Turn Up The Volume

Now that you’re suitably familiar with Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations, here’s a machine that proves that they’re not just engineers but also physicists rewriting the laws of the universe.

- Dhruv Behl

We first drove the Range Rover Sport SVR at the Buddh International Circuit in late 2015. It was clear then that the RR Sport SVR was a bit of a mental machine. It was over two tonnes in weight, but was fitted with the drivetrain of a Jaguar F-Type R and had the soundtrack to rival a Top Fuel Dragster that gulps 40 litres of nitro methane a second – of course, said dragster will reach 100km/h in half that time. But we’re not here to talk about machines that are built solely to last the quarter-mile. We’re here to discuss a Land Rover – a machine that’s ostensibly meant to allow you to take a leisurely tour of the country estate. Well, not this one! Make no mistake, it is a Land Rover, so it still has all the off-road modes that make it virtually as capable as its siblings off the tarmac, but this one is very much designed to cover asphalt as quickly as possible.

I have to admit, though, that while I was (and remain) completely seduced by the soundtrack of the Range Rover Sport SVR, I’m not sure that a racetrack was the right place to have tested the car. Sure, with 543 horsepower, it was exceedingly fast in a straight line but it just felt a little too big and heavy for a track. We also had the BMW X6 M in the same test, and that felt far more composed at the limit. The SVR would surrender to understeer coming out of tight corners, and the body roll was quite noticeable in quick changes of direction – not to mention the squat while accelerating and the dive while braking.

So, what’s new?