Jaguar is honing its XE SV Project 8 performance version, the car it calls its fastest four-door ever built. The manufacturer says the limited edition, 200mph sedan is almost production-ready, after countless small adjustments.

The XE SV Project 8 will hit production in June. Only 300 of these 600-horsepower super sedans will be built, and they will all be handmade at Coventry's Special Vehicle Operations. Jaguar has also released this short documentary video clip about the project.

Project 8 Vehicle Dynamics Manager David Pook is enthusiastic about fettling with the car as long as it's possible. "The good thing about building only 300 cars, all handmade, is that you can keep developing the car right up to the start of production. And we've done just that."

The recorded 0-60 mph time for the Project 8 is just 3.3 seconds, and it will go all the way to 200 mph. At the Nürburgring Nordschleife last year, it was able to set a four-door production car record time of 7 minutes and 21.23 seconds.

There have been last-minute handling changes to make sure the car is just right, Pook says: "The springs have got stiffer and so have the engine mounts. The suspension arm bushes have changed. The brakes have been refined for the exact pedal feel and performance we want." Constant software modifications have also been made to alter the XE SV Project 8's responses. "It's certainly even faster, better handling and more responsive than it was six months ago. All that effort has been worth it."

The car comes highly adjustable, as the ride height, camber, front splitter and rear wing setups can be altered. The stock tires are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s on forged 20-inch wheels, and even the wheel bearings are ceramic! Front uprights, two-part upper wishbones, balljoints in place of rubber bushes, twin coil springs, dampers, lower suspension bushes, anti-roll bars and latest specification carbon ceramic brakes are all Project 8 specific, and the only bits lifted from the standard XE are the aluminum roof and front door skins. The vented bonnet and flared front wings and bumpers are carbon.

One can also order the Project 8 with or without a rear seat, to save weight. Jaguar prices the Project 8 from £149,995 in the UK, or $210,000.

Jaguar has claimed another Laguna Seca record with Randy Pobst at the wheel. This time around, the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 became the fastest four-door sedan to lap the track, with a time of 1 minute, 37.54 seconds. The record follows the production electric car record set in late August with an unmodified I-Pace HSE, and it's also the fastest recorded Jaguar time on the track; the previous fastest Jaguar there was the 575-horsepower F-Type SVR.

As it seems most Laguna Seca records have been set by Pobst, the previous four-door production sedan record was also his handiwork, in a Cadillac CTS-V. That time was about a minute slower than the XE SV Project 8, at 1 minute, 38.52. The fastest Pobst time at Laguna Seca stands at 1:28.65, driven with a Dodge Viper ACR MkV.

The Laguna Seca record isn't the first lap record claimed by the XE SV Project 8, as it took the production sedan honors at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in November 2017, with a time of 7 minutes, 21.23 seconds. Only 300 vehicles will be built, at the JLR Special Vehicle Operations facility in Coventry, England. The XE SV Project 8 hits 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, thanks to its 591-horsepower, supercharged V8 engine, which propels it all the way to 200 mph. There are two versions available, a more road-suitable four-seater and a special Track Pack car with lightweight carbon fiber racing seats.

At stoplights, street corners, and parking lots, the 2019 Jaguar XE SV Project 8's swollen bodywork and park bench-sized tail attract the fanboys like iron to a magnet. My Velocity Blue tester is one of the few Project 8 cars in the States, and I can't remember the last modern Jaguarwith so much head-turning charisma.

If you're not up to speed, the Project 8 is Jaguar's surprise salvo into sedan madness. And Jag didn't half-*** it, either: it's Jag's biggest engine – a 592-horsepower, supercharged 5.0-liter V8 – stuffed into their smallest steed, the compact XE. Think Aston Martin V12 Vantage, AC Cobra 427, et al. Aiding downforce is a wing that delivers 269 pounds of downforce at 186 mph, so much that Jaguar had to reinforce the trunklid to prevent it from denting at high speeds. There's a flat underbody for reduced lift, and lightweight carbon fiber and aluminum body panels replacing all but the front door skins and roof. The purposeful theme is carried into the cabin, with snug racing buckets up front and seating limited to four.

The boy racer cues bely some serious equipment. It's 68 lbs lighter than the next-lightest SE, the 380-hp S AWD supercharged V6. There's also a whole lot of tightening throughout, from the spring rates to the firmer engine mounts. In fact, the stiffening feels like it's been cranked to 11 – even in Comfort mode, the ride is taut and sometimes jarring, never quite feeling at ease enough. If you dig feeling every last ripple in the tarmac, it's wonderful, but anyone seeking a wallowy, coddling ride will find the Project 8 too much.

The Project 8's razor sharp feedback begs you to drive on public roads like you're lapping Nardo or the Nürburbring – two of the circuits where the car was developed. But despite its legit origins, dicing such an overtly extroverted car through traffic can also be an enormous social liability. Go-fast sticker graphics? Check. Ginormous wing? Yep. Banana yellow brake calipers? Duh. This is weaponized transport for the street, enough to make the meekest driver look like he or she has something to prove.

