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Written by Stephen Dobie
Behold the barmiest, least rational car you"ll see today. It"s Jaguar"s latest Special Vehicle Operations project. In the baldest terms it"s an XE saloon that costs a fiver short of 150,000.Naturally, Project 8 is rather more than that. Following on from Project 7 a roofless Jaguar F-Type with a shedload more power it"s even more bespoke and specialised. Jag"s SVO boss goes as far as describing it as the company"s "most track-focused and powerful road car ever". Yep, even the XJ220 is outshone.Out goes a rep-friendly diesel engine, in comes a 5-litre supercharged V8. It"s familiar from a whole suite of Jaguar performance cars, but none has yet offered the 592bhp or nice round 600PS of Project 8. Despite copious carbonfibre components, this is a 1,745kg car, making it several passengers heavier than a regular XE. Doesn"t stop it hitting 60mph in 3.3secs on its way to a 200mph top speed, mind.Lap times and top speed were top of the to-do list for Project 8, in fact, despite the aerodynamic needs of those goals often conflicting. So while it looks wild, "form follows function without compromise". Project 8"s design boss says he was bred on Lancia Delta Integrales, which helps explain the stunningly swelled wheel arches. But with a 110mm wider rear axle to accommodate, they"re sort of necessary, too.Look closely and you"ll see the arches are cut away, exposing the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Performance car geeks will immediately know what a serious tyre this is, and while Project 8 is sold as a wildly customisable car, you can"t change the wheels or tyres. Jag"s bloody-mindedness probably comes from the fact the front headlights have been moved forward by 14mm to accommodate the 20in alloys and trackday rubber. That"s no small feat and not something that would ever happen in mass production. In fact, just the roof and front doors are exchangeable with a regular, 30k XE.Beneath the skin there"s all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Despite the car"s hardcore nature, rear-drive and a manual were never, ever on the table; they conflict too much with the ruthless focus on speed. The AWD is a tuned version of the Jaguar F-Type SVR"s, while the paddleshift transmission is described as Jag"s quickest ever. There"s an electronic differential on the rear axle (so yes, it"ll do skids) which gets its own cooling system. The suspension and aerodynamics are manually adjustable.
Date written: 27 Jun 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8289
Behold the barmiest, least rational car you"ll see today. It"s Jaguar"s latest Special Vehicle Operations project. In the baldest terms it"s an XE saloon that costs a fiver short of 150,000.Naturally, Project 8 is rather more than that. Following on from Project 7 a roofless Jaguar F-Type with a shedload more power it"s even more bespoke and specialised. Jag"s SVO boss goes as far as describing it as the company"s "most track-focused and powerful road car ever". Yep, even the XJ220 is outshone.Out goes a rep-friendly diesel engine, in comes a 5-litre supercharged V8. It"s familiar from a whole suite of Jaguar performance cars, but none has yet offered the 592bhp or nice round 600PS of Project 8. Despite copious carbonfibre components, this is a 1,745kg car, making it several passengers heavier than a regular XE. Doesn"t stop it hitting 60mph in 3.3secs on its way to a 200mph top speed, mind.Lap times and top speed were top of the to-do list for Project 8, in fact, despite the aerodynamic needs of those goals often conflicting. So while it looks wild, "form follows function without compromise". Project 8"s design boss says he was bred on Lancia Delta Integrales, which helps explain the stunningly swelled wheel arches. But with a 110mm wider rear axle to accommodate, they"re sort of necessary, too.Look closely and you"ll see the arches are cut away, exposing the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Performance car geeks will immediately know what a serious tyre this is, and while Project 8 is sold as a wildly customisable car, you can"t change the wheels or tyres. Jag"s bloody-mindedness probably comes from the fact the front headlights have been moved forward by 14mm to accommodate the 20in alloys and trackday rubber. That"s no small feat and not something that would ever happen in mass production. In fact, just the roof and front doors are exchangeable with a regular, 30k XE.Beneath the skin there"s all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Despite the car"s hardcore nature, rear-drive and a manual were never, ever on the table; they conflict too much with the ruthless focus on speed. The AWD is a tuned version of the Jaguar F-Type SVR"s, while the paddleshift transmission is described as Jag"s quickest ever. There"s an electronic differential on the rear axle (so yes, it"ll do skids) which gets its own cooling system. The suspension and aerodynamics are manually adjustable.
Date written: 27 Jun 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8289
