Range Rover is well-known for its off-road performance, however, its latest model, the Range Rover Sport SVR has been designed with speed in mind. Recently, the Range Rover Sport SVR lapped the famous Nordschleife at the Nürburgring in Germany in 8 minutes 14 seconds making it the fastest production SUV around the ‘Ring. The record was previously held by Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo in 2009 in 8 minutes and 33 seconds.
This lap time was set by a Land Rover test driver in a standard production version of a Range Rover Sport SVR that is powered by a 550hp 5-litre supercharged V8 engine.
Mike Cross, Chief Engineer Vehicle Integrity, said, “The Nürburgring is a benchmark for vehicle development and testing, and cars become stronger, more durable and faster over its 13 miles and 70-plus corners. We wanted to see whether an SUV could behave like a performance car in this challenging environment. The results are spectacular and the Range Rover Sport SVR has demonstrated outstanding on-road performance capabilities.”
Development of the Range Rover Sport SVR was carried out by the Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations team. According to automaker, while excelling on-road, no compromises were made to the vehicle’s all-terrain capabilities or comfort. The Range Rover Sport SVR still features a two-speed off-road capable transfer case (4Wd high & low) and maintains a 33.5-inch water wading depth.
The Range Rover Sport SVR is scheduled to go on sale in 2015.
