Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Beats Its Own Nürburgring Nordschleife Record

The Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations-developed XE SV Project 8 has demonstrated its breadth of performance capability by setting the fastest Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time for a four-door production car again: 7 m 18.361 s.

This new officially-verified time on the 20.6 km (12.8-mile) lap is 2.9 s faster than Project 8’s previous benchmark set in November 2017 and 7 s faster than any other four-door production car has achieved.

Project 8 is also the first vehicle to set an official whole lap record in the Nürburgring’s mid-range production car class, lapping the 20.8 km (12.94-mile) circuit length in 7 m 23.164 s.

Returning to the legendary German circuit in a production-specification two-seat Track Pack version of Project 8 was development driver Vincent Radermecker. The car’s height-adjustable twin-spring coil-over suspension was set in ‘track’ ride height, with adjustable front splitter and carbon fibre rear aerodynamic wing positioned for maximum downforce and stability.

To maximise performance and steering precision, for the final record runs Project 8 was fitted with new off-the-shelf ultra-high performance Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres. Tested and chosen by SV engineers for their capability on the track, the road-legal tyres use rubber compounds directly transferred from Michelin’s competition tyres.

Jamal Hameedi, Engineering Director, Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations, said: “The original Nürburgring time set by Jaguar XE SV Project 8 demonstrated the extreme performance envelope of the world’s fastest production sedan, but the SV team is driven by a motorsport mentality and we knew Project 8 could go even faster. This new official record time is a fitting reward for everyone who has played a part in pushing the boundaries for our customers with Project 8.”

Powered by the most highly tuned 447 kW (600 PS) version of Jaguar’s 5.0-l Supercharged V8, the all-wheel-drive Project 8 is capable of 0-100 km/h in 3.7 s (0-60 mph in 3.3 s) and a top speed of 320km/h. Project 8 also features a fully-enclosed flat underbody for enhanced aerodynamics, which is key to its performance.

Production of the limited-edition Project 8 will finish this year. There are three distinct four-door specifications available:

·       Lightweight two-seat Track Pack* – as used for the record lap times

·       Four-seat configuration with same aero package and performance as Track Pack

·       Touring specification with discreet fixed rear spoiler – the ultimate Q-car, limited to 15 examples worldwide and 299 km/h (186 mph).