Donkervoort S8AT
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Details
year
1991
VAT Deductible
Loosdrecht (NL)
weight
685 kg
engine
Ford
effective capacity
2.0-litre OHC Turbo
maximum power
125kW (170hp) at 5500rpm
turbocharging arrives
The era of turbocharging had well and truly arrived by 1991, and the S8AT was Donkervoort’s answer to upgrade its naturally aspirated S8A.
The S8AT combined two enormous technical leaps forward in one car: the chassis of the race-winning D10 with a turbo engine that borrowed from Ford but was developed in-house at Donkervoort.
Donkervoort developed an engine that combined the best of the Ford 2.0-litre EFI and the dominant Ford Sierra Cosworth engines, and then validated it for use in a lightweight sportscar.
The result was so stunning that the first prototype won the English Car Rally at the Valkenswaard race track in The Netherlands, and the S8AT continued to win club races for years to come.
That’s no surprise, because it slashed the 0-100km/h-sprint time to just 5.0 seconds – there were not many five-second cars in 1991 – and it ran to a 220km/h top speed.
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