Donkervoort D8 GTO-JD70

Turning 70 deserves a gift, and so we’ve given our founder Joop Donkervoort his favourite kind of gift – the D8 GTO-JD70.

It’s not just any car, but a limited-edition super sports car to be shared with 70 of his friends, old and new.

His birthday car is a sub-700kg, open-topped celebratory machine, and it’s the most powerful car we’ve ever built.

We’ve eked out 415bhp from the 2.5-litre, five-cylinder engine, we’ve added our own new carbon-fibre Ex-Core technology and the ways you can choose to turn the JD70 into a very personal expression are astonishing.

Let us introduce you to the world’s first 2G production supercar.

Their light weight, powerful engines and innovative suspensions have always made Donkervoorts as fast in corners as they are on the straights.

But they’ve never been quite this fast before.

The JD70 has become the world’s first 2G supercar, capable of neck-stretching with TWICE the earth’s gravitational pull around corners.

Make no mistake, this makes the JD70 a groundbreaker for the entire car industry.

We are the first car maker to get here and we like the view.

To stretch beyond 2G we had to update and improve our industry-best shock absorbers, we upgraded to cutting-edge Nankang AR-1 tyres and we even added ultra-lightweight power steering as an option.

The world’s two most exciting ways to spend eight seconds are sitting on top of an Apollo rocket heading for space or crushing the JD70’s accelerator pedal until it reaches 200km/h.

Eight seconds of rocketing will carry you 83 metres (albeit vertically), while the JD70 will blast you to 200km/h. The rocket would be travelling at 20 metres per second, but the Dutch missile will be at 56m/s. Even then, the JD70 driver will have 0.3 seconds to spare, because it reaches the double century in just 7.7 seconds (after breaching 100km/h in only 2.7 seconds).

Not only that, but the five-cylinder, turbocharged engine is cleaner than ever, with just 191 grams/km of CO2 emissions, and even stronger at low revs.

That allowed us to return the side-pipe exhaust system and give the JD70 a taller final-drive ratio (which gives it a higher top speed and calmer cruising) without losing any acceleration.

You won’t be the only carbon-based life form if you drive a JD70.

More than 95 percent of its bodywork is made from carbon-fibre, and we can even leave it visible for everybody to see.

The JD70 includes plenty of our patented EX-CORE® carbon-fiber technology, which makes it astonishingly light and immensely strong. We’ve also given the JD70 new carbon-fibre seats to go with the quick-release steering wheel and the light, race-bred digital instrument cluster.

We’ve had a surprising amount of fun working with the JD70’s aerodynamics. Surprising, because switching to a side exhaust system left us a big area at the back of the car to play with.

This newly-free area let us design a second diffuser at the rear, and that adds in about 80kg of downforce. And that’s for free, with none of the drag of a wing sitting up in the airflow. That extra downforce gives the JD70 unprecedented stability at high speed, but we also had some wind tunnel fun at the front of the car.

The new louvres in the cycle wings deliver another 50kg of downforce, only this time it’s at the front. We believe it’s the first time anybody had done louvres in carbon-fibre. They release the air around the tyres so it just exits out of the louvres instead of swirling around underneath the wings to create drag and lift. Again, we’ve reduced drag and increased downforce without resorting to wings.

The JD70’s 2480cc five-cylinder turbo motor has won nine consecutive International Engine of the Year awards in its class.
It also gives us more power and torque than ever in the nose of the JD70.

There’s a lot of power, with 415bhp, but the trick is the torque. It’s so strong everywhere – with the peak hitting as low as 1750rpm and holding on until 6350rpm – that we’ve fitted the JD70 with taller final gearing without losing any acceleration.

We’ve exploited this phenomenal engine flexibility by keeping the same gear ratios, but lengthening the final drive ratio. This means more relaxed cruising, better fuel economy and even fewer gear changes per lap. Not that the JD70’s gear changes are a chore, because we have a full-throttle system for upshifts and a Bosch rev-matching system for downshifts.

