could launch my back-seat luggage through either window, I seize the opportunity to see how the car cruises.

Any ‘good’, long-distance car should be able to comfortably sit with the adaptive cruise on at 80-100mph and pop to 120+mph should the sneaky opportunity arise. I’m happy to report that the XK qualifies. The driving position feels a little strange but not bad. It’s different and I’m glad to say that Jaguar have taken a page out of Mercedes’ book by moving the seat controls to the door.

As the motorway leg of the journey comes to a close, the XK should come into its element. Sports mode is on and we’re on country lanes. The fat tyres and low centre of gravity make for great handling. However, the engine seems to lack responsiveness, the power delivery seems to be geared more towards a motorway cruise than a country lane blast. To pick up speed on the exit of a corner, the throttle needs to be buried deep into the carpet.

But that’s where its problems end. The braking is fabulous and the new gearbox is a welcome addition and something that should have been on the old XK anyway. It complements the car, the experience and, without it, extracting power from the engine would be even more effort.