Donkervoort, a lesser known Dutch manufacturer of low volume, high performance cars, has revealed its most extreme road car yet, the Donkervoort D8 GTO-JD-70. Released to mark the 70th birthday of company founder, Joop Donkervoort, the car will have a limited production run of only 70 units, one for each year of Joop's life. Donkervoort has said that quoting performance figures in terms of power and acceleration alone is not sufficient for its latest car and is also quoting lateral acceleration figures, i.e. g-force.
Donkervoort company history
Donkervoort was founded by Joop in 1978 with the intention of creating his own ultra-lightweight sports car, but with the practicality and reliability often missing in this class of cars from the era. The company grabbed international attention in 2011 when it won the Dubai 24-hour endurance race with its D8 24h GT, a car that is claimed to have the same bloodline as the latest D8 GTO JD-70. Today, the company is still very much a family affair with Joop, his wife, son and daughter all involved in the running of the business.
'A new way of measuring performance'
The hand built D8 GTO-JD-70 comes with some impressive performance figures, which Donkervoort has said "move beyond the normal measures of acceleration and braking." Weighing less than 700kg, thanks to a steel tubular chassis and extensive use the company's patented carbon and foam technology (ExCore), and with 421hp on tap, Donkervoort quotes a 0-100km/h time of 2.7 seconds, a 0-200km/h time of 7.7 seconds and a top speed of 280km/h. In addition to these figures, Donkervoort also quotes a figure of 2G in lateral acceleration, which measures how well this car grips in the corners.
Award-winning engine
The Donkervoort's engine is sourced from Audi, as with all of the company's models since the late '90s. More specifically, it is the 2.5 TFSI engine from the Audi RS 3 and TT RS, the same turbocharged engine that has won the International Engine of the Year Award numerous times for Audi. The engineers at Donkervoort have tuned the engine for the D8 and having that five-cylinder unit mated to the car's short side exit exhausts should give the D8 GTO JD-70 a truly unique sound.
On sale now
The D8 GTO JD-70 is on sale now with a price tag of €163,636 before taxes and, with half of the 70 cars already snapped up, interested buyers will need to be quick.