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Added on the 25/10/2018 00:15:15 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
It's official. The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 - already the world's fastest saloon - has broken its own lap record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife: 7min 18.361sec, 2.9 seconds faster than its previous benchmark and 7 seconds faster than any other four-door production car has achieved. Fitted with new ultra-high performance Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres, watch Project 8 development driver Vincent Radermecker push the most extreme performance Jaguar ever to the limit.
To celebrate the shared bloodline of the Jaguar XE 300 SPORT and the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, Jaguar has created 1000 metre-long unique art installations in the sand at Pendine Sands, Wales.
"The Jaguar XE has followed the SV Project 8 performance saloon onto the track by setting a unique lap record, this time around a long-forgotten Grand Prix circuit in France. The 8km Circuit de Charade in Clermont Ferrand, which included public road sections, hosted the French Grand Prix in 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1972. It fell out of favour as loose volcanic rock and the lack of any real run-off areas took their toll on cars and drivers alike. The full, longer circuit was last used in 1988 so Jaguar returned to the historic track to mark the anniversary of its closure by completing the first flying lap of the circuit in three decades. After completing the fastest ever lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a production saloon behind the wheel of the XE’s track-ready stablemate, the SV Project 8, driver Vincent Radermecker attempted to set a production saloon lap record in the XE 300 SPORT. With a roundabout and two narrow gateways not used in the original circuit to contend with, Vincent lapped the demanding track in just 4 minutes 09 seconds at an average speed of 116km/h (72mph)."
Legendary Jaguar sports car racers Andy Wallace and Davy Jones joined the Special Vehicle Operations development team at Goodwood Motor Circuit last month, declaring the new Jaguar XE SV Project 8 “absolutely staggering” and “a winner” after testing it on the fast and demanding UK track. British driver Andy Wallace won the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race in 1988 driving the Jaguar XJR-9 and was part of Jaguar’s victorious 1988 and 1991 World Sports Car Championship teams. The Goodwood test was the first time he’d driven the all-wheel-drive track-focused Project 8, which features a 600PS supercharged 5.0-litre V8 powertrain.
Engineering fine-tuning on the new Jaguar XE SV Project 8 has almost finished, ahead of production starting in June. Since its public debut at last July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the fastest-ever four-door Jaguar has undergone numerous enhancements to ensure Project 8 is the fastest and most thrilling of all road-legal four-door sedans.