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 7 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 full 20.8km circuit length in 7min 23.164sec.

Returning to the legendary 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.

To maximise 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 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 5.0-litre Supercharged V8, the all-wheel-drive Project 8 is capable of 0-100km/h in 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. 

Production of the limited-edition Project 8 will finish this year. There are three distinct four-door specifications available: 

•           Lightweight two-seat Track Pack – as used for the record lap times

•           Four-seat configuration with same aero package and performance as Track Pack

•           Touring specification with discreet fixed rear spoiler – the ultimate sleeper, limited to 15 examples worldwide and 299km/h.

All Project 8s are built in left-hand drive configuration only.

About Nürburgring Nordschleife lap records

Jaguar XE SV Project 8’s previous four-door production sedan lap time of 7min 21.23sec was set in November 2017 on the so-far industry-recognised 20.6km course length (lap timing starts at the end of the Nordschleife start/finish straight at T13, lap timing ends at the start/finish line at the beginning of the start/finish straight at T13).

Since 2019 the Nürburgring officially scrutineers, supervises, records, confirms and publishes lap record times it measures over a whole lap length of 20.832km(lap timing starts and ends at the start/finish line of the Nordschleife).

New officially-verified Jaguar XE SV Project 8 record times set on 8 July 2019:

20.6km lap – 7min 18.361sec

Full-length 20.832km lap – 7min 23.164sec