Range Rover Sport SVR Sets Low(ish) Speed Record

This is an interesting record: a Range Rover Sport SVR, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 174 mph, was recently driven by Ho-Pin Tung, a Chinese-Dutch driver for the Panasonic Jaguar Racing team, on a road in the Hunan Province in China, and set a new record of an average speed of 42.8 mph.

That’s right: 42.8 mph in a vehicle fitted with a 567-hp, supercharged V8.

Of course it should be noted that he was driving on the Tianmen Road, which has 99 corners along its seven-mile ascent.

The Range Rover Sport SVR features an all-aluminum architecture, permanent four-wheel drive and a two-speed transfer case.

As he put it, “I am used to the high speeds of racing but these 99 turns were something unique. Maintaining concentration was the biggest challenge as the road twists and turns constantly, with huge drop-offs to the side. The consequences of getting it wrong would have been really serious so I focused on establishing a rhythm and the Range Rover Sport SVR made this easy – it may be an SUV but it has the performance and agility of a supercar and can take you to places a supercar can only dream of.”

Speaking of supercars, the previous record on the road was set by a Ferrari 458 Italia in 2016; it took 10 minutes, 31 seconds to get up the road, compared with the Range Rover Sport SVR’s 9 minutes, 51 seconds.

Evidentially that was not enough. Ho-Pin Tung then dialed in the Terrain Response system and drove up the 45-degree, 999 steps at the top of Tianmen Road, leading to China’s Heaven’s Gate.

Don’t try this at home.

This is a case of how you could buy a Range Rover Sport SVR, the fastest-ever Land Rover with clearly proficient agility and capability, and be able to accomplish feats sort of like that. Not that you would, but you could.