Wednesday 29th November 2017

Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Nurburgring lap

11 seconds faster than a Giulia Quadrifoglio, says Jag...

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Oh goody, another contentious Nurburgring Nordschleife lap time. Been a while, hasn't it? The latest is the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, with video to support, circulating the 12.9 miles in 7:21.23. Well, nearly 12.9 miles, as this lap cuts off the small pit straight. But given its nearest rival for Nurburgring supremacy, the Giulia Quadrifoglio, went the same distance, as did many others, that's not too much of an issue.

And when the gap is 11 seconds, there can't be too many complaints about a few metres here or there. 7:21 is a seriously brisk time, faster than an M4 GTS, level with a Ferrari 488 and just a few seconds off the mad Camaro ZL1 1LE. Still, with 600hp and all-wheel drive, we kind of expected as much...

The issue then? Jag's terminology. See this isn't a production car, but instead a 'production-intent prototype'. Which, being generous, is a little vague. It's all very well this being pitched as having 'production-intent', but there's nothing to verify that. Is it a production prototype like the Civic Type R, that had seats removed? Exactly how far off the real version is it? Could there be another 50hp dialled in just for this vid? Sorry if the cynicism appears insincere, but it rather comes with the territory now.

All that aside, the car does look supreme around the Nordschleife. It's level and composed through the track's many undulations, with great traction and - predictably enough - huge speed. To see something this fast and this capable at the 'ring with a Jag badge is not only a pleasant surprise, but also bodes extremely well for how the 'production-production' Project 8 will drive. As for when anybody else will get to drive it, we're still none the wiser. Hopefully 2018 will provide a few more details.

 

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UPDATE 1600h 04/12/2017:
Just to reiterate the official line from Jaguar, as mentioned in the comments:
"The car is fully production spec - no trickery - 600PS production power (no extra 50bhp), production suspension, brakes, production tyres (265/35 R20 and 305/30 R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2). It was prepared by SVO's engineers in Track Mode - the only difference from production car is the roll cage that was fitted to meet health and safety requirements...which made the car slightly heavier than the production model."

[cheddar]

The driver's jumping in his seat like a pogo stick with Parkinson's and the engine's just NNNNARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH
Hope it's more musical in reality

Great lap time though

[CaptainRAVE]

Looks a lot better too.

[RobGT81]

What a load of cobblers from JLR marketing. Might as well put a GT3 car out there and claim the lap time.

The Alfa is less than half the price too, not sure how they are rivals.

Edited by RobGT81 on Wednesday 29th November 08:41

[Chapppers]

Check out the onboard temperature reading, hovering around 7 degrees on, I'm guessing Cup 2s or similar... probably a little bit more time available on a warmer track

[Fetchez la vache]

Do you think the test drivers while having a great deal of fun, think it's ultimately a somewhat pointless exercise other than for marketing purposes?
Will anyone actually race one of these on a track?

[David87]

Just makes the Alfa's lap all the more impressive.

[RacerMike]

RobGT81 said:

What a load of cobblers from JLR marketing. Might as well put a GT3 car out there and claim the lap time.

The Alfa is less than half the price too, not sure how they are rivals.

Edited by RobGT81 on Wednesday 29th November 08:41

Well. It's arguable whether the Alfa was actually in any way standard....

I believe this P8 is near enough identical to the one you'll be able to buy in a few months time.

Edited by RacerMike on Wednesday 29th November 09:26

[IanCress]

Have Jaguar actually said they will produce an M3 / C63 rival, or are they still sticking to the line that this will be a £150k car, with no intention of taking on the obvious rivals?

[urquattroGus]

What the Alfa achieved feels more relevant.

If you can call these laps times relevant, but I can't buy the Jag, I'll stick with my Giulia Qv.

Shame there was no V8 XE to chose from at the £60K mark though.

