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, at 7 minutes 18.361secs.
This officially-verified time on the 20.6km (12.8 mile) 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.
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 20.8km (12.94 mile) circuit length in 7 minutes 23.164secs.
Returning to the German circuit in a production-specification two-seat Track Pack version of Project 8, development driver Vincent Radermecker was behind the wheel of the SUV for the record run.
The car’s height-adjustable twin-spring coil-over suspension was set in ‘track’ ride height, with adjustable front splitter and carbon-fiber rear aerodynamic wing positioned for maximum downforce and stability.
To maximize 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 tires. Tested and chosen by SV engineers for their capability on the track, the road-legal tires use rubber compounds directly transferred from Michelin’s competition tires.
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.”