I have broken into the 8's.
I did it in the F094/H. The secret is to hold the L2 button to stay in gear longer. You need to let go before you bounce of the rev limiter. The extra 1000-1500 RPM in each gear really adds up.

The above link has lots of good info, some of which I used to set my max speed at 864 MPH

Contour--It will make a master mechanic out of you! 95 LX MTX Bolt-ons 95 Neon SOHC ATX 77 Dodge Powerwagon-more displacement than my Neon, Contour, and wife's Saturn---combined!