Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) has almost finished fine-tuning the XE SV Project 8 ahead of production in June.
John Edwards, JLR SVO MD, said, “The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 development team at Special Vehicle Operations keeps pushing boundaries – the drive to do that is in our designers’ and engineers’ blood.”
Mark Stanton, director of JLR SVO, added, “With Project 8 we set out to deliver a fast, fun and engaging car that encourages you to explore its performance.
“Our lap record at the Nürburgring (Germany) proves we have achieved that, but now we believe we can go faster. We’re continually honing every functional aspect of the car, focusing on marginal gains to make it even quicker yet still accessible to drive.”
David Pook, Project 8 vehicle dynamics manager, said, “The good thing about building only 300 cars, all handmade, is that you can keep developing the car right up to the start of production. And we’ve done just that.
“The springs have got stiffer and so have the engine mounts. The suspension arm bushes have changed. The brakes have been refined for the exact pedal feel and performance we want. This has all been done to make the car even more responsive and to handle even better.”
“But the biggest changes are to software. They are all small adjustments – to improve performance, feel, responsiveness, refinement. We keep honing the whole car, relentlessly. We’re never really happy. It’s certainly even faster, better handling and more responsive than it was six months ago. All that effort has been worth it.”