Beware! This Dutch supercar could snap your neck

Joop Donkervoort, who established a company back in 1978 that produces hand-built ultra-light weight sportscars, is turning 70 this year. To celebrate the founder’s birthday, the Dutch firm Donkervoort has built a limited edition supercar that is capable of giving hypercars a run for their money when it comes to cornering.

An evolution of the brand’s D8 GTO sportscar, the new limited-run Donkervoort D8 GTO-JD70 has been tested beyond 2G of lateral acceleration (cornering performance) on its standard road tyres.

Donkervoort says the JD70’s remarkable cornering potential is complemented by its straight-line performance thanks to a 415bhp version of Audi Sport’s 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbo engine that also produces 560Nm of torque.

The JD70 dashes from 0-100kph in 2.7 seconds, with 1.02G of longitudinal acceleration, and goes from 0-200kph in 7.7 seconds on its way to a 280kph maximum speed. Scary numbers for a lightweight, open-top sportscar.

The JD70 weighs less than 700kg, with some specifications pulling the mass down to 680kg in road trim. The car’s carbon-fibre body claims to add 80kg of downforce at the back and another 50kg at the front.

In a rather interesting comparison, Donkervoort says the excitement a driver gets from accelerating the JD70 to 200kph is akin to sitting atop an Apollo rocket as it takes off! It says while the rocket would be travelling at 20 metres per second in the first 8 seconds, the Dutch supercar will be doing 56 metres per second.

More than 95 per cent of the JD70’s bodywork is made from carbon-fibre, while the cabin also gets new carbon-fibre seats to go with the quick-release steering wheel and the light, race-bred digital instrument cluster.

Donkervoort says it will make just 70 examples of the D8 GTO-JD70, one for each year of Joop’s life so far, with each car priced from €198,000 (Dh820,000). Almost half of the 70 have already been sold!