[Matt Bird]

Hi all,

Some additional info from Jag:

"fully production spec - no trickery - 600PS production power (no extra 50bhp), production suspension, brakes, production tyres (265/35 R20 and 305/30 R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2). It was prepared by SVO's engineers in Track Mode - the only difference from production car is the roll cage that was fitted to meet health and safety requirements...which made the car slightly heavier than the production model"

So there we go!


Matt

[Alex]

The Alfa's lap time was only 11 seconds quicker than the Civic Type R. Shows how impressive the CTR is. FWD and 180 fewer bhp.

[CaptainRAVE]

Matt Bird said:

Hi all,

Some additional info from Jag:

"fully production spec - no trickery - 600PS production power (no extra 50bhp), production suspension, brakes, production tyres (265/35 R20 and 305/30 R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2). It was prepared by SVO's engineers in Track Mode - the only difference from production car is the roll cage that was fitted to meet health and safety requirements...which made the car slightly heavier than the production model"

So there we go!


Matt

All the more impressive then.

[loudlashadjuster]

YouTube said:

Jaguar XE SV Project 8 sets Nurburgring lap record

Yeah, a record for the Jaguar XE SV Project 8.

Bit pointless.

[xjay1337]

Can no-one, for once, be positive?

It's a good achievement and a cool car. I like the XE a lot.

[RacerMike]

loudlashadjuster said:

YouTube said:

Jaguar XE SV Project 8 sets Nurburgring lap record

Yeah, a record for the Jaguar XE SV Project 8.

Bit pointless.

And for 4 door saloons....

[mcbook]

I'd love to be positive about this. If Jag had a £60k production car that had just done this lap time it would be impressive.

What it actually has is a very niche, £150k car that might make it into a limited production run at some point in the future. I find it hard to be positive about that.

However, the very fact that Jag is out at the Nurburgring doing this kind of stuff is good news for the British car industry. I can be positive about that but not this specific achievement.

[RacerMike]

mcbook said:

I'd love to be positive about this. If Jag had a £60k production car that had just done this lap time it would be impressive.

What it actually has is a very niche, £150k car that might make it into a limited production run at some point in the future. I find it hard to be positive about that.

However, the very fact that Jag is out at the Nurburgring doing this kind of stuff is good news for the British car industry. I can be positive about that but not this specific achievement.

Not a case of might. It's confirmed and almost sold out. This is no different to the BMW M4 GTS and, is arguably more special. You're right that it's a shame there isn't a more modest 'normal' production variant, but this looks set to be a very special road car for whoever buys it.

[mcbook]

RacerMike said:

Not a case of might. It's confirmed and almost sold out. This is no different to the BMW M4 GTS and, is arguably more special. You're right that it's a shame there isn't a more modest 'normal' production variant, but this looks set to be a very special road car for whoever buys it.

Didn't know that it was already selling, thanks!

Agree that it looks like a special car, it's more the comparison with the Alfa that isn't wise. But maybe that was PH rather than Jag.

[Krikkit]

mcbook said:

RacerMike said:

Not a case of might. It's confirmed and almost sold out. This is no different to the BMW M4 GTS and, is arguably more special. You're right that it's a shame there isn't a more modest 'normal' production variant, but this looks set to be a very special road car for whoever buys it.

Didn't know that it was already selling, thanks!

Agree that it looks like a special car, it's more the comparison with the Alfa that isn't wise. But maybe that was PH rather than Jag.

I'd imagine that was used because it's the closest 4-door saloon in terms of times.

[IbrahimLafayette]

Matt Bird said:

[...]the only difference from production car is the roll cage that was fitted to meet health and safety requirements...which made the car slightly heavier than the production model"

So there we go!


Matt

The roll cage is standard for the 2-seater configuration, which would make the car lighter than the 5-seater configuration.
Also JLR calling it a saloon record on twitter is a bit of a stretch in this configuration.

Still impressive that it beats the M4 GTS and is close to the Camaro ZL1.