Try to stop yourself from smiling when you use them…

Our engine department doesn’t use the word “hybrid”, but our chassis people do. That’s because the backbone of the JD70 is hybrid, with the careful blending of tubular steel, carbon-fibre and aluminium.

Then we attach a wide-track suspension systems, and we’ve redesigned the internal bits of our Intrax adjustable shock absorbers.

One of the biggest steps we’ve made is a move to Nankang AR-1 tyres, which are harder and longer-wearing but grippier than before.
If you like to slide a little or a lot, the JD70 has all the answers thanks to its adjustable traction control system, so you safely enjoy your JD70 in all weather conditions.

We’ve got new Tarox six-piston brakes, with wave-form discs to brake hard all day at the track without compromising their livability on the road.

And we can even step that up to a full Bosch Race ABS system if you love your track days.

If you’re going to form an unshakeable bond with your JD70, you’d better be comfortable.

That’s why we’ve given the car new carbon-fibre seats to go with the quick-release steering wheel and the light, race-bred digital instrument cluster.

There are options, too, including – for the first time – electric power steering and a colour digital display screen, complete with lap timing and Wifi data logging.

You can equip your JD70 to suit your own life, and nobody else’s, with options like four- or six-point harnesses, a wind deflector to minimize interior buffeting, a carbon-fibre transmission tunnel and a rear-view camera.

One of the very best things about Donkervoort ownership is knowing that no other Donkervoort is exactly the same as yours. You can choose to make it street comfy or track attack, or anything in between.

You can paint it whatever colour leaps into your imagination or you can leave it as naked carbon-fibre. Or you can compromise and have a bit of both. You can even have a coloured lacquer over your naked carbon fibre.

You can make your JD70 as hard-core as possible with additions like a free-flow, stainless-steel exhaust and a cooler for the limited-slip differential. There’s an optional Bilster Berg-spec roll cage, too, and if you’re having that it’s hard to go past the Bosch Race ABS system and the bigger rear-brake calipers.

Carbon-fibre rims are show stoppers whether you prefer the road or the track, and they weigh less, too.

There’s a full interior design package (but don’t expect cupholders), and even air conditioning is available, but the star is the electric power steering. It’s light, it’s adjustable and it’s a first for Donkervoort.

Most of the JD70’s bodywork is made from carbon-fibre, including large pieces of our lightweight EX-CORE® carbon-fiber technology. EX-CORE® makes the JD70 astonishingly light, but still immensely strong and EX-CORE® has become a full business unit at Donkervoort, reaching out beyond the supercar industry.

We’ve used it for the JD70’s single-piece doors, for example, because it’s perfect for complex shapes and high strength. The new seats are carbon-fibre as well, and the quick-release steering wheel is a multi-function unit, which saves both weight and switchgear in the carbon-fibre dashboard. We even saved 7kg with a new lithium-ion battery.

Joop Donkervoort gave us all a car company and gave his customers a second family to enjoy. In return, we’ve given him the JD70 to honour his 70^th birthday.

That’s why there will be only 70 JD70s built – one for each of his birthdays so far.

Check out the other versions of the D8 GTO-JD70 below:

For the JD70’s full price list, please click the download link here.

The first step in joining the Donkervoort ownership family is asking about a Donkervoort, and it can start with something as simple as an email or a phone call.

So don’t hesitate to get in touch, because there’s always more to Donkervoort than you will ever understand from words on a screen.

Donkervoorts hold their value reassuringly well, and they always have.

The easiest way to take everything the JD70 can offer is to contact Donkervoort Financial Services in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Donkervoort Financial Services has two new forms of financing: the Donkervoort Private Lease and Donkervoort Full Operational Lease.

Either way, you will enjoy particularly attractive monthly installments, precisely due to the uniquely high resale value of all Donkervoorts.

This not only brings you a step closer to driving a Donkervoort but also allows you to immediately benefit from the unique position Donkervoort holds in the market for light, fast sports cars.