Despite laying down a blistering 7-minute, 21-second lap time at the Nurburgring, the Special Vehicle Operations development team decided it could make the Project 8 even faster. The car already obliterated the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio by over 11 seconds around the Nordschleife in 2016 and the team estimates that by the time production of the Project 8 begins this June, the car should be capable of destroying the record it already owns.

Among the changes to the $187,500 racy sedan are a set of stiffer springs and engine mounts, plus new suspension arm bushes, and further refined brakes. "The good thing about building only 300 cars, all hand-made, is that you can keep developing the car right up to the start of production," said David Pook, Project 8's head of dynamics. "And we've done just that. The springs have got stiffer and so have the engine mounts. The suspension arm bushings have changed. The brakes have been refined for the exact pedal feel and performance we want. This has all been done to make the car even more responsive and to handle even better."

The biggest changes of all, however, weren't mechanical at all. The team made significant changes to the car's software in order to maximize the performance it can extract from its race-derived suspension kit and aerodynamics package making it much faster than it was even six months ago. "Power delivery and gear shifts are the most visceral we have ever offered on a Jaguar–every 1/100th of a second improvement in shift time adds up over a complete lap of the Nurburgring. Rest assured, no stone has been left unturned in our mission to make this the most rewarding Jaguar driver's car ever," said Mark Stanton, head of SVO.

When it debuts, the Project 8 will be one of the most impractical serially produced Jaguars ever– there's even an optional two-seat Track Pack which shaves 27 pounds by removing the rear seats, as well as a four-point safety harnesses. If you're lucky, you might see one this summer.