The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 prepares to set new performance benchmarks

Warwickshire, UK: Since its public debut at last July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 has gone through a set of engineering fine-tuning and enhancements, to make Project 8 the fastest and most thrilling of all road-legal four-door sedans.

The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 development team at Special Vehicle Operations keep pushing boundaries, and the result has been a four-door sedan with genuine supercar-like performance. With a top speed of 321.8 km/h and 0-96 km/h acceleration in 3.3 secs, it has already set a new four-door production car record around the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife last year. Its best lap of 7 min 21.23 secs was quicker than many supercars, and broke the old four-door record by more than 10 secs.

With a 441.3 kW version of Jaguar’s legendary supercharged 5.0 l V8, Project 8 is the most powerful Jaguar road car to date. No more than 300 of these limited-edition cars will be hand assembled by Special Vehicle Operations at its Technical Centre in Coventry. Due to the limited production, the team retains the flexibility to keep developing the car right up to the start of production – making it fast, fun and engaging.

The springs are now stiffer, and so are the engine mounts. The suspension arm bushes have changed, and the brakes have been refined for the exact pedal feel and performance. This has resulted in the car being more responsive and better at handling. The bigger changes are to software that improve performance, feel, responsiveness and refinement.

Unlike most high performance production saloons, the four-wheel-drive Project 8 is studded with genuine motor racing technology like adjustable ride height, adjustable camber, adjustable front splitter and rear wing, a flat underbody, a differential oil cooler, track-perfect Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres as standard (the only option) on forged 50.8 cm (20) wheels and – a production car first – F1-style ceramic wheel bearings.

The front uprights, two-part upper wishbones, ball joints in place of rubber bushes, twin coil springs, dampers, lower suspension bushes, anti-roll bars and latest specification carbon ceramic brakes are all new and bespoke to Project 8. The only carryover body components from the standard XE are the roof and front door skins, both made from aluminium. The vented bonnet and flared front wings and bumpers are made from lightweight carbon fibre.

The result of this state-of-the-art technology is improved driver feel and confidence, sharper handling responses and exceptional durability, allowing repeated high-speed track driving.

In its most extreme settings, and in ‘Track’ mode, Project 8 delivers 122 kg of downforce at 299.3 km/h, which is 25% more than its nearest rival. It is the first Jaguar to offer a Track mode, standard on all versions, which tailors driveline and stability control systems for circuit use by sharpening throttle and steering responses and tuning the dampers to their most aggressive setting.

Two versions of Project 8 are available. The four-seat version contains all the motorsport technology. In addition, there is a more hardcore two-seat Track Pack version that saves 12.2 kg in weight and includes carbon fibre racing seats and four-point safety harnesses. In place of the back seat is a solid metal panel and Harness Retention Hoop, which helps boost torsional rigidity by 27% over the four-seat version.

Project 8 is the second Collector’s Edition Jaguar from Special Vehicle Operations, after the 2014 F-TYPE Project 7. Deliveries begin this summer.