Into The Big Cat's Den

Jaguar’s XE SV Project 8 has gained significant appeal in new Touring Edition spec, as we find out on a trip to Don Law Racing to get the lowdown on a hardcore ancestor from Jag’s not so distant past

- Adam Towler

I’M NOT SURE WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO with the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Touring Edition. On paper it’s the same car we drove around 18 months ago, minus a rear wing, and this time with a full road car interior, albeit one you could specify on the bewinged version as an option. With just 15 to be built, there’s a distinct air of desperation about the advent of the Touring: it seems Jaguar is struggling to find homes for its skunkworks saloon on steroids.

Yes, it may be the most powerful Jaguar ever officially built, at 592bhp, but it seems the idea of a four-wheel-drive saloon weighing nearly 1800kg but aimed largely at track use, that’s left-hand drive only, has just two seats, boasts a rear wing and graphics that wouldn’t be out of place in a Fast and Furious film, and is from a brand with a less than stellar track and competition history over the past 20 years, is struggling to compete with 911 GT3s and their ilk at the 150 grand mark. Who’d have thought it?

Perhaps that’s harsh. We liked the Project 8 when we drove it back in issue 250, but it was the overall concept of the car that left us a bit mystified when experienced in Track Pack form, not so much the fine engineering that had taken place under the surface. After all, the Project 8 is far from half-hearted: the roof and door skins are now aluminium and everything else is made from carbonfibre, there’s new wide-arched bodywork covering swollen tracks front and rear, a flat underbody, carbon-ceramic brakes, new billet uprights with ceramic bearings, ball joints on the upper control arms… yes, it may be based on an XE, but in both looks and specification this is a tremendously thorough and bespoke job.