Donkervoort D8 GTO Bilster Berg Edition bows with whopping performance, price tag

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Colin Chapman left one heck of a legacy when he left this world late in 1982. Not only had he founded Lotus, but he designed the Seven, one of the most enduring automotive forms of all time. Today's Seven is still available through Caterham in some pretty crazy flavors, but the D8 GTO from Donkervoort could well be the most insane evolution of the cigar-bodied, cycle-fendered genre, and it's just been minted in a new higher-performance model.

Based in Holland, Donkervoort makes the D8 GTO based on Chapman's original shape, but with the 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five from the Audi RS3, tuned to deliver up to 380 horsepower for a 0-60 time of 2.8 seconds. When Donkervoort set up shop at the Blister Berg private track complex, it surprised everyone (but probably should have surprised no one) when it set the lap record, trouncing a wide array of high-priced exotic supercars in the process.

Last week, Donkevoort promised us a special version of the D8 GTO to mark the achievement, and here it is: the Bilster Berg Edition. It's separated from the standard D8 GTO by a new front-end design (darkened and clad in carbon fiber), a retuned suspension with Intrax shocks, new anti-roll bars and semi-slick Hankook tires. Despite the beefier roll cage, 22 pounds have been shaved off the D8's already featherlike curb weight thanks to items like lightweight carpets and carbon-fiber bucket seats.

It comes standard with the top-spec Performance Plus package and wears the requisite special badges. There's even a data logger on the dashboard. Unfortunately, all this special equipment and proven performance potential doesn't come cheap: Donkervoort will only make 14 examples, each priced at €194,000 (including 21 percent value-added tax) – equivalent to over $230k USD at today's rates.

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