Jaguar sets sedan Nürburgring record
With a supercharged 5.0 engine, the Project 8 becomes the fastest four-door car around the iconic German circuit
The Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations-developed XE SV Project 8 has set the fastest Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time for a four-door production car again: 7min 18.361sec.
This new officially verified time on the 20.6km lap is 2.9 seconds faster than Project 8’s previous benchmark set in November 2017 and seven seconds faster than any other four-door production car has achieved.
Returning to the iconic 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 carbonfibre rear aerodynamic wing positioned for maximum downforce and stability.
The car 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 441kW version of Jaguar’s 5.0l supercharged V8 engine, the all-wheel-drive Project 8 is capable of 0-100km/h in a claimed 3.7 seconds 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.
The limited-edition Project 8 won’t be available in SA as it’s built in left-hand drive only.