The Project 8's Alcantara-trimmed interior compliments the aggressive exterior, as do the snug-fitting seats, which use magnesium frames for weight savings (non-U.S. markets go a step further, with carbon fiber seats with four point harnesses). Squeeze the accelerator, and the XE responds with a shove and a snort even from low RPMs. The sensation is signature supercharger: a linear wall of power that just pulls and pulls, unlike the peaky crescendo of turbocharged mills. The unmistakably guttural, mechanical sound of the supercharger becomes downright uproarious when the active titanium exhaust system's four outlets open up fully. Crisp shifts from the ZF eight-speed provide an exclamation point of engagement at higher RPMs.

While Jaguar says the Project 8 is the brand's first car to feature a dedicated track mode, even the milder settings feel sufficiently aggressive for most spirited drives. The thick-rimmed steering wheel's quick ratio provides great feedback through the fat 265mm Michelin Pilot Cup 2s, although the steering in Race mode is too heavy at low speeds. The suspension has been reworked with race-inspired hardware, including stiffer bushings and even stiffer ball joints on the rear upper control arms. Aiding the car's flat, glued-down behavior is an all-wheel-drive system and an electronic rear differential that, together, allows it to lay down its 516 lb-ft of torque with ease. The carbon ceramic brakes are the first Jaguar stoppers to feature F1-style silicon nitride wheel bearings. Bite is responsive and strong, though we noticed some squeaking at lower speeds.

A limited run on Los Angeles freeways shows the Project 8 is actually fairly comfortable despite its stiff ride. In fact, our biggest misgivings about the XE didn't relate to its performance or seat comfort, but rather its long-in-the-tooth infotainment screen, which made it feel behind the times despite its thoroughly modern performance. It's also strange that U.S.-market cars get the same heavy panoramic class roof as a regular XE – you'd expect a lighter slicktop for a performance-focused car.

While the XE is neither cushy nor smooth, it isn't supposed to be. This is about as focused a sport sedan as you'll find, one whose performance priorities are painstakingly clear. In fact, the Project 8 set a Nürburgring Nordschleife record for a four-door with a time of 7:21.23, which is 11 seconds quicker than the previous record holder, the Alfa Romeo GiuliaQuadrifoglio. You should consider, however, that this was essentially the only superlative claim that could enable the Project 8 to stand out in this competitive crowd, especially considering its based on a now four-year-old car with a looming mid-cycle facelift. But here's the kicker: the Project 8 comes with a stunning asking price of $187,500, and with production limited to 300 units, it's sure to appeal mainly to the sort of über-enthusiast with money to burn who buys limited-edition, limited-run cars reflexively.

The XE Project 8 obviously doesn't make a case for itself as a performance bargain, but it does represent a profile-raising hot rod four-door making waves in an era in which sedans are going extinct. It's wild, charismatic, and definitely niche. There's no getting around the fact that its architecture, electronics, and dynamics lag behind the latest from Audi RS, BMW M, and Mercedes-AMG, and yet it claimed a Nürburgring record and with it perhaps even greater bragging rights. So despite its imperfections, the Project 8 intrigues and impresses because it takes on a boldness we wish more carmakers embraced.

No production four-door vehicle has ever come close to breaking a seven-minute lap on Germany's Nüburgring (we see you WRX STI Type RA NBR), but manufacturers are slowly inching toward the achievement a few seconds at a time. Jaguar announced that it returned to the famed racetrack with its XE SV Project 8 and clocked a 7:18.361 lap, a new sedan record that's 2.9 seconds faster than the Project 8's previous record.

When Jaguar debuted the Project 8 in 2017, it had the makings of a specialty car that would slither into the shadows as quickly as it blasted onto the scene. But it's been quite the opposite. Jaguar has continued development of the vehicle and offers three different versions, including a touring variant. Production has lasted into the 2019 model year, and we recently tested one to get a handle of just how monstrous the thing truly is.

Much can change and be learned in two years, though, and Jaguar wanted to follow up its first trip to the Nürburgring, where it posted a record-setting time of 7:21.23. Under the guidance of Project 8 development driver Vincent Radermecker, the Jag ran the circuit in 7:18.361 on July 8, 2019. It did so in two-seat track pack spec and on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires.

Jaguar made sure to clarify a detail about the run and the time. The 2017 time was done on the then-used 20.6-kilometer (12.8 miles) setup, and so was this time. But starting in 2019, the Nürburgring began officially recording times on the full 20.832-kilometer (12.94 miles) lap. Using the 20.832 lap, the Project 8 recorded a time of 7:23.164. With that run, the 592-horsepower supercharged Project 8 is the first vehicle to set an official whole lap record in the mid-range production car class.