Dutch fast-car master Donkervoort will celebrate its founder’s 70th birthday with a limited-edition run of a high-powered celebration car.
The Donkervoort D8 GTO-JD70 will build on the successful D8 GTO to deliver a sub-700kg open-wheeled road car powered by a higher-powered version of the Audi TT RS’s 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine.
Pitched as both a road and a track car, the JD70 celebrates the birthday of Joop Donkervoort, who founded the company 41 years ago.
Performance figures have yet to be released, but the D8 GTO on which it is based ran to 100km/h in 2.8 seconds and from zero to 200km/h in 8.6 seconds.
When tested by this writer some years ago, it had 280kW of power and 475Nm of torque pushing just 695kg, or just 535kg more than the engine weighed by itself.
Only 70 of the cars will be built, starting from €163.636,36, and they will be launched around April next year.
The two-seat Donkervoorts are noted for raw driving inputs and totally eschewing electronic skid controls, though they have adjustable traction control.
They are also one of the few sports cars left with a five-speed manual transmission, delivering supercar-killing performance while being fully compliant with European emissions and crash-test laws.